Chicago's golden age of architecture – will it last?

Is Chicago in a golden age of architecture? It’s obvious that the hot housing market has inspired a level of competition that has improved the overall quality of downtown high-rises. Architect Jim Curtin, of Solomon Cordwell Buenz, thinks so. Curtin sees a dramatic improvement in the quality of high-rises and hopes that the hulking concrete monstrosities of River North won’t be repeated. “Now there is a better balance between providing the right amenities on the inside with a contemporary aesthetic on the outside.

“I believe it coincides somewhat with the creation of Millennium Park,” Curtin says.

“I don’t want to put too much emphasis on it, but it had a very big impact, in my mind. 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. You can have the most conservative person walk through the park and love the Bean (Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate). And look at Frank Gehry‘s (Jay Pritzker Pavilion) band shell; you can either like it or you don’t have to but you can’t deny its impact.

“You have a great impetus there for contemporary design that can spread like wildfire, if so desired, to its perimeter (at Grant Park) or to the city. It allows someone to say, what a beautiful view, what a beautiful landscape, why can’t I live in an environment that has that same aesthetic and doesn’t just view inside, but really wants to view the magic of the outside?”

Solomon Cordwell Buenz certainly has found plenty of people happy to buy into that dream: the company designed The Legacy, The Heritage, 340 on the Park and Curtin’s project, Mandarin Oriental Tower, all near Millennium Park. Is the emphasis on good design a fad, fueled by a strong market? “If we all knew the answer to that one we’d all be rich,” Curtin says.

“Architecture changes; it’s an art, so it will constantly be evolving. 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, there are all kinds of articles about 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.”