Chicago Spire? That Looks Like A…
A 3-D computer rendering of the Chicago Spire was unveiled Monday for the Grant Park Advisory Board, providing a magnificent viewing of a project that will create the tallest condominium building in the nation.
At 150 stories, the tower, created by architect Santiago Calatrava reportedly wowed the audience in its depiction of the proposed building that would rise above the Sears Tower by over five hundred feet. Over all, the design is breathtaking. With the gratis incorporation of a adjacent lot being made into a park as accompanist - a project neighbors have wanted for a decade - the plans will surely go forward.
The Chicago Tribune has the story with commentary. The video of sketches by Calatrava and narrated by Blair Kamin can be found here. As the photos provided by these sources are copy written, I will not post them here, but one glance and you may have the same response I did: It’s disturbingly phallic. Will people rename it the Chicago Dildo?
March 27th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
After seeing many of Calatrava’s creations in person and in pictures, I feel very comfortable with the spire he intends to create on the Chicago lakefront. As to its symbolism…. I watched the video from your link and was taken aback by the phallick nature of the Sears Tower in the background, with the forskin retracted. As I kept watching, that image all of a sudden took the form of the “finger” and what can be more phallic than that.
Anyway the world is full of such, albeit lower, structures. The Eifel Tower in Paris, the Empire State Building in New York are a couple of examples. They were, at the time of their building, structures that towered (no pun intended) over the landscape. Yet I never heard any body refferring to the Eifel tower as the Paris dildo or to the Empire State Building as the New York dildo.
Practicality aside, I don’t believe the adjective will stick to this majestically soaring spiral on the Chicago lakefront either. It will dominate without hiding the rest of the city from view.
March 28th, 2007 at 6:48 am
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. Of course your right.
Similar thoughts occurred in time, but I was attempting to record a first impression. No doubt that had more to do with my mental state that moment than the subject manner…
It IS a striking project, and I would be happy to see the city of my birth again be home to the nation’s tallest building. Chicago is the birthplace of the skyscraper; we should again be prominent - if only for a while.