![]() ![]() That thin frame contains it, provides a coda, keeps it all from seeming ready to fly off into space. The short/long/short/long rhythm of the balconies keeps the eye moving restlessly. What gives it all strength is a continuous thin geometric line that begins at the roof line, drops a story, doubles back almost back to the opposite corner, drops another two floors, doubles back to east, and then descends all the way down to the top of parking podium, where it again doubles back one last time and rounds the corner. The balconies - and the glass - wrap around the southwest corner to give it a soft edge that infers the fabric simply continues on past the corner. But when you step back, it all resolves into a giant vertical plane of seemingly random extrusions, which has been likened to everything from Morse Code to a punch card, with the balconies as hanging chads. When you look closely, you see that there appears to be only two different row variations, alternating from one floor to the next. The money facade is the one to the south, where balconies, with facings that are multiples of a basic square, x2, x3 and x4, are staggered against a continuous expanse of thinly framed glass rising most the building's 46-story height. The east side is similar, with the incised terraces replaced by a single stack of hanging balconies. Not on the north elevation, which is pretty much glass box city, straight up, with incised terraces. Ralph Johnson of Perkins & Will is more of a right-angle guy, and he's tackled the same problem in different ways.Īt the strikingly elegant The Contemporaine, mini-balconies jut out from the side of the building like a stack of sliding coin slots.Īt The Clare Water Tower, on Pearson, the balconies are kept to the edges.Īt his latest residential tower, 235 West Van Buren, Johnson deploys his balconies as sculptural punctuations. The most spectacular example of this is Jeanne Gang's Aqua at Lake Shore East, where the swelling and receding, offset curving balconies create a tower whose incredibly sensuous profile has become an instant Chicago icon and winner of Emporis's 2009 Skyscraper of the Year award. Most recently, however, developers and their architects have investigated the value of using balconies to help sculpt their buildings to give them a more distinctive (i.e., saleable) presence. So developers can be forgiven if they often do balconies on the cheap, in fire escape style. ![]() ![]() Developers also know that once the sale is made, residents rarely set foot on them - you're more likely to see bicycles on them than people. Developers know they need them to help push the units. With a height of 138 feet, the Home Insurance Building soared far above its contemporaries, epitomizing the term "skyscraper." Its metal frame allowed for an innovative curtain wall composed of non- structural stone sheathing, with large window panes to maximize natural light in the interior spaces.Balconies are the grand jest of residential towers. This design feature allowed for dramatically increased height, structural stability, and design flexibility. Jenney implemented an innovative system which relied on a cast iron frame “skeleton” to bear the weight of the building, rather than traditional load-bearing walls. The Home Insurance Building revolutionized high-rise construction with its pioneering use of cast iron technology. Two additional floors were added to the Home Insurance Building in 1891 Did You Knowīefore practicing architecture in Chicago, William Le Baron Jenney served as an engineer in the Civil War, designing metal bridges for the Union Army Load Another Fact Several of Jenney’s buildings still stand in Chicago, including the Manhattan Building, the Second Leiter Building, and Greater Union Baptist Church Did You Know ![]()
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