Let the light shine in.
The 21st Century finally is dawning in downtown Chicago, as modern architecture appears to be making a comeback.
Renowned architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe set a modernistic tone in 1951 with his famed twin apartment towers at 860-880 Lake Shore Drive. More avant-garde residential buildings followed in the 1960s and 1970s.
But then the Mies style lost favor and Chicago architecture took on a traditional look. New condos were built to look old, to harken back to the perceived elegance of the 19th Century or earlier.
Now that’s changing. Glass residential buildings with floor-to-ceiling windows are starting to sprout up in and around the city. Shining glass boxes are beginning to have their day in the sun.
Just look around in downtown Chicago. Adventurous architects and developers are starting to throw off the shackles of the tried-and-true Old Chicago Look.
As you exit the Kennedy Expressway at Ohio Street, check out Erie on the Park, the glass-and-steel tower that is nearing completion in River North. It is the most visible example of the resurgence of modern architecture here, a 24-story addition to the skyline that is definitely something different.
Besides its glassy facade, it features angled support columns, somewhat reminiscent of the John Hancock Building. Even its shape is unusual. Instead of being rectangular, it is a parallelogram.
“Buildings should be designed for the new millennium,” said Bill Smith, principal of Smithfield Properties, the developer.
Smith called on architect Lucien Lagrange to design the trend-setting steel-frame structure.
Located on the north side of Erie Street, just east of the North Branch of the Chicago River, it soon will be joined by another condo tower with a similar glass-and-steel design. Smithfield Properties is building Kingsbury on the Park on the south side of Erie.
The modern look seems to have caught on with buyers. Erie on the Park sold out in two months and is slated to open in July, while only a few units are left at Kingsbury on the Park, which is scheduled for completion in May or June of next year, according to Smith.
Carleen Schreder and her husband, Ralph Musicant, who bought a condo at Erie on the Park, said people have commented: “Oh, you’re going to move into that all-glass building.”
Schreder added that “it stands out. Other buildings in the area are a lot more ordinary.” She likes the light and openness of the interiors. “We’ll have a gorgeous view of the skyline,” she said.
But, what about privacy? “I’m not sure yet what to do about all those windows,” she said.
Lagrange pointed out that nothing in the city zoning code mentions aesthetics, but “the city has ideas of what it wants.”
Has Mayor Richard M. Daley steered the architecture of new structures toward a traditional style?
“The mayor is open-minded,” said Alicia Mazur Berg, commissioner of the city’s Department of Planning and Development. “He lays out the big picture. He tells us what he’s interested in, but he doesn’t micro-manage.”
Even so, there is evidence that the old-time look is popular in City Hall. “Folks like the comfortable streetscape of the Loop with its more traditional lighting. State Street set the tone,” Berg said.
“The city did influence the design of the Heritage at Millennium Park,” said architect John Lahey, president of Solomon Cordwell Buenz, which designed the high-rise condominum. At Randolph Street and Wabash Avenue, it will
be built at a prime location on the city’s skyline. Its 57 stories will tower over the north end of the Michigan Avenue Streetwall, a 12-block stretch that has been designated as a landmark district.
“The Heritage was meant to be modern. At first, our design was more horizontal, but the city wanted it to be more vertical, so we made changes,” Lahey said.
What most people call modern also is known as contemporary architecture.
“Whether you call it modern or contemporary, it’s hot now,” said Brad Smith, a developer who plans to break ground in September for Lofthaus, a nine-story condo in the West Loop.
He admitted, though, that architectural tastes in Chicago are more traditional than on the East and West Coasts. Even so, he added that “sophisticated buyers seek out this type of building. Light is crucial in the city because the buildings are so close together, and big windows in modern buildings let in more light.”
Another strong advocate of contemporary design is architect Ralph Johnson of Perkins & Will, designer of the Contemporaine, planned for construction at 516 N. Wells St., and Skybridge, which is being built at Halsted and Madison Streets.
Johnson said the recent appearance of modern residential buildings will be seen as something different. “If it succeeds [with buyers], it may start a trend,” he said.
Johnson would like to see Chicago regain its tradition of modernism as shown by the birth of the Chicago School of Architecture in the late 19th Century and by Mies with his Lake Shore Drive apartment buildings. Another residential building that broke the mold was Bertrand Goldberg’s Marina City, he said.
However, he noted that many recent buildings have been in a generic style, not in Chicago’s tradition of modernism.
Near the Mies-designed buildings at the Illinois Institute of Technology is Michigan Place, which includes 76 condo units in a glassy building.
The project on Michigan Avenue at 31st Street, which also includes 44 red brick and cast-stone townhouses, is a development of Optima Inc. and Shorebank Development Corp.
Architect/developer David Hovey, president of Glencoe-based Optima, lives in a glass house, which should underscore his commitment to modern architecture.
“We have proved there is a huge market for contemporary buildings. In 24 years, we have built thousands of condo units in more than 50 projects with a contemporary design,” Hovey said.
“Buildings should be a part of their time. Colonial houses are being built today, but obviously we are no longer in Colonial times. And why should we be copying medieval European architecture in 21st Century America?”
Hovey answered his own question by saying: “The United States is such a new country that people yearn for the historic look.”
Hovey added that developers and architects in recent years have been operating on the notion that everybody wants traditional.
“We should give people a choice. We have to discover what 21st Century architecture should be,” he said.
But even Mies at first had trouble cracking the Chicago market. His forward-looking, modernistic twin 26-story apartment towers at first did not generate enthusiasm with bankers.
“Mies was very controversial. Baird tried to arrange financing for the construction of the apartments, but was not successful because the architecture was too extreme,” said John Baird, chairman of Chicago-based Baird & Warner.
Of course, the Mies apartments finally were financed and built between 1948 and 1951. Called the “glass houses” back then, the gems became prototypes for steel-and-glass skyscrapers around the world.
From a builder’s perspective, modern architecture is one way to stand out from the crowd, according to John Shipka, vice president of Chicago-based Enterprise Development.
“In today’s market, a building has to have pizazz. It has to be either very traditional or modern. Not crazy modern, but buyers want an aesthetic appeal. They enjoy more glass, not just punched out openings,” Shipka said.
Enterprise is about to start construction on two residential projects with a definite modern bent: Two River Place, on the east bank of the North Branch of the Chicago River south of Chicago Avenue; and the Lofts at Museum Park, south of Roosevelt Road and east of Michigan Avenue.
However, one Chicago architect doesn’t buy the idea that the city is on a modern trend: “The direction is more historic than forward-looking,” said Donald Hackl, president of the architectural firm of Loebl Schlossman & Hackl, Chicago.
“Most new buildings are in an innocuous no-style or [in a] historical [style]. My belief is that architecture should be a reflection of society at the time — of its art and technology. But architects haven’t convinced the public that buildings should be a mirror image of where we are in the spectrum of time. The failure of the public to like modern may be our fault.”
Hackl believes the public is more attracted to historic-looking buildings because they are perceived as safer for a long-term investment.
Locally, one enthusiastic advocate of modern design is Colin Kihnke, president of Chicago-based CMK Development Corp.
His firm built a 15-story condo with a glass and aluminum exterior in the West Loop at Van Buren and Des Plaines Streets. Called Platinum Tower, it was designed by the architectural firm of Brininstool & Lynch, Chicago.
Why has traditional architecture dominated in the last two decades?
“Residential developers are a different breed. Most do not have strong views on architecture, but they seem to be applying a marketing strategy in designing residential buildings. This has created a nebulous, neutral style,” said David Brininstool, partner at Brininstool & Lynch.
“I have seen no relationship between architecture and sales, but salespeople do,” he added. “Unfortunately, architects have been following, instead of leading.”
For buyers, Brininstool said location is the most important factor, followed by price and square footage. “Design is an intangible that some people may not even be aware of.”
He noted that the alderman of the ward where the project is planned can have an impact: “The alderman’s attitude is: `If the neighbors are comfortable, you have my support.’ “
Major developments are being built in the 42nd ward of Ald. Burton Natarus. “Unless a building is landmarked, you can’t compell the developer to build a particular type of architecture,” he said.
CMK’s next project the 15-story Contemporaine, scheduled for starting construction this month.As its name implies, it will showcase contemporary architecture, with clean lines and a mostly glass facade.
“The Contemporaine will push the envelope,” Kihnke said.
“This is my niche. Early on, though, the banks were cautious about financing some of my projects. But now I have a track record,” he said.
Vu 20, another CMK development with a modernistic look, is scheduled to be completed in December. The 20-story condo is at 1845 S. Michigan Ave. in the South Loop.
“Chicago always has been a leader in architecture, but we’ve gotten away from that and let other cities surpass us,” he said.
Kihnke noted that Lake Point Tower, built in 1969, “is very modern. Even today, it’s cutting-edge.”
While some condo dwellers may not care what the exterior of their building looks like, they do like the increased light from large windows that are characteristic of modern style.
“Buyers want views and the best views are through floor-to-ceiling windows,” said B.J. Spathies, CEO of Bejco Development Corp., Chicago.
She plans to deliver that requirement at Prairie Tower, a 23-story condo to be built at 16th Street and Prairie Avenue in the South Loop.
Prairie Tower will employ one design strategy that other developers also are using: “The base of the building will have a historic look, reminiscent of its location near the Prairie Avenue Historic District, but the tower above will be very glassy,” Spathies said.
“Let’s hope we’re on the verge of the beginning of an architectural reawakening,” said architect Brininstool. “But the jury is still out.”
