Chicago has tons of gorgeous architecture, but what do you think of that proposed 2000-foot twisted spire building?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Spire

I might be wrong, but I think brick tends to be much more exoensive on the West Coast, and it doesn't tend to do so well in earthquakes.

There's no excuse for the balconies, however.

Those are cool filters(?) on the photos-nice pale tones. The "S" too in the top one is a nice touch. I can almost see a photoshop style montage spelling out 'seattle', which could include the whole building.

Someone in my drawing class last quarter was always pushing for computer-aided illustration. I like the guy and his ideas, but there was a funny exchange once between him and an old-school guest lecturer - old school meaning he worked in Detroit auto industry back in the 50s in their art dept. freehanding a majority of the stuff - who now does marine watercolors, sketches etc.

They were talking about doing that sort of photoshop montage- the lecturer, by hand, as opposed to the student, by computer. The student was saying that there was a "stitch" tool in his art computer program that would "paste" images together. The lecturer just got this quizzical smirk on his face. 'Stitch? That's what you call it?" He also brought up the term "stitch" a few times later, to drive home his skepticism.

I don't know if my meaning came through clear there. Nevertheless, those photos are cool! Thanks, maybe in the FUTURE we'll be able to spiral our bicycles up to the top of the thing in #1.

Christ Dan if Chicago so damn great why don't you move there? Fuck talk about constantly taking a shit on Seattle.....

@4

Please start making sense. Thank you.

He can't help it. All ex-pat Chicagoans or Chicagolanders in the case of me and my friends talk way too much of the city they left. It's one of the many reasons given about why its nickname is the Windy City. Chicago boosters have a tendency to hype it up beyond proportion and blow hot air in everyone else's face.

I think it's also because we have a chip on our shoulder from being unjustly maligned by the coastal elites for being in the Middle-America flyover-states.

Damn I miss home.

here's what i hear from developers/builders: we can't use brick because 1. its too expensive. 2. the illegal immigrant craftsmen don't know how to do the fancy detail you want (1/3 running bond) 3. brick has to be supported at each floor with steel. see #1.

yay for chicago, but we have earthquakes, and we're cheap.

"Riot of Eagles: The Collected Poetry of Dan Savage."

I doubt the "brick" used in new buildings even in Chicago is really structural, at least for buildings over two stories. It's all for show, just like the veneer stuff.

I share your enthusiasm for anonymous 20th century commercial blocks, though. America's greatest style.

You're right, Fnarf--it isn't. The brick is only used as the surface veneer (despite what Dan says in his post, it's a single layer) and sadly, Dan seems to be ignoring the multitudes of four-plus-one condos that have more or less ruined Lakeview.

Other neighborhoods in the city--outside of Rogers Park--have enacted a ton of building codes to avoid the debacle of the construction that's gone up between downtown and Lincoln Park. Condo building now have to be set-back from the sidewalk, for one thing, and no one can go crazy builidng mansionettes that look more like crypts from Graceland.

What about the Arctic Club building in downtown Seattle? The walrus motif is way cooler than those eagles. Then there is that one building with the gigantic fukkin indian heads too. How about the one building that looks as if a beaver started gnawing on the base of it, or Dominion tower looking like a giant space gun. Fuck Chicago and all of its stagnant lakes. They even have lifegaurds there- on a goddamnded pond! Isn't that supposed to be one of the fattest cities in the nation too?

Amen, Boomer. I dunno where you spend your time, Dan, but I know that condo developers have trashed my home neighborhood of West Lakeview. On one block of Damen there are only two single-family homes left amongst the 3-story monstrosities.

And the brick is just for show - as we can see from across the alley, it's all cinder blocks. They don't even seal the brick properly, so after a year or two there are big, white drips all along the buildings. Not to mention the increase of rude yuppies, SUVs, and large doggies whose owners think someone else will clean up after them.

Chicago has beautiful architecture, but no sense of history when it comes to homes. Every 50 years they knock them all down in waves. They tore down a gorgeous, octagonal house with a carriage house, etc in my neighborhood. The boxy six-condo horribleness in its place makes me want to throw up.

Hey, fucker @11. I've had one friend killed by a rip tide in Lake Michigan and another almost die in the same summer. And no, these weren't the overweight stereotypes you imagine. The one who died was a swimming teacher during the summer. If you ever left your coastal perch, you'd know that the Great Lakes can be incredibly dangerous.

That facade is tacky and pretentious.

The best stuff in Chicago is modern. The Midwest is brimming with incredible modern buildings.

If I want overblown brick work and quasi-classical bullshit, I'd go with something art deco minus the eagles.

We THOUGHT that was you on the sidewalk Monday night! My bf and I were walking home from show-tune therapy at Sidetrack and we both noticed your handsome mug heading south on Halsted.

If you want overlooked architectural treasures, come up to our neighborhood: Uptown. We enjoy a daily feast of eagles and cherubs and gargoyles and baroque tendrils all rendered in glazed terra cotta. It's pure, unadulterated architectural pornography.

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