Glassy condo highrises are popping up all over downtown in the City of Big Shoulders, and it’s interesting to look at possible reasons for the material’s popularity.
Are Chicagoans, long thought to have old-school leanings when it comes to residential architecture, developing a taste for modernism or just snapping up glass houses because that’s what’s on offer in trendy neighborhoods like the South Loop?
Architect Brian Kidd of Pappageorge / Haymes, who worked on many of The Enterprise Companies‘ sprawling Museum Park campus of highrises, which includes 1400 Museum Park, (see right) tells us glass has become the material of choice for several reasons.
For one, it offers architects a lot of creative scope. Kidd designed the curves of 1400’s blue glass skin to play off the light, creating different moods at different times of the day. He says that in practical terms, glass has become more economical than concrete or masonry in recent years, requires less maintenance than the other materials, and the increasingly sophisticated glass coatings available offer energy savings on heating. We want to hear your likes and dislikes in glass highrise design.