Architecture & Chicago (intersection of tags)

A few blocks east of Chicago’s hipster neighborhood lies the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse. The Renegade Craft Fair holiday show has been held in this wonderful building the past couple years. It’s so much fun exploring all the rooms. Imagine when…

I’d really like a four-mile long Slip-n-Slide to work. However Chicago has no hills to create Slip-n-Slides, so let’s leverage the height of the great Chicago skyscrapers. All Slip-n-Slides can start from the Sears Tower (oops I mean, Willis Tower).…

Photo courtesy josephp via creative commons license Wow. They moved the entire Sears Tower over to Navy Pier. And they built a huge dome over it. A few questions: 1) How did they get the Sears Tower to fit inside…

Pioneer court in Chicago on Michigan Avenue has been called one of the world’s best public squares in existence. Surrounded by great architecture on the south with 333 North Michigan Avenue and the London Insurance Building, on the north with…

Here’s the story of how I captured the 42nd most interesting photo taken on flickr for January 22, 2009. While sitting at work in the Tribune Tower, the TV was tuned into WGN’s coverage of the Inauguration. As I listen…

(image from benandclare) (image from neowneow) Who knew that Springfield, Illinois had such a cool building? I like how the dome is stretched taller. And that silver color. Very cool. (I encountered this discovery from a photo on a chicagoist…

Oh wow, this proposed Eco-Bridge off Chicago’s lakeshore is just fantastic! One of Chicago’s true jewels is the lakefront. Yet, it seems that many people outside Chicago aren’t aware of how great our lakeshore is. Dude, the Chicago Ecobridge will…

The pointy top of the Prudential 2 building in chicago is much like a pencil. Stellaroxy recently fav’ed one of my photos on deviantart, and this pencil photo was sitting next to it. They make a nice pair. The photos…

The 80th floor of the AON Center has fantastic views. As of now, it’s the 3rd tallest building in America. (Sears Tower, Empire State Building, AON Center). The 80th floor is not open to the public, instead, it’s leased to…

Chicago’s IBM building. It’s a classic. Very simple black box. And now he has a good buddy across the street from him, Trump Tower. Of course IBM traditionally stands for International Business Machines. But here we are talking about two…

Last week, the historical landmark Wrigley Building was testing out some new lights in their courtyard. One of the workers told me that he was concerned that they were too big. I thought they looked just fine and told him…

There are some days that I’ll shoot a photo that just really pleases me a lot and makes me surprised that I’m able to create something so neat. This is one of those images. (Shot yesterday during lunch). The reflections…

Someone out there, please make a plush stuffed Sears Tower, complete with arms and legs. And the eyes would be lights up in the top of the Tower. Oh man. That would rool so hard core. Would it really a…

Right now construction crews are drilling 34 holes in the ground going 120 feet deep, 10-feet in diameter. These will be the caissons for America’s tallest building, the Chicago Spire to be completed in 2010–or will it be completed? Many…

While at work on the 14th floor of the Tribune Tower our copywriter spotted a woodpecker outside our windows! The little birdie was just hanging onto the outside of the wall. So I carefully walked over and snapped some photos.…

There’s plans for a new monster 2,000 foot tall building to appear on the lakefront in Chicago. Blair Kamin of the Chicago Tribune wrote an excellent review pointing out how the old plan had the tower gracefully pointing upward into…

Both the Rockford News Tower and Elgin Tower appear to have been built recently, however it’s amazing that they were both built just a few years after the Tribune Tower. Tribune Tower: 1922; News Tower: 1930; Elgin Tower: 1929 ————————-…

The rooftop of a downtown building in downtown Chicago just got a curious addition built this morning. A white bulbous alien ship/water slide just landed down on top of the Realtor Building on 430 North Michigan Avenue. I work on…

(image from ArchitectureChicago Plus blog) The Blue Cross-Blue Shield Building in downtown Chicago at 300 East Randolph is going to double its height by adding another building right smack on top of it. According to the ArchitectureChicago Plus blog, The…

The McDonalds across from the Trump Tower is where you overhear all the current news on the construction status on the Trump International Hotel & Tower, Chicago. I was standing in line behind a construction worker with a bunch stickers…

A nine foot tall bronze statue of Irv Kupcinet was recently installed to commemorate the man behind a record-breaking 60-year Chicago Sun-Times column. He even is depicted holding a Sun-Times final edition under his right arm. The 9 feet tall…

As the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago slowly rises from the ground, everyone can immediately see a huge construction flaw. The main materials used for the construction of the tower are giant toilet paper cardboard tubes. Donald Trump…

Don’t even tell me that they are serious about building this. It will thrust 61 stories into the sky, a trio of towers that will dominate Louisville’s skyline. It will feature an acre-sized “island,” open to the public, that will…

The McDonalds in downtown Chicago on Michigan Ave right behind the Wrigley Building is store #4444. I just saw this on my receipt. Numbers like this make me happy.

On the top of the 34-story Tribune Tower in Chicago flies an American flag. I don’t see any other taller buildings in Chicago sporting an American flag. Are there any buildings in the world taller than the 463-foot Tribune Tower…

A 800 meter building called “Burj Dubai” is being built in the United Arab Emirates. That’s just HUGE. To compare, the Sears Tower is 443 meters. It’s to be completed in November 2008. This photo was taken by me in…

  1,450 feet is pretty far After measuring the 1,450-foot distance with this measuring wheel, it was surprising how far it was. (for explanation of this project, see this previous post). The distance was far enough away that it seemed…

A couple days ago i heard someone on the el say, “I went back to my building after lunch” (in reference to her work building). I like that I don’t refer to the where i work, the Tribune Tower, as…

Thinking about shadows has reminded me about an old project that never got finished. To take a piece of string the same length as the height of the Sears Tower—1450 feet. Attach one end of the string to the corner…

After the heart-breaking loss of the Chicago Cubs, it was time to take down the huge night window sign on the Tribune Tower, home of the Cubs owners. As the Tribune engineers removed the half-inch thick gatorboards, they discovered that…

The Tribune Tower is putting up one of those big window night signs for the Chicago Cubs being in the National League Playoffs. The Tribune Company owns the Cubs, so it’s about time that they finally do this. I work…