Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Magic Hour Becomes Trump Tower

As Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's mega Trump International Hotel and Tower continues to grow, like Alice on mushrooms, bigger and bigger and bigger, until it seems about to devour everything around it, its humongous curtain wall evokes mixed feelings. The thing's crisp and professional, no doubt, but, truth to tell, in full sunlight, it looks a bit, well . . . tinny. Walking down State Street the other day, however, I found a moment when the Wabash facade actually looked rather beautiful.

Dusk flatters Trump Tower, softening the brittle hardness of the seemingly endless expanse of steely spandrels and hard glass, making them seem something more plastic and humane, almost Labanesque.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's really not "that big" of a building, and it has gorgeous parking garage ramp. I love the way the pipes for the fire sprinklers radiate from the spiral ramp.

Lynn Becker said...

It may not be the Merchandise Mart or the Pentagon, but it ain't exactly La Minatura, if you know what I mean.

Anonymous said...

Ahhh anonymous..........you sound very much like an engineer! This is one of those instances where "God is not in the Details"

Anonymous said...

You mentioned the Laban Centre. Well, the Trump Chicago is no Laban Centre. I don’t particularly care one way or another for the look of the curtainwall, but whatever beauty others see during the day will be sorely lost from dusk until dawn. There will be no opaque glass controlling headlights and hideous sodium vapor lighting. 95% of the first 12 floors is nothing more than a gargantuan, ugly, Dallas-size parking garage. And that crazy corkscrew ramp is hardly sculptural or discrete. No wonder Chicago gets awards from health magazine for being so fat--we all seem to own cars and don’t want to walk anywhere!

Anonymous said...

hmm...robert sounds like he woke up on the wrong side of Delta Burke, isn't anyone else excited for cars driving around inside an office building? I also love the garage ramp--it is beautiful--so pure and simple. I think Robert needs to check out some of the office buildings by O'Hare I'm sure he can find the quality of architecture he is looking for there.

Anonymous said...

Wisdom, were you passing gas in my direction or clearing a blockage in your artery? I wouldn't want you to have an aneurism or something trying to rant on me.