Brownfield 2015
Chicago River Architectural and Brownfield Boat and Kayak Tour
http://www.architecture.org/architecture-chicago/buildings-of-chicago/building/333-west-wacker/
When you’ve got it, you’ve got it - and 333 West Wacker has it.
Consistently ranked as one of Chicagoans’ favorite buildings, it references Chicago in what architect William Pedersen
called, a "collage of contextual references."
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
DID YO U KNOW
Sound-deadening glass was not available at the time of the building’s construction. To avoid the mechanical equipment
sounds from the Lake Street “L”, all usable offices are elevated above the tracks.
Sited at the point of the Chicago River where the main branch meets its south branch, this 36-floor office building designed
by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) stands out among its neighbors. Its 489-foot curved, blue-green glass facade mimics the color
of the river. Like a chameleon, it seems to transform as the sun moves across it throughout the day. Similar to another
Chicago favorite, Millennium Park’s Cloud Gate sculpture, 333 West Wacker’s reflective facade compresses and stretches
the skyline to the delight of onlookers.
CLASSIFYING 333 W. WACKER
When work began on 333 West Wacker in 1979, much of the surrounding property was bleak and dilapidated. This inspired
Pedersen to create a splendid entrance on the Franklin-Lake Street side that echos the city street grid. Meanwhile its curved,
riverside entrance contains richly sheathed octagonal support columns.
The design of 333 West Wacker echos traditional Chicago commercial buildings of the late 19th century.
Itstripartite structure includes a base, shaft and capital. The base serves as the entrance, is composed of stone, and allows
the glass facade to appear to “float” above the river. The shaft is a combination of transparent, thermal glass windows and
double thick, darker, opaque spandrel glass. Brushed stainless steel horizontal banding gives the shaft textural contrast. Its
capital is a glass curvature with squared sides that intersect in a notched fold, creating a sharp, six-floor arc.
Architect William Pedersen never used the term "Postmodern," he preferred “contextualist.” But that contextualism is one
reason why some consider this to be Chicago's first postmodern skyscraper. Whether you argue that 333 West Wacker is
“contextualist” or “Postmodern,” there is no arguing it is a beautiful building.
http://www.architecture.org/architecture-chicago/buildings-of-chicago/building/111-south-wacker/
The original site of 111 South Wacker once hosted the magnificent US Gypsum (USG) building. The structure was turned
at a 45-degree angle toward the corner of Wacker and Monroe. When it was demolished in 2003 to make way for the John
Buck Building at 111 South Wacker Drive, it left behind a problem to be solved. The original caissons were angled irregularly
and therefore could not have supported the proposed structure. However, engineers at Magnusson Klemencic Associates
devised a plan that enabled the reuse of many of the originals and only added minimal extras. The plan made the cost of
the foundation a fraction of what it might have been otherwise.
The site of 111 South Wacker gave Goettsch another hurdle. Next door, a 15-story building blocked precious views, which
meant the occupiable structure needed to be 120 feet from the ground. To solve the problem, Goettsch put a parking garage
on the first seven floors,but this is no ordinary parking garage. Its dramatically-lit, spiraling ramp reflects down into the 44foot lobby space beneath it.
The lobby’s stepped ceiling and marble and granite floors, laid in radial patterns, extend the spiral motif and it doesn’t end
there. The spiral pattern continues onto the pavement outside the building, and non-reflective glass creates an almost
invisible barrier between its interior and exterior space. As you walk through the lobby it feels as though the building is
radiating both upward and outward.
Another striking feature in this magnificent lobby is its award-winning lighting. The International Association of Lighting
Designers gave 111 South Wacker one of its 2006 Awards for Excellence, stating, “A luminous ceiling bathes the white core
walls with a cool, diffuse northern light […] The lighting of the underside of the garage ramp reinforces the radial pattern
using dimmable fluorescent lights in architectural coves. Radial slots were cut into the ceilings to integrate lighting equipment
used to stimulate plant growth."
http://www.architecture.org/architecture-chicago/buildings-of-chicago/building/willis-tower/
For nearly 25 years after its completion, the Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower, held the title of tallest building
in the world.
Standing 110 stories tall, its black aluminum and bronze-tinted glass exterior has become emblematic of Chicago, a city
crazy about its architecture. Although its once record-breaking height has been surpassed several times over, its innovative
structural design remains noteworthy. The Willis Tower laid the foundation for the supertall buildings being built today.
Architects have always been tasked with designing tall buildings to resist wind loads. But as buildings continued to grow
taller and taller, new solutions were required. When this 110-story tower was designed, architect Bruce Graham and
structural engineer Fazlur Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) utilized the bundled tube system to address structural
problems never before seen at this scale. Use of this innovative system ushered in a whole new era of skyscrapers.
The tower is comprised of a cluster of nine tubes connected together to act as a single unit. The tubes support one another,
strengthening the structure as a whole. Meanwhile, the variations in tube height disrupt the force of the wind.
WILLIS TOWER: THE BUILDING FORMERLY AND SOMETIMES STILL KNOWN AS SEARS TOWER
DID YO U KNOW
It soars to a height limited only by the Federal Aviation Authority at the time of its construction.
In 1969, Sears Roebuck and Company was the world's largest retailer, employing approximately 350,000 people across
Chicago. In order to consolidate current staff and accommodate anticipated growth, the company hired SOM to design a
three million square-foot office tower.
The location of the tower was strategically selected for its proximity to expressways and commuter rail lines to benefit Sears
employees. But in the end, the tower’s location proved to be advantageous for the city as well. The inhabitants of the bustling
office building generated new energy in a formerly stagnant West Loop neighborhood.
This history explains why many Chicagoans still nostalgically refer to the building as the Sears Tower, although it hasn’t
technically been the Sears Tower for years. In 2009, the London-based insurance broker, Willis Group Holdings, leased
more than 140,000 square feet of office space on three floors of the Sears Tower. Their contract included naming rights for
15 years. On July 16, 2009, the name of the building was officially changed to Willis Tower.
Post Office
North end of RR track
Goldberg triads
http://www.artic.edu/aic/resourc
es/resource/2273?search_id=1
&index=0
New post office
River City – built
Still room to finish
Ol RR land
New opportunity
Left bank – air right
Right – abandoned ROW
Amtrak Yard
Chicago is the fourth busiest Amtrak
station with annual ridership of over 3
million. Amtrak retained TranSystems to
develop
design-build
contract
documentation for a number of
maintenance and renovation projects at
both their 1600 Lumber Street
locomotive maintenance facility and
their Brighton Park car maintenance
facility, both in Chicago.
See
http://trainweb.com/slides/sscc.htm
End of run – Chinatown
Firm anchor
Cuneo Press
The Cuneo Press was one of
the largest commercial printing
plants in the country. The
company was in business for 70
years, closing when owner and
founder John Cuneo died in
1977. The architect of buildings
#1,2,4, and 5 in the right image
was the incredibly prolific Alfred
Alschuler. These buildings (all
except the Hoyt) were used to
stage
the
climactic
final
sequence of the 1991 film
Backdraft. Unfortunately, this
involved burning the buildings,
which
were
subsequently
demolished.
Backdraft` Crew Went To Expert For Fire Site
June 12, 1991|By David Jackson.

(Chicago Tribune)
When the producers of the hit movie ``Backdraft`` were scouting Chicago for places to stage spectacular
fire scenes, they turned to a convicted arsonist whose real estate holdings range from West Side tenements
to some of the Gold Coast`s toniest addresses. The Cuneo Press complex, a set of abandoned industrial
buildings at 22nd Place and Grove Street on the South Branch of the Chicago River, was used as the location
for several scenes in the movie , including its fiery grand finale. The property is owned by Louis Wolf, a
grizzled, soft-spoken former car salesman who made his fortune selling real estate on the West Side in the
1950s as whites began to move out and blacks moved in. In 1969, Wolf and his partner, Albert Berland,
burned down a partially occupied West Side tenement that they owned under false names, in order to collect
on a $34,000 insurance policy. The two men were later convicted of arson and conspiracy, and served eight
months each in prison. It was ironic, that`s for sure,`` Chicago Fire Department investigator Donald
Rimgale said of the use of Wolf`s property in the film, which shows Chicago firefighters battling some
spectacular blazes. Rimgale served as the model for actor Robert De Niro `s character in the film, one of
the summer`s biggest box office attractions. Despite the conviction, Wolf continued to expand his real
estate empire, which is now worth ``not less than $10 million,`` he recently said in a court document.
Veiling his ownership behind a complex web of aliases, nominees and corporate shells, he fanned out
on Broadway and Clark Street, where he still owns several storefronts, and into Lincolnwood, the South
Loop, and Palm Springs, Calif. Wolf, 68, currently owes the city $31,400 in fines for housing code
violations, records show. He bought the 7.1-acre Cuneo complex for $650,000 in December 1988, records
show, taking title in the name of his cousin, Mel Glick. In a later deposition, Wolf said his use of Glick`s
name ``was a case of convenience. Wolf has cited troubles with the city building department as one reason
why he does not want his name to surface in real estate transactions. In March 1989, three months after
Wolf purchased the Cuneo complex, fire department investigators discovered nearly 100 55-gallon drums
of methanol and paint thinner in one of the buildings and cited it for code violations. It could not be
determined from available records whether the drums were later removed, and Wolf declined to comment
for this article
Straightening of Chicago Rive – See Part I
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/300119.html