The Chicago Spire

Construction Update - Friday Morning, Setpember 21st

How would you like to live in a work of art? World-renowned architect Santiago Calatrava is the mastermind behind the Chicago Spire, a supertower planned for 420 East North Water Street and 400 North Lake Shore Drive. He is the lead architect and engineer for the project. This means prestige. This means beauty. Conceptual drawings show a gleaming 2,000-foot building that has been accused by some of being simply a statue.

Ever the artist, Calatrava is quoted on the official Spire website as comparing the spiral of the building to a column of smoke from a Native American campfire, because the name “Chicago” has Native American origins. The place itself has inspired him.

He has been called a “superstar” of architects, and is well-known in Europe for his uniquely artistic approach to design. In the U.S., he has designed the Milwaukee Art Museum.

A view of the bottom of the tower

Things will not be the same in Chicago after this piece of real estate goes up. The Spire will be a tourist attraction. People will come for miles just to get a glimpse of this statue-building. It isn't like the rectangular structures you see on much of the Chicago skyline. As the name suggests, it's a spire, a tall thin building, coming to a point at the top. But that isn't all. It will possess the twisting shape of a gargantuan unicorn's horn. The words “architectural marvel” and “ambitious project” don't even begin to cover it. Neither do the words “hottest project in Chicago.”

Eight hundred people wanted to live in it as soon as the plans were unveiled. Eight hundred people contacted developers to reserve condos for themselves. It is slated to be finished sometime in 2009 or 2010. (More sources quote the 2010 date than the 2009.) Groundbreaking is set for June 2007.

As impressive as this building is sure to be, one of the most impressive things about the whole project is how it is being handled. Developers are often accused of not thinking beyond their own wallets, but Shelbourne Development Group, Inc., has taken a special look at how its arrival on the scene will affect traffic patterns. Since such a huge building will attract so many more people to the area, the added traffic could conceivably be a problem. However, not in this case, because they have a plan. Lower Lake Shore Drive will feed traffic to the area so that the Spire's residents won't fill the neighborhood's streets with too many extra cars.

Bird rescue groups are fond of the tall, thin shape of the tower. They say it will have less of an impact on migration than the two wide towers that were originally planned for that spot.

Project plans include development of more than just the plot of land that the Spire itself will sit on. Plans include turning a nearby abandoned lot into a park with a possible bridge for walkers and cyclers. There will also be a circular plaza and five-story glass atrium.

This building is a mansion of condo towers, a king of skyscrapers. It will have the distinction of being the tallest building in the United States.

But what about the inside? The units are to be spacious areas, perfect for gatherings or for raising growing families, which is only appropriate for the building that will be the world's largest residential structure.

The tower's shape is derived partly by the fact that each floor is rotated about two degrees from the one it sits on top of, causing the whole thing to twist 270 degrees from bottom to top. In the original plan, the building was much more twisty, with a 360-degree rotation from base to roof. In that plan, the building also peaked with a broadcast tower. According to the newest version, proposed in December 2006, there will be 150 floors and 1,300 condominiums upon completion. That will be 3 million square feet of saleable space.

The newest plan also calls for seven stories of underground parking, and a cable bridge from the building to the nearby bike path. There will be four banks of elevators in the building's core, leading to four heights: lowrise, middle lowrise, middle highrise and highrise.

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