We’ve discussed Concept Developers‘ new South Loop high-rise, Azure Tower, 1330 S Michigan Ave, in a previous post, so we figured it was time to hear from the horse’s mouth. New Homes Magazine writer Dan Schuyler spoke with Concept’s Sebastian Sobieski and Azure Tower architect Jim Plunkard of Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture. Schuyler asked them about the design of the blue-skinned building, which features terra cotta slabs at the base and apex.
Sobieski told Schuyler that he wanted to do something different with Azure because he saw so much “similarity in the new construction” along South Michigan Avenue. “We wanted Azure to be unique in a number of different ways, so that it would not become just another high-rise on the street.”
Sobieski thinks the blue-skinned glass is a unique touch, although Yo’s truly can point to several other blue-tinged towers in the South Loop. “We wanted the building to play off the lake and the sky,” Sobieski said. “And we also felt that the blue tint slims down the building and emphasizes the height.”
Plunkard told us that the terra cotta at the base of the building wraps around the lobby, garage and commercial space, giving the tower a warm, engaging look at street level. He predicts that this stretch of Michigan Avenue will someday be a major retail hub and says the scale and look of the building at street level will be important.
Why terra cotta? “Terra cotta is an old and once-popular material, and here we are using it in a modern way,” Plunkard told us.
Plunkard repeats the terra cotta motif at the top of the building with a couple of four-story grooved panels to neutralize the steel and blue glass. “You couldn’t do this when terra cotta was popular in the old days,” he said, noting that the material used to be difficult to anchor. “But modern technology has made terra cotta much easier to manipulate.”
What do you think? Is it innovative or a feeble attempt to humanize the building’s clunky base?