CHICAGO | OneEleven - 111 West Wacker | 630 FT | 59 FLOORS | COM

[harryc]

Oct 30 - climbing forms are down - last floor being set.


Oct 31


Nov 1 - early to work




Mind the gap


Cooling tower coming up - had the street closed off for this one - I love gridlock at lunchtime (I walk).

[i_am_hydrogen]

[wierdaaron]

Are the river tour guides going to have any trivia tidbits to spout about this building? What a rare opportunity a building on the river has to have literally boatloads of tourists receive free advertising for your building, just by being slightly interesting enough for the tour guides to kill a few minutes on.

[george]

11-8

[J_M_Tungsten]

Nice shots. I see the third row of glass is in now, yet the second panel over STILL does not match up with the rest of the building's window pattern? Are the really going to leave it like this, or is this a placeholder panel until the real one is manufactured and delivered? Hopefully the latter.

[george]

Agreed, a placeholder.^

[harryc]

Nov 4


Nov 5


Nov 12


As seen from Wolf Point


From Fulton Mkt.


Nov 13








Packing up the forms


Nov 15


A few more shots 111 W Wacker - Related

Older stuff 111 W Wacker - Waterview
Core
Core rising

[kolchak]

Thank you Harry for the updates! Great shot from Wolf Point - it really shows how 111 creates a nice, even 600 foot streetwall with the Leo Burnett & (former) R.R. Donnely buildings. IMO this increases the canyon feel more than the Waterview Tower design did.

[JMO_0121]

I'm still slightly disappointed in the height. It would've been great for it to be anywhere in the 700 ft range. Nothing special about the current design, IMO.

[wierdaaron]

^Maybe they can add a 70 ft spire.

[wrab]

Originally Posted by JMO_0121

I'm still slightly disappointed in the height. It would've been great for it to be anywhere in the 700 ft range. Nothing special about the current design, IMO.

Works nicely as infill though

[Chief Blackhawk]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

^Maybe they can add a 70 ft spire.

No; they should add a 1,147' spire just to prove how ridiculous the spire rule is...

[Guiltyspark]

Originally Posted by sentinel

If you're referring to this from JMT's photo

The window was installed in the wrong location - it needs to be moved over to the right to align with the window line above and below it, and the gap on the left will still need to be filled in. I'm sure it will be corrected.

Good to know. Looks like it was corrected.

[harryc]

Originally Posted by Guiltyspark

Good to know. Looks like it was corrected.

Nope - not yet

[george]

11-19

[woodrow]

Is anyone else disappointed in this building? I was happy to see it start up and thought i would like it, but man, is it ever bland. Not what I was expecting. The difference in glass is not strong enough. Maybe i am jumping the gun

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by woodrow

Is anyone else disappointed in this building? I was happy to see it start up and thought i would like it, but man, is it ever bland. Not what I was expecting. The difference in glass is not strong enough. Maybe i am jumping the gun

It's Related Midwest, what else do you expect? I've been saying all along this is a boring, garbage design. It's about as good as that other stalled project thing they completed in the last boom at Illinois and Fairbanks. Actually, I almost like that thing better because at least there is some contrast in that facade.

Also, we are kidding ourselves if we think Related is going to "fix" that glass panel by the zig zag. They don't give a crap, it's just another proforma to them, not an actual building or piece of the urban fabric. They probably saved like $100 by doing the glass that way instead of continuing the pattern that exists across the entire facade and decided that it was worth the $100 savings to permanently mar their project.

The quality of Related's projects keeps going further and further down the toilet. I had hopes for a moment when that awesome cantilevered design came out that they had reversed course after the banality of 500 N LSD, but I guess not. I hope to god they don't get control of the Spire site because they'll probably just build 3 shitty, bland, blue glass boxes with absolutely no attention to detail and poor construction quality there. I am rooting for Kehller not because I want the spire built (which would be awesome) or because I expect it to be built, but because whatever turd Related shits out there will be a permanent blight on our skyline.

[wierdaaron]

I think it's an inherent problem with these designs that are based on an entirely glass exterior. They look cool in renders, but if you don't pick the right glass material and coating it'll look like hot garbage in reality.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

I think it's an inherent problem with these designs that are based on an entirely glass exterior. They look cool in renders, but if you don't pick the right glass material and coating it'll look like hot garbage in reality.

That's an inherent problem with architecture in general, it's easy to make pretty renders, but difficult to build pretty buildings in real life. Cheap materials = shitty buildings period, doesn't matter if it is glass, concrete, brick, stone, whatever. If it is cheap it will look low grade to begin with and age poorly.

Just look at Roosevelt Tower, I thought that design was going to look horrible and be tacky, but it looks amazing because they used high grade materials. The president of the school himself said that, because materials prices were depressed by the recession, their construction bids came in significantly under budget so they were able to afford top of the line materials and still come in under budget. That tower is awesome simply because the high quality glass makes it look crystalline which was what made the design because the irregular shape would have simply looked like cheap plastic instead of a rough hewn gem. Also, the precast used on that building is probably the nicest precast in the city, I only hope they are able to maintain it consistently as it ages and spawls so that we don't end up with a bunch of off-color patches where it chips and cracks over the years.

[wierdaaron]

^True, but when the exterior is 100% glass that puts all of the pressure on your glass selection. With a mixed exterior, it might be okay if the glass looks a little junky as long as the structure itself has a nice presence. But when your building is entirely wrapped in glass, you can screw up the whole thing with one bad decision.

The glass on 77 W Wacker is so damn nice, and so damn next-door. The comparison is almost too easy to make. What a shame.

But still, (almost) anything's better than an abandoned concrete skeleton.