Jeanne Gang: The Sky's the Limit

Jeanne Gang: The Sky's the Limit

(PhotoMine)

Jeanne Gang, a rising star of Chicago Architecture, has been getting a great deal of press recently (particularly for the Aqua Tower). I have mixed feelings about this building. From a distance it's relatively indistinguishable from adjacent glass box towers. In fact, by far the most distracting feature of the building are the two different glass types that were used (more reflective glass where there are no overhangs to increase energy performance, less reflective clear glass under the overhangs). I'm guessing that this was something that was value engineered. It would have been preferable to use the reflective glass everywhere, even if it was redundant under the overhanging slabs.

Nevertheless the experience of the tower from the ground level (where the accompanying photograph was taken) is unlike anything that has ever been built. The remarkable eroded facade is the result of organically forming the concrete slabs of the building. Behind the glass this is a very standard (and relatively cheap) tower. In my view this relatively simple innovation and the impression that it gives from the street make this the most important skyscraper built in the United States in the last several years (Better than Gehry's N.Y.C. tower at 8 Spruce Street). See below:

(Photo Mine)

Gehry's tower is both far more expensive and inefficient, and, though this is a matter of taste, I tend to find his work far too comical (as a non-architect friend of mine once quiped "it looks like something that Doctor Sues would draw")

To be fair the NY tower is more impressive from a distance than the Aqua. But, again in a fashion typical of Gehry, there's always a sacrifice of detailing. In this cause many of the undulating facade panels on the less visible west facade do not line up - which, regardless of intent, looks like a mistake.

In the end both of these towers may be surpassed in beauty by the twin apartment Towers that Beijing based "M.A.D. Architects" have just completed in Toronto. See below:

In this case the formal move was created by rotating the same elliptical plan around a circular core. The effect is quite elegant and, from my perspective, slightly anthropomorphic. The tower to right in the accompanying image inspires associations of a tight skirt around a woman's hips, or perhaps a person in a straight jacket (their arm defining the acute ridge on the towers left). Then again, maybe I'm just seeing things.