CHICAGO | BCBS | Vertical Expansion (25 new floors) | 743 FT / 226 M | 57 FL

[Marvel 33]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

fantastic, i'll make the neccessary changes. did you by any chance get the official story count above randolph figured out? is this a 24 or a 25 story addition?

According to the architect is 25 so we should probably stick with the architect's numbers.

[Steely Dan]

^ i agree. we got 32 existing floors (as per emporis) and the architect himself say the addition is 25 floors, so that makes for the 57 floor grand total. thanks for all the info mario.

also, do you mind if i link to your article at newcityskyline in the first post?

[Chi_Coruscant]

The atrium level will not changed or eliminated. This place is beneficial to BCBSIL for hosting such events such as the luncheon conference for visiting health care network providers or brokers. There's no need to worry about atrium.

[ArchMadness]

Interesting project. You don't see this happening very often. I'm curious to know how the elevator expansions would work. Are they just continuing the core or they adding a sky lobby?

[Marvel 33]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ i agree. we got 32 existing floors (as per emporis) and the architect himself say the addition is 25 floors, so that makes for the 57 floor grand total. thanks for all the info mario.

also, do you mind if i link to your article at newcityskyline in the first post?

No problem Steely, go right ahead.

[the urban politician]

So with the fabulous sky atrium (never seen it, but Kamin seems to love it) extending all the way to the 56th/57th floor, are we talking about one of the greatest open air atriums of all time?

[rds989]

I honestly never thought this would happen. I thought every mention of the possibility was kind of a waste of time. I'm very surprised and pleased. I like the building -- very conservative, but well executed and sharp looking.

[rds989]

I also like this project because, along with all the great new "Tall & Thin" towers, it is nice to have a little bit of old-school "Tall & Ponderously Massive."

[justin00]

What a surprise that they are actually going to go through with this. I had always heard about plans for it but never imagined it happening at least for a few more years.

Does anyone know if this type of thing has ever been done before on this scale?

[honte]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

So with the fabulous sky atrium (never seen it, but Kamin seems to love it) extending all the way to the 56th/57th floor, are we talking about one of the greatest open air atriums of all time?

Oh yeah, I'd say so. One of the guards let me in there late at night, and man, it's so impressive even now. The photos on emporis are pretty darn good, but it's hard to capture it in photographs (or from the exterior).

[biophilic]

Originally Posted by SimbyHeart

Wow, move over Hong Kong. I hope it rises fast, what will the new floors be steel or concrete?

Steel.

A good deal of the atrium space is going to be lost to new elevator banks. Some of the atrium will remain (the extent will depend on the floor) but from what i understand it won't be as impressive as it is now (i've only seen photos).

[Adam186]

Speaking of atrium photos, can someone post those here? I'd be interested to see those.

[Dan in Chicago]

I can't post them, but you can see a few pictures here: http://www.emporis.com/en/il/pc/?id=116823&aid=8

I've been told that the schedule for the actual construction of the expansion is 2007-2010 or 2011. Not sure why it's taking so long when new foundations aren't needed, but it is being built over an occupied structure. The plaza in back will be temporarily closed and turned into the staging area. I'm not sure but I think one of the atrium shafts will be used for additional elevators and the other will be left open. If so, it shouldn't make much difference as the two shafts are virtually identical.

If anyone knows of any other skyscrapers which were expanded vertically WHILE OCCUPIED, let us know. The only other example the folks at Blue Cross are aware of is the Tulsa office of Blue Cross Blue Shield, which grew from 3 stories to 6 stories while occupied... so they are no longer claiming uniqueness for their building, just for their company's buildings in general!

[denizen467]

I'm having trouble understanding how 3 --> 6 floors while occupied is different from when my next door neighbors added a porch to their house while occupied.

Seriously though, there are at least a couple early 20thC / late 19thC downtown buildings that had floors added after original completion. Of course, determining whether they were occupied during construction might be a tad difficult at this point.

[Latoso]

The Reliance building was built on the site of a 5 story building that was occupied during construction. Floors 3-5 of the original building were jacked up while floors 1-2 of the Reliance building were started. Here's more details at Emporis: http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=117626

[Fabb]

57 floors and yet, less than 750 ft.
Again, that's a bit of a disappointment.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Fabb

57 floors and yet, less than 750 ft.
Again, that's a bit of a disappointment.

only in the warped realms of skyscraperpageland can people be disappointed by buildings somehow not being tall enough in relation to the number of their floors.

look, doing some simple arithmetic yields an average floor-to-floor height of ~13', which is par for the course for commercial office buildings. being "disappointed" by that is ridiculous.

[JACKinBeantown]

I think it's cool that they're adding 24 floors to an old building, but how about this as a what if? They could have made the new floors in a series of step-backs and easily added an additional 75-100 feet.

[Lecom]

New York has some amazing developments going on right now, and I tend to be very hometown-biased, yet at this stage even I admit that Chi-town easily outdoes New York at its rate of pimping out the skyline.

This is a great project. Congratulations, you lucky bastards.

[volguus zildrohar]

I always thought that building would rock if it were taller. Very nice.