By Phil Berger

The new millennium has been a good time for residential architecture in Chicago. After decades of banality, dictated either by developers’ notions of marketability or stagnation within the architecture community, the streetscape has benefited greatly from a slew of interesting new buildings.

The project that has generated the most buzz among architecture cognoscenti is 600 North Fairbanks, designed by the firm of Murphy / Jahn. The German-born Helmut Jahn is one of the world’s most celebrated architects, but he’s taken his share of critical abuse in his adopted hometown, mostly by virtue of his first significant commission, the State of Illinois’ Thompson Center in the Loop. When it was completed twenty years ago, it was vilified for its cost overruns and its ambitious design, which was wholly unlike anything built in the Loop before or ever since. Subsequently, he’s done dazzling work – primarily in Europe – but even his later Chicago projects, such as 120 South LaSalle, the United terminal at O’Hare, and Oakbrook Terrace Tower, couldn’t quite erase the stigma of his debut.

While it’s unlikely 600 North Fairbanks will change that, it’s certainly one of the most dynamic additions to the skyline in years. Jahn’s solution to the parking structure dilemma is to face it in the same clear curtain wall as the rest of the building, so that the structure is a unified whole. But what’s probably best about the building is its strong, curving shape. Architects often say one of their most difficult design challenges is how the building turns the corner, and 600 North Fairbanks does it very well.

As cool as Jahn’s building is, it’s not even the most interesting of the new crop of high-rises. Probably the most prominent tower in terms of location is One Museum Park at 1215 S Prairie Ave, which comes from the drawing board of Pappageorge / Haymes.

It’s hard to say many good things about towers that Pappageorge / Haymes has designed for The Enterprise Companies over the past several years, but One Museum Park is another animal entirely. Jeff Renterghen, a senior associate at Pappageorge / Haymes, explains that the firm “has always pushed for a more modern statement,” and they’ve certainly made it here. As an object in the landscape, it’s breathtakingly bold and a little retro-futuristic: The building, sheathed in reflective blue glass, spreads out in wing-like flanges from a central ovoid column, like something out of a Buck Rogers two-reeler.

Sales have been strong enough at One Museum Park that the core of One Museum Park West – a smaller tower located just to the west – is already rising. It’s a little deflating to realize that all the units facing west in One Museum Park are going to have their views obstructed – except that none of its units actually face west. The distinctive aspect of the building’s design is its crescent shaped plan: The south and west sides of the building house circulation spaces or structural and mechanical components, and their reflective “windows” are really glass skins mounted to a concrete frame. So while the gleaming, streamlined form is arresting from all perspectives, the clear orientation of the building is toward the north and the east. The result is that “there’s really no ‘back’ to the building, and no ‘bad’ units,” Renterghen says.

Maybe the most successful and exciting of all the new towers is ParkView at Illinois Street and McClurg Court, which couldn’t be more of a departure MCL Companies’ disappointing offerings at the neighboring River East. The emergence of modernism has given rise to many variations on the glass and steel window wall. At ParkView, architects Solomon Cordwell Buenz go in a different direction, with plenty of glass but also copper-anodized aluminum panels and punctuations of yellow balconies that turn the whole thing into a powerful piece of form, texture and color. What’s also great about the building is its fine sense of scale from the ground level. The difference between ParkView and almost everything else is that its parking levels are primarily underground, which makes an enormous difference in establishing a connection between the building and the street.

Devon Patterson, a design principal at Solomon Cordwell Buenz, says that the aim was to do something “sculptural and artistic” with the design. As built, it’s all that and more. Solomon Cordwell Buenz investigated several different materials for the curtain wall, with the intention of echoing the groundbreaking Time-Life building just a block away, which used Cor-Ten steel and bronze reflective glass to great effect. While ParkView is subtler in its surfaces, it makes a similarly strong statement.

Although most of the architectural excitement is about high-rise towers, at least one lower-density project deserves attention. With a few notable exceptions, multi-family developments from the past two decades have been pretty appalling, leaving a plague of red-brick “traditional” monstrosities throughout the city.

The Kinetic Condos at Rainbo Village, however, are an astonishingly fresh take on a standard Chicago building type: flats above stores. At Rainbo Village, located at 4836 N Clark St in Uptown, Pappageorge / Haymes used red brick, but in such a crisp, modern fashion – detailed with silver screens and canopies – that it’s really the best of its kind. Its proportions and scale are ideal for its location, and the materials offer the correct context. It boldly says that it was built in the 21st century, and it’s an excellent sign of good things to come.

It’s dangerous to pass judgment on buildings before they’re mostly completed, it’s tough to resist comment on at least two works-in-progress.

The Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago is so much bigger than anything else around it. People must have said the same thing about the John Hancock Center decades ago, but the Hancock’s positioning at its site – on a full city block, well behind the allowable setback line – made it a singular event, a “landmark” in the most literal sense. Although Trump takes advantage of its riverside location, it will never be the Hancock, but its slick skin and curved form are nicely executed. Overall, it looks as if it will be more pleasing than most of the buildings that bear its developer’s name.

Aqua, the new tower at Magellan Development Group’s Lakeshore East project, generated lots of attention when Studio Gang Architects unveiled its design. Some observers thought the building wouldn’t match the “wow” factor of Jeanne Gang’s graphic presentation, but they may be surprised. When you look at the building from a distance it reads as a simple, articulated rectangle – a typical Miesian expression. But it’s only when you get close to Aqua that you sense its impact. The gently undulating swoops and swerves of the balconies change with kinetic energy as you approach. There’s an illusory element to the experience of riding or walking past it, as if you’re passing a computer-generated image. It also suggests a highly refined variation on the skeletal masterpieces of the great Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi. Aqua is still under construction, and it’s still unclear what the building will be like at street level, but so far, so good.

By Dana Dubriwny

Driving south along Lake Shore Drive, commuters travel through a landscape of varying architectural quality.

Execs at Kargil Development LLC determined to improve that landscape with X/O Condominiums at 1700 S Prairie Ave. The $300 million project will comprise 271 condominiums in the north tower, 215 units in the south tower, and a row of 10 townhomes fronting the development. In February, 40 percent of the condos had been pre-sold, and buyers can expect occupancy in 2010.

“We saw the market was changing; the go-go days were coming to an end, and we wanted to differentiate ourselves, so we started with the architecture of it,” says Brian Giles, vice president of Kargil Development. “The South Loop has become the busiest and biggest market in the city. To sell these units, we needed something different, so we gave Lucien the ability to do his best work.”

Lucien Lagrange, known for his designs of the Pinnacle, Elysian Hotel and Residences, and Ritz-Carlton Residences, sketched up two contemporary glass high-rises. According to Lagrange, his vision for shaping X/O was to create an attraction and tension between the 46-story north tower and 34-story south tower, which was executed with floor plates incrementally increasing and decreasing in size.

The stunning design has drawn lavish praise and even a little criticism, but Kargill surmounted all the obstacles in the project’s path, and X/O is moving forward to break ground this spring.

Beyond the architecturally unique composition of the project, X/O offers amenities that are cutting-edge for the Chicago market. A separate 13,000-square-foot lifestyle center known as Spa X/O will feature a swimming pool, aqua grotto with cascading waterfalls, misting park and social sauna. The center, managed by New York-based American Leisure Corp., will have a fitness spa and sunbathing deck, massage therapy, classes, and personal training sessions.

The units, priced in February from the $300s to more than $2 million, will benefit from environmentally friendly construction and feature granite and marble countertops, porcelain tile in the bathrooms, European-style cabinetry and stainless-steel appliances in the kitchens. The standard appliance package includes a side-by-side refrigerator/freezer, 30-inch professional gas range, over-range microwave, dishwasher, and a double-bowl under mount sink with a polished chrome faucet. Residences on upper floors feature upgraded finishes with Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances and natural stone bathrooms.

Landscape architect Ernie Wong designed a 10,000-square-foot botanic park for a two-acre site along Prairie Avenue. The X/O sales office, located at 1712 S Prairie Ave, is open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

If there’s one thing prospective buyers appreciate, it’s the chance to walk around a finished home. Model units are an essential tool for buyers, and most developments are lucky to have two or three furnished units to show buyers.

CMK Companies’ 1720 S. Michigan, a 33-story high-rise in the South Loop, took this trend a step further, adding 15 fully furnished residences to help buyers visualize their new homes.
“They’re finished units that we opted to furnish,” explains Scott Hoskins, president and managing broker with CMK Realty Corp. “We wanted to represent the different unit types that we have in the building.”

This gives the high-rise an entirely new appeal to prospective buyers, he says.

“When buyers can come in and actually see the furniture and see how things are placed, it makes a huge difference.”

The homes feature 10-foot ceilings with exposed concrete surfaces, floor-to-ceiling windows, stainless-steel appliances and granite countertops in the kitchen, hardwood flooring in the living room and dining room, and a choice of luxury carpeting in bedrooms and dens.

About 55 of the project’s 498 total units are still available for sale. Hoskins attributes the development’s rapid sales success to young professionals drawn to both the value and the architectural appeal of 1720 S. Michigan.

For around $209,000, buyers can secure a one-bedroom, one-bath floor plan; the large three-bedroom, two-bath homes start in the $400s.

Nine residences are built per floor on the first seven levels above the modernly adorned lobby, which features slate, stainless steel and imported woods. The ground level will also offer 8,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, including a planned full-service restaurant.

The building’s garage is tucked behind the tower façade and hidden from view. The six-level garage features 411 indoor, heated parking spaces and 40 outdoor spaces on the roof priced at $36,900 per space. Building amenities include a 24-hour door manager, bicycle storage room, pet-friendly dog run and common-access garden area.

Designed by Brininstool & Lynch, 1720 S. Michigan’s architectural façade showcases horizontal ribbons of concrete and residences with large terraces and balconies with glass railings. In a recent press release, David Brininstool said the Michigan Avenue address “demanded that [the firm] design a building that maintained the street façade and blend with the context of the neighborhood.”

The sales center and models are located at 1720 S. Michigan Ave.; hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

CMK has been active in the South Loop since 1997, and Hoskins says the firm is still as excited as ever about the neighborhood’s prospects.

“Every month you hear about announcements and additional retail and restaurants,” he says. “We saw the potential, and now we’re seeing that potential become reality.”

The Sears Tower, which for more than three decades was the tallest building in the world, stands 1,450 feet and, depending on how you count them, 108 stories tall. These are good facts to have tucked away as you try to appreciate the enormity of Shelbourne Development Ltd.’s proposed Chicago Spire. At 2,000 feet and 150 stories, the Santiago Calatrava-designed Spire would be 38 percent taller than the tower that for years was the undisputed giant of the world.

Take the Sears Tower and stack another 40-story high-rise on top of it, and you’re still not quite to the top of the twisting, corkscrew-like Spire, planned for 420 E. North Water St., in Streeterville.

Trump International Hotel & Tower will be just 88 feet shorter than The Sears Tower when it tops out at 92 floors, and across the Chicago River from Trump, Waterview Tower’s 90 stories put it just a few hundred feet under The Donald’s Chicago high-rise.

Building tall is in vogue for Chicago’s residential developers like never before. That’s despite predictions that fears of terrorism would spawn shorter, less attention-getting structures after Sept. 11, 2001.

“In Asia we will still see very tall buildings,” A. Eugene Kohn, of the New York architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox, wrote in the online journal of the Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania in 2001. “But in this country I would venture a good guess there will be no proposals for super-tall buildings in the near future.”

Such fears have dissipated as time has passed and as government alerts have jumped from yellow to red to orange and back again. Terrorist attacks now seem as likely to arrive through a shipping port or a mailbox as in an airplane aimed at a high-rise.

Fears of terrorism did not deter the more than 600 homebuyers who have purchased at Trump, and they did not deter Shelbourne’s Garrett Kelleher from touting The Spire as a world-class, iconic building that he hopes will draw buyers from overseas as well as the U.S.

Why has residential building reached such heights downtown? A decade-long real estate boom and the growth of residential neighborhoods in the city center have literally sent land costs through the roof. The taller builders go, the more buyers they have to share land and construction costs – and the more profit they can make from a single site, at least in theory.

Taller towers also have better views, generally, which after all, is one of the main reasons buyers who can afford mansions on the ground are instead paying millions for condos in the sky. High-rises like Trump and Waterview Tower will have some of the city’s best vistas – sightlines straight down the river, the skyline at arm’s reach. Others, like the 74-story Mandarin Oriental Tower, 230 N. Stetson Ave., and the 67-story Canyon Ranch Living – Chicago, 680 N. Rush St., will rise above neighboring high-rises in their developed city locations to gain great downtown views.

Farther south, The Enterprise Companies has followed the trend of ever-taller towers at its Museum Park community in the South Loop’s Central Station development as the neighborhood has filled in. The early Museum Park towers were comparative shorties, but the latest, a two-tower development called One Museum Park, is the highest in the South Loop and among the highest in the city. The buildings’ height allows Enterprise to boost services and amenities by sharing them among more buyers, and it lures buyers who can afford more established locations to the breathtaking lake views these towers will have.

“One Museum Park offers the only ultra-luxury buildings in the South Loop; we’re able to command that price point because of those views,” says Ron Shipka Jr., a principal in The Enterprise Companies. “You move into high-rise buildings really for two reasons, view and location…I think you can get away with a non-view building on the North Side, if positioned correctly and located in a good area. But as it relates to stuff south, you have to have a view.”

Having an image doesn’t hurt either, at this price point, and the tallest towers loom as large in buyers’ consciousness as they will on the skyline. At Trump, the 92-story height is complemented by the developer’s brand, and at The Spire, the cachet of starchitect Calatrava and his innovative design, provide major stature.

Four of the five tallest condo towers rising in Chicago include hotels (the only one that doesn’t, The Spire, scrapped plans for a hotel component when the project was reconfigured). Hotels enhance a building’s image – and on a very concrete level, buyers’ lifestyles. Residents at most of the tallest developments underway will have access to gourmet room service, maid service, spas, restaurants and endless other perks.

Whatever doubts 9 / 11 spurred, tall buildings are back. That the new crop of super-tall towers is devoted to hotel and residential uses, and not primarily office space, like the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center, seems to demonstrate an even greater level of trust. The new giants don’t just require their occupants to work in the sky, but also to sleep there. How peacefully they sleep these days might have more to do with the sagging real estate market than the fear of terrorism.

The ten tallest residential towers proposed or underway in Chicago

The Chicago Spire
2,000 feet
150 stories
420 E. North Water St.
$750s – $40M

Trump International Hotel & Tower
1,362 feet
92 stories
401 N. Wabash Ave.
$580s – $9.6M

Waterview Tower
1,047 feet
90 stories
111 W. Wacker Drive
$610s – $8.8M

Mandarin Oriental Tower
930 feet
74 stories
230 N. Stetson Ave.
$520s – $21M

Aqua
822 feet
80 stories
225 N. Columbus Drive
$650s – $3M

The Legacy at Millennium Park
819 feet
72 stories
60 E. Monroe St.
$430s – $4.3M

One Museum Park
734 feet
62 stories
1215 S. Prairie Private Ave.
$1.2M – $2.7M

Canyon Ranch Living – Chicago
730 feet
67 stories
680 N. Rush St.
$800s – $4.5M

Elysian Hotel & Private Residences
700 feet
60 stories
11 E. Walton St.
$600s – $7.9M

One Museum Park (west tower)
620 feet
53 stories
1201 S. Prairie Private Ave.
$440s – $2M

Whole prices, which have been rounded, were quoted in October 2007 and may have changed since then.
The heights of high-rise developments often change before, and even after, ground has been broken as builders respond to buyer demands, the realities of the marketplace, financing and other factors.

In 2003, architecture critic and local blogger Lynn Becker wrote a cover story in the Chicago Reader calling on developers to “stop the blandness.”

Incredibly, they listened. At least many of them did.

As Becker was writing, there already were hints of serious changes afoot in local residential design. A number of builders had been steadily creating track records for progressive projects, and dissatisfaction with a series of terrible towers in neighborhoods like River North was taking its toll.

The vast bulk of major developments, however, were not especially well-designed, this at a time when a building boom was remaking the city’s skyline. But in just four short years, Chicago has seen a sea change in residential design.

Glass and steel are suddenly in fashion. Facades are curving and shimmering and even spiraling skyward. Architects are experimenting with massing and color, balconies and rooflines.

Plenty of new designs are still vintage-looking, borrowing their styles from the Art Deco or Victorian eras, adding French touches here and English motifs there, and that probably will always be the case. Lots of homebuyers say that buildings of stone and brick with clear caps and clear bases and an air of history are “warmer” than more contemporary designs.

And once upon a time (not so long ago), the market offered little else. Now that the tides have turned, homebuyers – at least those looking for condos – have a wider variety of home styles from which to choose than ever before. Low-rise housing, unfortunately, is still dominated, with some exceptions, by fairly similar, fairly retro-looking designs. Mid-rises, however, have started to show signs of evolving; perhaps the zeitgeist is working its way down the architectural ladder.

Will a softening market stop this trend dead in its tracks? While it already has slowed the pace of building, it’s not likely to hurt the movement toward modern design. The successes of developers (ranging from Donald Trump to CMK Companies) with contemporary projects across a broad range of price points for a broad spectrum of buyers have been too well established.

If anything, a tougher market encourages builders to separate their products from the pack, and unique design is one way to do that. Virtually anything will sell in the sort of boom years Chicago recently experienced – and anything did. Now, when buyers are concerned with keeping up with inflation at resale (as opposed to keeping up with the Rockefellers), developments that set themselves apart have something significant to tout.

The movement toward “green” building, which is gaining ground in Chicago, will only increase the trend. Modernist projects ranging from the West Loop’s Emerald to Lakeshore East’s 340 on the Park have inextricably linked environmentally-friendly development with contemporary architecture, and buyers appear to be responding.

Below are just a few of the most interesting residential designs in development in Chicago. Thankfully, there are now many more where they came from.

235 Van Buren
A previous collaboration between developer CMK Companies and architect Ralph Johnson, of Perkins & Will, resulted in Contemporaine, an architectural tour de force in River North. This time around, the developer and designer have paired up for a much different project, a 46-story high-rise with more than 700 units – one of the largest new developments to be announced this year downtown.

Like the much smaller River North building, 235 Van Buren draws on Johnson’s sculptural approach to design. In some ways, it’s two buildings – the north façade turns strong horizontal ribbons of concrete and glass toward the Loop and the south façade presents a wall of glass punctuated with playfully irregular balconies to the endless cars streaming in and out of the city via the Eisenhower Expressway.

Many architects dislike balconies in high-rises. Developers and marketers insist on their presence in residential buildings, but designers often go along grudgingly, convinced their structures would be more elegant without these tacked-on appendages. That attitude tends to show in balconies that look, well, tacked-on. Johnson, by contrast, embraces his balconies, which in turn, embrace the city, their cantilevered forms jutting into the urban environment and to use his image, “spinning off the building’s column in a fashion similar to a pinwheel.”

The exuberance of those balconies is contained in a restrained concrete frame, which also draws attention to an eye-catching corner roof element (a Johnson trademark) and references the building’s very different flip side. The concrete southern wall of the base, striated with angled horizontal lines, echoes its neighbor, the highway, while the base’s northern side turns a friendly glass face – and neighborhood retail – to Van Buren Street.

The building has a deep footprint, which can make getting adequate light and ventilation to back bedrooms an issue. Johnson used some tricks from loft construction, including partial-height walls to “borrow” light from the fronts of units, where wide expanses of glass maximize it.

600 North Fairbanks
Helmut Jahn, whose cutting-edge work for years seemed to be appreciated everywhere but his adopted town of Chicago, is back on the local scene, following up his Illinois Institute of Technology project, State Street Village, with 600 North Fairbanks. The sleek glass tower leans audaciously over a neighboring building and in some ways seems a response to the awkward pedestals on which so many recent Chicago high-rises have been perched.

Jahn, of architecture firm Murphy / Jahn, designed the 41-story tower with a curved wall of glass for the corner of Fairbanks Court and Ohio Street, where construction started early in 2006 and is now nearing completion. Like the exterior, unit interiors display a European influence, with open floor plans, some exposed steel and concrete, and floor-to-ceiling windows.

Utilizing air rights over a neighboring low-rise structure, Jahn’s high-rise projects over the adjacent building at an eye-catching slant. As the remainder of the glass goes up, reflecting the clouds floating over Streeterville, Jahn’s brilliant sense of proportions is more evident each day. Like many great artists, he makes it look easy, but there are plenty of buildings nearby proving how difficult it is.

Aqua, 225 N. Columbus Drive
At first glance, Aqua might seem like sheer architectural playfulness, an idea incubated and hatched in an adventurous architect’s mind sans developer, site or financing. But on closer inspection, it becomes clear that this is not just one of the most creative designs Chicago has seen in years, it’s also a direct response to its location and to the lifestyles of its future residents.

The rippled, undulating façade of the 81-story high-rise is less sculptural than geological, and indeed, designer Jeanne Gang, of Studio / Gang Architects, has said that the waves of neighboring Lake Michigan and the weathered sandstone outcroppings of the Great Lakes served as inspiration.

The wavy surface serves another purpose too. Gang figured that if she modulated the façade by bumping out floor plates to varying degrees, she would create interesting and unexpected views for residents. On Aqua’s east side, for example, units that would have faced the Lakeshore East park, will also have views of Millennium Park, to the south. In the process, Gang has created a one-of-a-kind building for a very prominent spot on the skyline, just north of Millennium Park between Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue.

The Chicago Spire, 420 E. North Water St.

It has been compared to a drill bit and a corkscrew and a portion of the male anatomy. It has been praised and maligned and speculated about endlessly. It has even gotten the attention and suffered the scorn of The Donald – the true mark of an ambitious project.

Will Shelbourne Development Group, Inc. actually build the 150-story Chicago Spire, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava to be the tallest in North America? We don’t know anything for certain, but since ground has been broken and site work has been underway for several months, we have to assume that Irish developer Garrett Kelleher means business.

Let’s hope so. The elegant iconic structure pictured in Calatrava’s renderings would do for Chicago in the 21st century what the Sears Tower did for the city in the 20th. The lakefront tower would be a beacon and a monument, and drive home the fact that Chicago – once the clear leader in building design – is back on the architectural map after a long dull spell.

Rotating floor plates create a twisting, tapering, soaring skyscraper in Calatrava’s hands. It’s too early to say what the interiors might look like, although from these heights in this location, the views would obviously be stunning.

The design is muscular and forceful, but the beauty of The Spire is that even at 150 stories, its narrowing spiral profile manages to look graceful, though never insubstantial. Some of the elegance of the initial design, which rotated floor plates 360 degrees (as opposed to 270) and tapered the tower more at the top, was lost in revision. But the first design was probably unbuildable, given the economics of Chicago’s real estate market.

X/O Condominiums, 1712 S. Prairie Ave

Architect Lucien Lagrange is best known for his ultra-luxury buildings in and around the Gold Coast, structures that, observers often remark, look like they’ve always been there. But with X/O Condominiums, 1712 S. Prairie Ave., Lagrange continues down the path on which he embarked with modern projects such as Kingsbury on the Park and Erie on the Park. Like those cutting-edge buildings, X/O makes a bold, contemporary statement, clearly Lagrange’s boldest to date.

The floor plates of the development’s two high-rises (a 44-story north tower and a 34-story south tower) expand and contract as the eye travels up the structures, so that they slope gently, with curves too subtle and willowy to be called voluptuous. Lagrange has compared the buildings to figures dancing and in this case, the metaphor isn’t architectural pretension.

The towers work not as a single unit, but as a beautifully matched pair, straining toward each other and away in a compelling frozen dance. Their lower halves pull together sensually (yes, that sounds odd, but take a look at the rendering), while on the upper stories, the high-rises move out to a more seemly arm’s length. They are complementary and bend in tandem, but like dancers, they are not symmetrical or perfectly matched. The shapes and heights of the buildings vary, as do the skillfully designed balconies, whose patterns echo each other without simply mirroring.

For a high-rise to be successful, it must have three elements in harmony: location, architecture and layout.

So says Lucien Lagrange, the French-born architect with a range of high-profile Chicago buildings to his credit. For his latest design, Ten East Delaware, he aims to combine Gold Coast cache, neoclassical architecture and floor plans that respond to buyers’ lifestyles.

The 35-story high-rise underway at 10 E. Delaware Place has a sandy-colored French limestone facade with a pre-cast cornice, a style that evokes Chicago architecture of the 1920s. The detailing extends to the exterior of the ground-level garage.

“A building has to touch the ground in a very graceful way, so as you come down to ground, there’s a lot of detail,” he says. “You want to design a building so it doesn’t hit the ground – it sits on the ground.”

Architects often design the exterior of a building first and then move to the interior layout. “We don’t do that,” Lagrange says. The arrangement of rooms within the condos is paramount in his view.

The largest units at Ten East Delaware have three living spaces, 14-by-20-foot living / dining rooms, family rooms and dens. This sprawling set-up responds to “a more sophisticated, elegant lifestyle,” Lagrange says. The condos, which range from 945 to 3,295 square feet, have natural stone countertops, Grohe faucets in the kitchens, Toto sinks in the bathrooms, Sub-Zero refrigerators and custom cabinets.

“When we come home, we want a place that is our own and is comfortable,” Lagrange says. “Some places can be aggressive. That’s exactly what we try not to do.” Ten East Delaware is, he says, “a very restful place. You walk in and there are no funny angles. Symmetry brings comfort and peace of mind.”

The level of service will bring its share of comfort too. The building will offer condo owners housekeeping and food service from the adjacent Talbott Hotel, 20 E. Delaware Place.

“The owner of Talbott Hotel and I sat down and made a deal that’s mutually beneficial,” says Michael Reschke, CEO & chairman of The Prime Group, Inc., the developer. “From his standpoint, it’s a small profit, and for our residents, it’s a wonderful service available on an a-la-carte basis. It’s nice to wake up on a Sunday morning, call and have breakfast brought to you.”

In addition to hotel services, residents will have access to The Ten Club, a facility with a rooftop swimming pool, a 6,000-square-foot fitness center, a sundeck, gardens and a private room for events.

According to Reschke, these features have helped with sales, even in a slumping real estate market. Of the 121 units at Ten East Delaware, 75 had been sold in early July. Sales have proceeded at a steady pace, with one to two contracts signed per week, Reschke says.

Prices range from the $550s for a one-bedroom to $2.4 million for a penthouse unit, with the average price hovering between $1.2 million and $1.3 million, according to Reschke.

Construction on the project started in April, and deliveries are scheduled for fall 2009.

If you’re about to drop half a million dollars on a new condo, chances are you’re hoping for a room with a view.

Prospective homebuyers shopping the market in River North have plenty of high-end options, but not many of them have the kinds of sweeping views buyers tend to want downtown. The neighborhood’s stock of older loft buildings is mostly mid-rise, and on many blocks, zoning has capped new buildings around 14 stories. Superior 110, a glass-and-steel tower by JFJ Development Co. underway at the northwest corner of Superior and Clark streets, is an exception, clocking in at 27 stories.

The mechanics of Chicago’s zoning ordinance allowed JFJ to build tall on the former site of a police station. Because the buyer of the northern piece of the site constructed a building of just four stories, JFJ essentially was able to borrow the allowed height (or “floor area ratio”) not used by the other project.

“Instead of being able to build two buildings that were only 14 or 15 stories tall, they gave the floor area ratio over to us,” says Jon Zitzman, JFJ’s president.

“It was a very unique opportunity where the city was able to get something carved out that would allow for a much taller building in an area where that just can’t happen typically,” says Greg Eldridge, the At Properties sales agent who is marketing the project.

In addition to the building’s vertical advantage, it houses only 62 units – two to four condos per floor – a small number for such a tall structure. Eldridge points out that this gives each condo at least a corner exposure, if not a three-sided one.

Many of those corners have balconies, which will bookend a beveled glass façade, punctuated by a vertical center cutout in a design by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture. The cutout makes space for more corners without disrupting the building’s graceful curve.

The superior views at Superior 110 will, of course, be the east-facing ones, but Hartshorne maximized this vista by extending the western half of Superior 110 farther north than the eastern half of the building. This design creates three-sided views for northwest units, which will face the lake on one side.

The glass-and-steel design is a departure for JFJ, which has focused on more traditional architecture, Zitzman says. It’s also a departure for River North, which suffered a number of bland beige towers in recent years. Zitzman is betting that Superior 110’s pared-down, modern aesthetic will draw buyers.

“Right now the market is driven by architecture,” he says, “and we really want all of our buildings to be significant architecturally.”

That’s not to say amenities aren’t important. Superior 110 will have 24-hour door staff, business and fitness centers, a landscaped dog run on the 26th floor and personal storage spaces. Heated garage parking will occupy floors two through six. Deeded spots range from $40,000 to $48,000.

The condos will have 9.5-foot ceiling heights, hardwood floors and floor-to-ceiling windows. Interior appointments include stainless steel appliances from Sub-Zero, Bosch and Wolf, stone slab countertops, Snaidero cabinetry, recessed and pendant lighting, integrated security systems and 42-inch plasma TVs.

Floors eight through 19 have four units per floor, ranging from 1,150 to 1,350 square feet. The 7th floor and floors 20 through 27 feature half-floor units ranging from 2,200 to 2,500 square feet. These larger condos include 1,400 square feet of private outdoor space, as well as upgraded appliances, five-speaker surround sound, closet organizer upgrades and electronics allowances.

Sharing a floor with so few neighbors is meant to create a sense of intimacy, and Eldridge says that has been a strong selling point for a broad range of people. Buyers have so far run the gamut from first-timers to empty nesters to suburban transplants, he says.

In early July, with construction underway, Superior 110 was about 40 percent sold, according to Eldridge. Remaining units ranged from the low $500s to $1.6 million, and the first deliveries were scheduled for late summer 2008.

Trump brand, Skidmore design raise giant profile on prominent river perch

An awed “whoa” was Dana Sindha’s gut reaction to Trump International Hotel & Tower, under construction at 401 N. Wabash Ave. in River North. The 27-year-old medical student was visiting from her home in Ohio for the first time in five years. The last time she was here, the squat, metallic Sun-Times building blighted this prominent spot on the Chicago River. “This looks like it’s going to be pretty awesome. I love the blue,” she said quickly, the sharp breeze off the river hustling her along.

Even on a wintry day, it’s hard for tourists walking the Magnificent Mile and lifelong Chicagoans alike not to stop to witness the drama of a major skyscraper underway.

“Ultimately, this 92-story tower with this amazing glass façade will be an iconic image in this city,” says Tere Proctor, the Koenig & Strey GMAC Real Estate agent leading sales at Trump Tower. “The presence of this tower is already being experienced by the neighborhood and anybody who happens by the site.”

You’d never mistake the building, festooned from top to bottom with banners bearing only the word “Trump,” for anything other than the brainchild of real estate mogul Donald Trump, and that, Proctor says, is the point.

“A big part of our success is the Trump brand, which really brings an identity to the building,” she says. “People know that it’s associated with high-end luxury and quality.” Buyers outside of Chicago have purchased units over the phone, Proctor says, because of the trust they have in the developer. “They know if it’s Trump, it has to be good.”

“Good” may be an understatement. As Trump himself might say, it’s gonna be huge.

The tower, which according to Proctor will have the greatest number of residential units of any single residential building in the U.S., has 472 condos and 286 hotel condos all with access to five-star hotel amenities, including maid service, in-house spa services, catering, and round-the-clock room service and concierge staff. Thirty-thousand square feet of health club space includes more than a dozen spa treatment rooms.

A deck on the 16th floor will provide outdoor dining space for one of the building’s restaurants, and the hotel’s grand ballroom has 30-foot ceiling heights and views of the lake. The residential lobby will have 35-foot ceiling heights, stone floors, wood-paneled walls and dramatic chandeliers. “Everything is on the grand scale,” Proctor said.

Interior finishes include Brazilian walnut floors, Italian Snaidero cabinetry, granite countertops with full-height backsplashes, stainless steel appliances by Sub-Zero and Miele, and floor-to-ceiling limestone bathroom walls. All units have floor-to-ceiling windows and 10- to 16-foot ceiling heights.

Sales at Trump Tower, which, at press time, had reached 80 percent in the residential condo portion of the project and 78 percent in the hotel condo, have been driven by luxury-seeking Baby Boomers, Proctor says. “They can afford anyplace. They can live anywhere they want. Why do they spend anywhere from $1,000 to $1,600 a square foot in this building?” she asks. “Because they want the best.”

And the best is still available, Proctor says. “We’ve sold the equivalent of two buildings already, and there’s a perception that all the good stuff is gone, but we’ve still got water views – we’ve still got the best of everything.”

While Trump Tower won’t have the famous observation decks enjoyed by the Sears Tower and Hancock Center, the monumental structure will still have plenty to offer those who can’t afford an address there. “We’ve created an environment at the base of this building that I think will be a tremendous addition to the city,” Proctor says. “I see it as a destination.”

Situated a block off Michigan Avenue and a bridge away from the Loop, Trump Tower will sit on a 1.2-acre stretch of park space created on the bank of the river. Around 90,000 square feet of retail space, dominated by high-end shops and restaurants, will front the water.

The Skidmore, Owings & Merrill-designed building, sheathed in tinted glass that reflects the neighboring architecture, is also a new visual asset for Chicago, Proctor says. Sandwiched between Mies van der Rohe’s modernist black box at 330 N. Wabash Ave. and the classical terra cotta of the Wrigley Building, Trump Tower continues the evolving architectural dialogue along Chicago’s riverfront. “I think it’s becoming a part of the city,” says Proctor.

Residential condos at Trump Tower range from studios to five-bedroom units, priced from the $580s to $9.6 million for a 6,850-square-foot penthouse with 16-foot ceiling heights and panoramic views. Studio to two-bedroom hotel condos are priced from the $850s to $3.6 million.
Owners purchase these deeded units just as they would traditional condos, but they have the option of including them in the rental program of suites at the Trump-managed hotel. Owners share in hotel operational fees and in revenue when hotel guests rent their units.

Unlike at some other hotel condo projects, Trump places no limits on how long hotel condo owners can remain in residence each year, and the developer will not retain ownership of any hotel condos. This guarantees that buyers are never in competition with the developer when it comes to leasing hotel rooms.

Construction on the tower had reached the 26th floor in the second week of March, and the hotel portion of the building was scheduled to open in December 2007. First residential deliveries are planned for April 2008.

CMK combines cutting-edge design with affordable prices in South Loop

On a recent January afternoon, a young woman in slim gray pants and a white fur-trimmed parka passed through a hallway at 1620 South Michigan, the sleek high-rise completed late last summer in the South Loop. She looked as if she might have been designed to go with the building, to match its white walls, clean lines and slabs of exposed concrete.

The building’s hip, minimalist aesthetic is typical of 1620 S. Michigan’s developer, CMK Companies. And the young style-conscious woman strolling the halls is typical of CMK’s buyers, according to company president Colin Kihnke.

“We offer modern, contemporary, edgy architecture at affordable price points very attractive to first- or second-time home buyers,” he says. “That’s our M.O. on every one of our projects.”

Many of these dot the South Loop, which has transformed from a wasteland of old railroad land, vacant lots and industrial buildings into the city’s fastest growing neighborhood – and lately, a laboratory of modern architecture. That’s due in no small part to CMK. Four CMK buildings line the five-block stretch of Boul Mich between 14th and Cullerton streets, at 1440, 1620, 1720 and 1845 S. Michigan Ave. All of them were designed by the architecture firm Brininstool & Lynch, known for its modern residential buildings and public spaces such as the Perimeter Gallery in Chicago’s River North neighborhood and the Racine Art Museum in Racine, Wis.

The 33-story condo tower at 1720 S. Michigan, currently under construction, is one of CMK and Brininstool’s notable successes. According to Appraisal Research Counselors, a firm that tracks housing data, 400 of the building’s 498 units sold last year, making it the top-selling condo development downtown (about 100 units were available at press time). It shares many design elements with 1620 S. Michigan; both have floor-to-ceiling windows and unfinished concrete ceilings, for example. While 1720 offers a few more amenities, including door staff and a retail arcade on the ground floor, the philosophy behind both buildings is to keep costs down and design cutting-edge.

The idea that good design doesn’t have to be expensive is everywhere these days, from Target commercials hawking Isaac Mizrahi clothes to Crate and Barrel shelves displaying $45 Marimekko shower curtains.

CMK’s buildings have a similar ethos. From the street, 1620 S. Michigan looks like a pair of adjoining, asymmetrical boxes, made primarily from concrete, steel and glass. The façade of the southern half is enclosed in a concrete frame, and balconies form uninterrupted horizontal bands along the north face of the building.

This theme continues in the entranceway, where one wall is lined with corrugated steel. An intercom system worthy of “Battlestar Galactica” takes visitors through a set of glass doors into a lobby with concrete walls, gray stone floors and a row of mailboxes offset by a slab of ochre marble.

A two-bedroom, two-bathroom model on the fourth floor calls to mind light boxes used by photographers. The floor-to-ceiling windows, framed in anodized aluminum, fill the 1,100-square-foot space with afternoon sun, casting a diffuse glow over the oak floors and granite-topped kitchen island.

The cement ceilings, which are 10 feet high, reflect the developer’s love of industrial materials. “I like exposed concrete,” Kihnke says. “We’ve used it for 15 years now.” But gone are the industrial touches, such as exposed ductwork, that used to be features of CMK buildings. “I think we’ve really refined the units over time,” Kihnke says. “I like the kind of cleaner look that we’ve progressed to.”

As in many of 1620 S. Michigan’s 249 condos, the main living space in the two-bedroom model triples as a kitchen and eating area. The large windows, a feature of many of CMK and Brininstool’s collaborations, make the spaces seem larger, Kihnke says. The building’s studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units range from 537 to 1,771 square feet. The homes at 1720 S. Michigan have one to three bedrooms and 625 to 2,158 square feet.

Creating smaller units allows CMK to offer competitive pricing, Kihnke says. The condos at 1720 S. Michigan range from the $180s to the $490s, with the bulk of the units in the $180,000 to $350,000 range. One-bedroom condos at 1620 S. Michigan (nearly sold out at press time) debuted in the $180s, according to Scott Hoskins, Managing Broker of CMK Realty Corporation.

Those are aggressive starting price for brand new condos in the city, according to Gail Lissner of Appraisal Research Counselors. “Any condos under $200,000 are priced very competitively in this market,” Lissner says.

Secured outdoor parking is available at both 1620 and 1720 S. Michigan Ave. for $29,900. Indoor heated parking is $34,900 at 1620 S. Michigan and $36,900 at 1720 S. Michigan.

Story by Alison Soltau 

Six top Chicago architects discuss residential design, hot trends, pet peeves and buildings they love

For a while there, it was no fun talking to Chicago’s top residential architects. It’s not that they bored us – they’re among the most interesting people you’ll ever meet – but they were prone to complaints. They complained about developers who refused to build anything interesting, about the buyers who settled for bland buildings, about the bankers who wouldn’t finance anything perceived as risky and about the brokers who promoted the idea that only vintage-looking designs could sell in Chicago.

There were good reasons for the architects’ grumbling, but even well-reasoned, articulate complaints from the intellectuals who, literally, shape our city, grow old quickly.

My, how times have changed. Today, Chicago architects are brimming with optimism and kind words. Innovation and creativity are back, and though there’s no shortage of mediocre designs, plenty of beautiful, smart residential projects are on the drawing board or under construction. Chicago architects again have the opportunity to display this town’s considerable design talent, and they even, on occasion, have nice things to say about each other’s work.

The zeitgeist has changed to such a degree that we decided to let you listen in directly on our conversations and hear about the latest residential architecture in the best way possible – from the mouths of architects.

David Brininstool, Brininstool & Lynch

David Brininstool founded the firm of Brininstool & Lynch with Brad Lynch in 1989. Current residential projects include the high-rises 550 St. Clair, 535 St. Clair and 1720 S. Michigan.

NH: What influenced the design for 550 St. Clair?

DB: Brininstool & Lynch has always been positioned as pursuing modern development and modern design, and we developed our reputation doing custom residences. The idea with 550 St. Clair was to take these ideas and really exploit them with the same approach we would take to a custom residence. We presented this idea to multiple clients, and they were not quite ready for that step. Five-fifty St. Clair is in Streeterville, which is a more sophisticated, upscale audience, and there was more openness to a building that emphasizes building design.

The unit plans were really what drove the project, and other elements were selected or developed to best serve or optimize the unit plans. We created sliding panels at the outer walls to allow rooms to open up or close off. A separate bedroom can operate more as a media room or a natural extension of the main living space.

When we did the kitchens we wanted them to be pieces that are seamlessly integrated into the architecture, so we have appliances integrated behind the cabinetry fronts, and they read more like cabinetry or furniture, rather than dropping a conventional kitchen into the living room. For people leading a downtown lifestyle, who are frequently out a lot of the time, the space is not functioning as a kitchen, but it’s functioning as an aesthetic space.

NH: Does your focus on the interior of the building compromise its exterior?

DB: It gives the exterior of the building a pleasing look. It’s just very straightforward, really simple and visually quiet as far as it fits into the neighborhood. We think it’s more important that the big impact is looking out and that the building functions well for the people who inhabit it and for its neighbors.

NH: Some prominent architects are feted as celebrities. What do you think of the notion of a “starchitect”?

DB: In many respects it’s good for all of us because we need to get the public engaged and excited about architecture. There are trophy buildings and celebrity architects, and I hope the right people don’t think of it as that alone but delve deeper.

NH: You’re a self-described “lower-case modernist.” What do you think of the debates between people who espouse modern design and those who appreciate neo-historicism?

DB: Even though we are a contemporary, modernist firm, I wouldn’t say that’s the only valid approach. It’s not about the approach or style, it’s about the quality of pursuing that style. There are too many examples, on buildings that are modern or neo-historical, where the architect applies style as though it is clothing rather than intrinsic to the planning of the building.

NH: Name some good Chicago buildings.

DB: …It’s too early to tell, but I’m intrigued by MoMo [by Booth Hansen]. It’s a different approach than our work. I’m being simplistic, but we deal in a minimalist, overall more volumetric, expression, and that building is more articulated, more textured; it’s almost baroque.

NH: How would you like to see Chicago architecture advance?

DB: Fewer resources are put into residential building than other building types because the economics of it are extremely tight and challenging, yet it’s such a fundamental part of our built environment. I hope we can rethink that formula. We need to figure out how we can bring things like rainwater recovery systems into the housing market. We’re not tree-huggers and we don’t wear Birkenstocks, but this is a quandary. The green roof is a great thing but it’s just scratching the surface. Our resources are not infinite.

Jim Curtin, Solomon Cordwell Buenz

Jim Curtin is a principal in Solomon Cordwell Buenz, whose current projects include 50 E. Chestnut, The ParkView and 340 on the Park. He worked with SCB Senior Principal Martin Wolf, who led the team designing the Mandarin Oriental Tower, on that project.

NH: What was the vision behind the design for the Mandarin Oriental Tower?

JC: We wanted a building designed for 2015 that represents the future of architecture in Chicago. With the advent of the Chicago Energy Code, the idea of glass has become possible not only aesthetically, but also functionally. Buildings become visually lighter and can possess more animation on the exterior while achieving the energy requirements dictated by the code. The Mandarin is a crystalline glass neighbor in an area of darker buildings and has great views of Millennium Park and the Chicago River. On the north and south elevations we’re allowing the building to taper, giving the building a posture as it addresses Lake Michigan. On the east façade there is a lantern up at the top, an open latticework of structure and glass, giving the building an iconographic signature.

NH: How does the design of the units reflect current or future lifestyle trends?

JC: The living-dining areas are designed to be open and large so that you have this feeling of spaciousness when you walk into the unit. The current design is trying to make the bathroom more spa-like and more welcoming. The idea of attention to personal care and relaxation now is entering the mainstream of residences, and people want to capture a little bit of that essence into their home.

NH: Describe the architectural climate in Chicago in 2006.

JC: In the past, people were trying to fulfill the target market – this kind of granite, this kind of cabinet – and leaving the exterior as more of an enclosure to the unit and its amenities. In River North you had a number of buildings that were following a similar formula for bringing empty nesters downtown and were not looking at how the building fits in the city, but how the units are very similar to their homes in the suburbs.

Now there is a better balance between providing the right amenities on the inside with a contemporary, more urban aesthetic on the outside.  I believe it coincides somewhat with the creation of Millennium Park. The city can promote its own destiny through how it promotes its own aesthetic. If a city thinks progressively it can’t help but have a trickle-down effect to all those players who help build a city…

NH: How do those other SCB buildings contribute to the streetscape?

JC: The Heritage and The Legacy are unique in the sense that they are one block removed from Michigan Avenue. Michigan Avenue’s more traditional aesthetic is preserved, yet the contemporary towers rise above that base and allow the city to capitalize on the evolving growth of Millennium Park…

NH: Is this emphasis on good contemporary design a fad, brought on by a hot market?

JC: What you’re looking at is a snippet in time that is a direct response to current technologies, initiatives by the city for its beautification and a desire from an expanded audience to live within the excitement and activity of an urban environment. Now, anything can happen when we look at absorption and interest rates. However the city is very solid in its attractiveness for housing and these support services. Entertainment, theater, the arts are all helping to solidify the attractiveness of urban living. It doesn’t seem to be an on-off switch.

NH: Have you noticed dominant trends in residential architecture?

JC: Obviously glass is one, because it’s a beautiful city to view. With the land values as they are, you’re seeing tall slender buildings, which allow natural light to permeate to the street.

NH: Name a great Chicago building designed by an architect not associated with Solomon Cordwell Buenz.

Erie on the Park by Lucien Lagrange. It’s very expressive. It contrasts with other buildings in that area and is a creative use of glass and steel.

 Jeanne Gang, Studio / Gang / Architects

Jeanne Gang’s debut residential high-rise, Aqua, was designed for the Lakeshore East community with architect of record Loewenberg Architects. Gang and Mark Schendel are principals in Studio / Gang / Architects, which was founded in 1997.

NH: What was your vision for Aqua?

JG: The exterior of it is really shaped by the response to different view corridors and landmarks in the city. It’s a tall building, so the upper floors have amazing views with no effort at all. But when you think about a building in the city, it’s not a blank slate. We shaped the building to respond to those other buildings. The floor slabs reach out and capture views that you would not normally get. The floor slabs that create this three-dimensionality change very gradually over the length of the building, so it ends up having the appearance of very water-worn rocks.

With the terrace that we’ve provided you can really occupy the space that’s part of the façade and part of the city. They are all different sizes, some are very large, some medium, some less of a terrace – more of a Juliet balcony. People can pick what suits their lifestyle. The location of Aqua puts you right on a park and a lakefront. They’ll have a pool and other outdoor activities areas like a fire pit where you can gather and have cookouts, and an indoor lap pool.

NH: Aqua is your first residential high-rise project. In the past, you’ve designed institutional buildings ranging from museums to a community amphitheater. How did your background influence Aqua?

JG: We did bring something new to it. Our team is part of a younger generation that likes to have simplicity and access to the outdoors. At our office we have an outdoor courtyard even though we’re on the second floor, and we use it all the time. Everyone in our office who worked on this project would love to live there. We made it what we wanted it to be. In all of our work, we’re looking for that place where you bring the outdoors in, or bring the indoors out. When we designed the amphitheater at the Starlight Theater [in Rockford], we gave it a kinetic roof that opens up to the stars in fair weather.

NH: Is there a distinctly Chicago style of architecture?

JG: One thing that ties us together would be our response to this climate that is particular to Chicago. In this climate, we’re trying to capture the southern sun in winter. We’re trying to do more natural ventilation, so you use air conditioning less and capture some of the renewable energy. Those are all things that are going to start to show up in future architecture in Chicago.

NH: As a younger architect do you think Chicago has a bright architectural future?

JG: There is a buzz. There are more students coming here upon graduation because there are some good buildings being built.

 

David Hovey, Optima, Inc.

New Zealand-born architect David Hovey teaches at IIT and is president and founder of Optima, Inc., which designs and builds homes and residential communities in Arizona and Chicagoland, including prominent pieces of Evanston’s mini-skyline.

NH: What was the philosophy behind the design of your current project, Old Orchard Woods, in Skokie?

DH: It’s obviously a very contemporary building and because it’s a site that has views of he forest preserve and downtown Chicago, it has a diverse shape to the building. It’s arranged in three components that are joined together and arranged at right angles to each other around a very large quadrangle. Instead of the building being one continuous surface, it has cutouts that sometimes are five stories high. Those holes or voids of the building add a kind of relief to the exterior surface and allow light to penetrate it.

It’s a glass and extruded aluminum curtain wall construction. Many of the units are on the corners of the building and because of its diverse shape, it creates lots of corners with very spectacular views and interior light. Instead of the units being narrow and deep, the units have a lot of exterior surface. The floor plans take advantage of the corners of the building to create kitchens, in some cases, which have floor-to-ceiling glass.

The building also has very extensive green roof terrace areas. As the building steps up and down, the horizontal terraces are fully landscaped. It’s a 690-unit building and by bringing people together in an efficient way, you can do some spectacular things. On the top floor penthouse level we have three different fitness centers with outdoor landscape space with fantastic views of the lake, downtown Chicago and the forest preserves.

NH: What are the pros and cons of being both the architect and the developer of a project?

DH: It’s very conducive to distinguished design. Since I am an architect, my main passion, my life, is architecture, so, of course, quality of design is extremely important. The design probably is not compromised in any way because we don’t have anybody else telling us what the design should be. We buy land, built it and market it. There are certain efficiencies and advantages that can be passed on to the buyers.

NH: What’s your opinion of the quality of architecture in Chicago?

DH: Some buildings in the last few years have been driven by cost more than design excellence in Chicago. You have to, as an architect and developer, make a commitment to doing something better. There is some very good competitive architecture in Chicago and I’d like to see more of that, but you can’t say that about all the projects built in Chicago over the last few years.

When we build a building with expansive green roof areas and outdoor landscaped areas that doesn’t cost less money; that costs more money, and the advantages to the community are quite significant because thousands of pounds of oxygen are created by green roofs.The better the design and architecture, the better the chance the public will recognize it, and it will help sales.

NH: What are your architectural dislikes?

DH: I don’t like seeing “applied decoration,” where you take a 21st century building and you try to make it look historic or decorative. Imagine taking something what was meaningful to a past society and trying to put it on a building today. I think it’s inappropriate to do that just for decoration’s sake. This is an extreme example, but you wouldn’t put gargoyles on a 21st century building. I think the architectural beauty of the building should come from the inherent quality of the materials and the proportions of the building and how you’re composing architectural components.

 Lucien Lagrange, Lucien Lagrange Architects

Parisian-born architect Lucien Lagrange is known for classical high-end buildings as well as cutting-edge designs, such as Erie on the Park and Kingsbury on the Park. Current projects include X/O, Ten East Delaware and The Ritz-Carlton Residences.

NH: What was your vision for the upcoming South Loop high-rise development, X/O Condominiums?

LL: We wanted this tower to have an impact on the skyline. It will be very visible from Lake Shore Drive as you’re driving north and as you emerge from the bridge at McCormick Place, you’ll see the two towers and the new [Soldier Field] stadium, which has a very modern and classical look. The towers have to address this location, and with two towers, we could create a composition you could read in the sky. Right away I thought about the movement and tempo of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon because it’s very exciting and has tension. The towers come together and when you look farther up, they come apart. It’s like dancing a tango. You have your hand on the back of the woman, then your torso moves away, you link hips. There is sexual tension and it’s moving forth and back. They are clad in glass; they are going to reflect the sky in their skin. The skin is very sensual in a way. It’s like it’s a dress.

NH: How does X/O Condominiums respond to its South Loop surroundings?

LL: We’re bringing the 21st century to the South Loop, which I don’t think has been done with other buildings. They are pretty good but they are more of the same. They are pretty mundane. The real criticism we faced was why have a modern building so close to the Prairie Avenue Historical District? Glessner House is a landmark now, but at the time it was built it was a very avant-garde building. It was breaking new ground, and in a way, we’re doing the same thing. We pick up from [Glessner House architect Henry Hobson] Richardson. It’s not a location to put a classical building…I don’t want to do a bad Glessner House; I’m not as good as Richardson.

NH: Tell me about the interior of X / O Condominiums.

LL: Every floor is different because of the shape of the building. We’ve created almost 200 different apartments, and we’re responding to the 21st century lifestyle. It’s more open, with a smaller kitchen, bigger bathroom and more closet space. People don’t cook anymore; the lady’s not going to slave in the kitchen.

NH: Is residential architecture entering a new era in Chicago?

LL: I think we are. Six or eight years ago, we saw painted concrete buildings, one after the other. People were putting up those buildings, making money and going to the bank. I would say that the movement toward good architecture started three or four years ago. There was Erie on the Park and Kingsbury on the Park – they were the very first modern buildings. They were really good. Do you know who the architect is? Today what has happened, which is good, is that it’s very competitive, and it’s not a fad; it’s a direction.

NH: Do you see any dominant architectural trends?

LL: There is definitely a trend to more modern, contemporary buildings, but on the other hand, people are doing classical buildings. Ten East Delaware is a classical Beaux Arts building. We do live in a very eclectic society with very different lifestyles that are all valid…

NH: Do you have any architectural pet peeves or buildings you admire?

LL: Some buildings are background buildings. They don’t tell you anything and they don’t move you. But there are some that are just “wow” that make you feel good, like the Monadnock Building in the Loop… Another building I’ve always loved is The Blackstone because it’s a beautiful roof, a big, strong, powerful mansard roof.

NH: What can we expect to see from you in the near future?

LL: I’ve designed a development for the Columbus Hospital site [Lincoln Park 2520]. It’s three towers facing the lake with 300 units, and it’s a high-end market. I’m also looking at doing a building on LaSalle Street, a hotel.

 George Pappageorge, Pappageorge / Haymes

George Pappageorge is a principal in Pappageorge / Haymes, the architecture firm he founded with David Haymes. The firm’s current designs include Park Michigan, Emerald and Museum Park, a campus of 12 towers and counting in the South Loop’s Central Station development.

NH: What was the vision for Museum Park?

GP: A master plan had already been devised and one of the challenges was how to transition from the townhouses that were already built at the southern end of Museum Park at Central Station to the 650-foot-tall modern high-rises along Grant Park at the northern end of Museum Park. We also wanted to create an architectural vocabulary that took some identity from the Museum Campus across Lake Shore Drive. Museum Towers I, II and III are traditional in the sense that they have a base, middle and top. They have exposed concrete frames that are articulated to respond to the classical architectural vocabulary of cornices, columns, classical proportions and details.

Tower IV [1255 S. Prairie Private] becomes the transition point. Tower IV has an expressed concrete frame that perpetuates the notion of a base, a middle and a top, greatly simplified, and flanking the frame are expanses of curved glass curtain walls, which instill the modern idiom, preparing for the 650-foot tall buildings along Roosevelt Road.

NH: How did you consider the skyline and Grant Park when you designed the newest high-rises on Roosevelt Road?

GP: We knew we had to frame the southern edge of Grant Park along Roosevelt Road in order to balance the north wall of high-rises along Millennium Park. Now the park will be framed like Central Park in New York.

One Museum Park East and One Museum Park West, along Roosevelt Road, are very glassy and expressive. One East has a unique massing, where the center of the building rises to the highest point then drops down, creating a dramatic effect. The floor plans of both buildings allow every unit to have lake and park views, capturing vistas from Soldier Field to Millennium Park. We did this with a modified single-loaded corridor format, where the elevators and corridor are at the back of the building, rather than down the center, so that the units have an orientation to the north and the east.

NH: What challenges do “mega-projects” pose?

GP: The complexity of adding towers as you move on in the process became more restrictive due to the fact that we were trying to create protected views for the new towers, while protecting the views of the towers we had already completed. For example, Tower IV had to not stick out too far, so it wouldn’t block the views of Tower III…

NH: What other projects is Pappageorge / Haymes working on?

GP: Park Michigan is an 80-story tower that’s really situated at 9 [S.] Wabash Avenue, but the Michigan Avenue entrance is through the historic YWCA building. It will be the ninth tallest building in Chicago. It’s a needle; it’s so sleek. It will be less than 8,000 square feet per floor, whereas the average building is 12,000 square feet per floor. Its column, curtain wall and canopy have a Miesian quality.

NH: What’s an architectural “pet peeve” for you?

GP: When buildings don’t reach the ground properly, but sit on top of a parking garage. Parking garages rarely contribute in a positive way to creating a lively and vibrant streetscape.

NH: Name a building by another architect that you admire.

GP: The Contemporaine by Ralph Johnson. I like how the building has been subdivided volumetrically into an interesting composition. The dynamic of the forms creates an impact that is much stronger than the scale of the building itself.