Architects:Goettsch Partners

Area :1700000 ft²

Year :2020

Photographs :Nick Ulivieri Photography

Manufacturers :  AutoDesk, Enscape, POHL, Solarlux, Sto, Terrazzo & Marble, Carlisle SynTec, Construction Specialties, Dow Building Solutions, Interpane, Lindner, NanaWall, TGP, dormakaba, Alucobond, BASF, Bluebeam, Centria, Foam Control, Forms + Surfaces, +11Glas Trösch, Hadrian, Hanover, Hunter Douglas, McNeel, PPG, PSI, ROCKWOOL, Solar Innovations, Stone Source, Thrislington Cubicles-11AutoDesk

Design Team : Goettsch Partners

Clients : The Howard Hughes Corporation, Riverside Investment & Development

Engineering : Thornton Tomasetti, ESD, V3

Landscape : Confluence

Consultants : Jenkins & Huntington, Kimley Horn and Associates, Goby, , One Lux, , GEI Consultants, Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin Inc.

Collaborators : Clark Construction, FE Moran, Titan Electric, Ewing-Doherty Mechanical, USA Fire Protection

City : Chicago

Country : United States

Offering one of the best office building locations in Chicago in terms of accessibility and visibility, this site would have been developed many years ago if not for its trapezoidal shape. Given that the east and west property lines are not parallel, fitting a typical Class A office floor plate, including the center core and desired lease spans, is a challenge. In addition, for any site along the river, the city requires a 30-foot-wide publicly accessible riverwalk, further complicating the site. The design addresses the challenges with an unusual stepped center core, which allows for a 45-foot lease span on each side. To avoid an angled perimeter, the west wall has a series of 30-foot-wide, five-foot setbacks, accommodating an orthogonal, five-foot planning module throughout the building.

The state-of-the-art Class A office tower totals 56 stories and 1,770,000 square feet. Interior space planning is enhanced by the five-foot setbacks along the river, providing the equivalent of 14 corner offices. The setbacks create a distinctive form that accentuates the building’s verticality and avoids the pure box-like appearance of typical office towers. To satisfy the city’s requirements, the design provides a 45-foot-wide riverwalk that is covered, but effectively open to the sky, 62 feet above. Three large, tree-like structural elements spaced 90 feet apart transfer out the tower columns along the river and further open the site.