Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Nouvel Khan, Tatlin garnish

As a Chicagoan born and bred, it's impossible to look at Jean Nouvel's stunning new 53 West 53rd, a 75-story hotel/condo tower to be erected next to the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, without thinking of its early precedents: the diagonal-braced tube skyscrapers of the great engineer Fazlur Khan, most especially the iconic John Hancock Building on North Michigan avenue, designed at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in collaboration with architect Bruce Graham.

Separated by four decades, the two towers offer up cogent and contrasting expressions of their respective era's. Read all about it, and see the pictures, here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

In New York, architects are redefining the tall tower.

In Chicago, architects are defining parking garages.

Anonymous said...

This building has nothing to do with Khan's work. Khan's work was balanced and minimal. This design is asymmetric and therefore there was waste that could be cut out.

This never would have made it through David Sharpe's studio.

Nouvel is doing some fantastic work.