the $2 billion Chicago Spire, a project he's launching without a single pre-sale, had said he expected to get architect Santiago Calatrava's twisting, 150-story tower into the ground quickly, and if its not quite the spring launch he predicted before the Chicago Plan Commission last April, it's close. See a photo essay on the early stirrings on the site here.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
It's Official - Calatrava's Chicago Spire Hole in the Ground
So far, he's been true to his word. Garrett Kelleher, the Gatsby-like developer behind 
the $2 billion Chicago Spire, a project he's launching without a single pre-sale, had said he expected to get architect Santiago Calatrava's twisting, 150-story tower into the ground quickly, and if its not quite the spring launch he predicted before the Chicago Plan Commission last April, it's close. See a photo essay on the early stirrings on the site here.
the $2 billion Chicago Spire, a project he's launching without a single pre-sale, had said he expected to get architect Santiago Calatrava's twisting, 150-story tower into the ground quickly, and if its not quite the spring launch he predicted before the Chicago Plan Commission last April, it's close. See a photo essay on the early stirrings on the site here.
I wonder how D+P likes looking out at that site from their office now that they're not AOR on the project...
ReplyDeleteIt's too bad that it might be beginning. Chicago doesn't need something that tall there especially since it doesn't look very good. I think Calatrava should maybe just stick to bridges (and even that is questionable). If you don't believe me look at this monstrosity:
ReplyDeletehttp://archrecord.construction.com/projects/portfolio/archives/0707palace.asp
I wonder if the fact that Dr. Calatrava's advanced education is in engineering doesn't heavily influence his design decisions. Is he trying to push the engineering envelope as much as the design one, or at least more than a pure designer would.
ReplyDeleteWhether an aye or a nay is voiced about the design and placement of Calatrava’s Spire in Chicago, this challenging structure will keep the men and women who build it awake more than a few nights and when they do sleep their dreams will be spent problem solving the challenges they face the next work day. That was the experience of those who built the Calatrava addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum. From 1998 to 2003 I used photography to frankly and directly capture the essence of the MAM’s builders in their work and the hard beauties of their workplace. See http://www.jimbrozek.com/ Shouldn’t a similar effort be made to record these qualities through out the Spire’s construction.
ReplyDeleteRobert Elwall, (Photographs Curator British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects, London), concludes about photography and architecture, “From its very inception photography has enjoyed a close and symbiotic relationship with both architectural study and practice. Our first, sometimes only, impression of a building is often formed by a photograph and the skilled photographer can help us to see even the most familiar structures in a new light. Photographs have therefore been justifiably described as the currency of architectural exchange. Despite its undeniable influence however, the role of photography in the mediation of architecture has been relatively little explored particularly when compared to architectural drawing.”