CLOSE AD ×

Rafael Viñoly unveils his 76-story homage to Chicago's Sears Tower

Rafael Viñoly unveils his 76-story homage to Chicago's Sears Tower

On the heels of a new 86-story project by JAHN. Chicago‘s South Loop neighborhood is also prepping for a 76-story tower designed by Rafael Viñoly. Both projects were unveiled Tuesday and would be among the tallest buildings in the city if built.

Viñoly’s project, planned for 113 E. Roosevelt Rd., bears a striking resemblence to the city’s most well-known skyscraper: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill‘s Willis (née Sears) Tower. According to the architect, that’s no accident—the “stepping gesture” of the two towers, which would be joined at their bases, recalls the bundled tube structure of Sears, although Viñoly’s version opts for silvery, reflective glass and a bevy of thick white mullions that segment the buildings’ vertical faces along dozens of horizontal axes. Trees dot the tops of tubes that don’t reach full height, terminating columns that form a rotating motion around the towers’ central tubes.

DNAinfo Chicago reports Miami-based Crescent Heights, which already owns about 5,000 units in the South Loop, is the project’s developer. The eastern tower would be built first, over the next two years.


CLOSE AD ×