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Trump Tower (Chicago)

While there were several lead designers involved with this building, all within SOM, Trump International Hotel & Tower - Chicago was last touched by Adrian D. Smith, a Chicago-born and still based architect, who also designed Jin Min Tower in Shanghai, and the next tallest building in the world, the Burj Dubai.

You'll never meet a more modest man than Smith. I met him only once at University. He was so unassuming as to appear to be just an observer, when he was in fact, on that day, the main event.

He rescued this Chicago building after it had gone through a reportedly 50 plus model changes. The public only saw a few of them, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that most of them were horrified at what they saw, before Smith got involved.

If you look at a few of his buildings in Chicago, the setback for him is common, while it is not so typical of SOM - Chicago. His detailing is impeccable, but the execution here has been criticised by many, including Toronto's own - you guessed it - Christopher Hume.

In the final analysis, this is not cutting-edge design, as is Calatrava's Chicago Spire up the River at the lake, and Smith readily admits that. We are told that Trump was livid when Smith said on a local TV show that he too was a fan of Calatrava - but that is a story for another day and another place.
 
August 17, 2007

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I actually prefer our Trump Tower. I've always found this one a little too bulky.
 
I actually prefer our Trump Tower. I've always found this one a little too bulky.

Looking back at those renderings that began this thread, I wouldn't describe this building as looking bulky? The Pulitizer Prize winning Architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune, Blair Kamin - whom I often disagree with, mind you - wrote that this building had a resemblance to one of the thinnest looking buildings we know from a previous era - the New York Flatiron Building when viewed down an angled street on the Chicago grid. I think he got it dead-on with that comment. And not only is it respectful to its neighbouring buildings from a setback standpoint - Wrigley on the East and Mies van der Rohe's IBM - Chicago on the West - it uses colours and styling that is meant to blend and still remain forward looking without producing a confusing hybrid.

Having stated all that, I also agree that Toronto's version, especially the tallest one proposed, had, and continues to have, a light, sculptural, and perhaps more modern look to it, than its Chicago counterpart.
 
Looking back at those renderings that began this thread, I wouldn't describe this building as looking bulky? The Pulitizer Prize winning Architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune, Blair Kamin - whom I often disagree with, mind you - wrote that this building had a resemblance to one of the thinnest looking buildings we know from a previous era - the New York Flatiron Building when viewed down an angled street on the Chicago grid. I think he got it dead-on with that comment.
August 17, 2007

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Looking back at those renderings that began this thread, I wouldn't describe this building as looking bulky? The Pulitizer Prize winning Architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune, Blair Kamin - whom I often disagree with, mind you - wrote that this building had a resemblance to one of the thinnest looking buildings we know from a previous era - the New York Flatiron Building when viewed down an angled street on the Chicago grid. I think he got it dead-on with that comment. And not only is it respectful to its neighbouring buildings from a setback standpoint - Wrigley on the East and Mies van der Rohe's IBM - Chicago on the West - it uses colors and styling that is meant to blend and still remain forward looking without producing a confusing hybrid.

Having stated all that, I also agree that Toronto's version, especially the tallest one proposed, had, and continues to have, a light, sculptural, and perhaps more modern look to it, than its Chicago counterpart.

Well, perhaps "bulky" wasn't the right word. Whatever it is, the proportions just don't do it for me.

The glass seems to be nice though.
 
What do you mean? They're a buncha horn-rock geezers in their 60s doing the casino circuit; I can't see how you can take a *good* picture of them...
 

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