4 posts tagged “chicago loop”

One of the things I love about Chicago is that, despite the large collection of super-large world-class skyscrapers, the architecture isn't off-putting.  Quite the opposite, in fact - it really draws the pedestrian in.  My favorite buildings blur the boundary between sidewalk and inside so that you feel sheltered by the building, not walled off from whatever's inside.

And my number-one favorite example of this just happens to be the building where I work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, this was a good day.

 

This picture might give a better idea of how spectacular the view is from my office.  I shot it ten feet from my cubicle, looking southeast.  It was February, just as the ice on Lake Michigan was retreating. 

I can see this view just by standing up.  A lot of people can see it just by looking up.  That green on the rooftops in the foreground are rooftop gardens.  The white stuff in the middle ground is ice reaching out a mile or two into the Lake.  The white stuff on the horizon is Indiana, and maybe a piece of Michigan.

To anyone interested in the exact location - the streets parallel to the water run north-south, and the big red building in the middle is the CNA Center at Wabash and Van Buren.

It's not a very high quality picture - for one thing the windows really needed washing.  Mostly it's because I was trying out the camera function on my phone and after three years I'm still not sure how to use it.

 

 

Update:

This shot might make my point a little better:

 

 

 

The Chase Tower is the 32nd tallest building in the US, the 99th tallest in the world, and my office is two-thirds of the way to the top, on the 45th floor.  One of the nice things that was done when they designed our offices was to make all the executive offices on the interior walls, while the cubicles all have full view of the spectacular view. 

I do mean spectacular - I can see Indiana from my desk.  On a good day, you can stand close to the window and see Michigan.  And at twilight, the sky turns pink and the grid lights up and it's one of the most beautiful things you'll ever see.  When we first moved into these offices a lot of people had a hard time concentrating, it was so stunning.

The design of the building itself it pretty cool, too.  I can't find a picture that does it justice, but the sides slope outward to the north and south, giving it almost a clothes-pin shape.  The effect is to make the building seem even more massive than it already is, but the open plaza on the southern side of it also makes it one of the most pedestrian-friendly spots in the Loop.

And...they filmed part of Ferris Bueller on the steps of that plaza. 

 

 

Something I noticed about Chicago the first week I moved out here - the ever-present scaffolding.  You can't walk three blocks in the Loop without running into some, it seems.  It doesn't stay in one place, just sort of hangs around for a month or two then shifts further down the street.  Sometimes it snakes around a building, slowly moving around the block until 18 months later it's back where it started.

Probably this is a good thing - it means that people are serious about taking care of the building exteriors.  It also means that there have been times when I've been able to plan my way home so that in a walk of about a mile I'm out in the open for maybe a block and a half.  When it's raining I barely get wet.

Anyway, the street businesses do what they can to make sure it doesn't get in the way of their customers.  Some of them even have a sense of humor about it.  This is a picture I took looking south on Clark Street at Adams, around the corner from the Elephant and Castle pub.  Check out the third sign down