Planned tower would be tallest in U.S.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-tall26.html
Chicago plans 115-story skyscraper
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/BUSINESS/07/27/chicago.spire.reut/
For Chicago, no superlative too grandiose
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/chi-0507270012jul27,0,3205598.column?coll=ny-leadnationalnews-headlines
How tall is too tall?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0507270029jul27,1,4324057.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Santiago Calatrava [Macromedia Flash Player]
http://www.calatrava.com/
Trump Chicago [Macromedia Flash Player]
http://www.trumpchicago.com/main.htm

As the birthplace of the skyscraper, it seems almost fitting that plans were announced this week heralding a proposed 115-story skyscraper on Chicago’s lakefront. The team behind the project includes Christopher Carley, a local developer, and the renowned “starchitect”, Santiago Calatrava. Renderings of the proposed skyscraper (which would be the tallest in the United States) indicate that the slender structure would rise close to 2000 feet in the air and that its total square footage would be a very modest 920,000 square feet. The building, which would be called the Fordham Spire, faces an uphill battle, in no small part due to the fact that similarly proposed projects in Chicago have faced massive financing challenges. In a recent interview, Carley indicated that the presence of Calatrava would be of great assistance in securing monies for the project, and that he would like to get started as soon as possible. Carley may face another obstacle in the form of residents in the other tony highrises in the area, many of whom have expressed strong resistance to previous projects in their neighborhood. Of course, other skeptics have emerged, including Donald Trump (who is also building one of his signature buildings in Chicago). Trump noted that, “In this climate, I would not want to build that building. Nor would I want to live in that building.”

The first link leads to a comprehensive news story on the proposed skyscraper from this Tuesday’s Chicago Sun-Times, complete with a few choice photographic renderings of the yet-to-be built structure. The second link will take users to a CNN piece about the shimmering structure from this Wednesday’s online edition. The third link will take interested parties to a commentary piece on the nature of Chicago’s “superlatives," offered by Mary Schmich of the Chicago Tribune. The fourth link leads to an editorial from the Tribune on the whole concept of skyscrapers and such tall buildings, and closes by saying that, “What ultimately constitutes Chicago or any city is the spaces between those buildings”. The fifth link leads to the official website for Santiago Calatrava. Here visitors may learn about his previous works and his overall design philosophy as expressed through his various commissions. The sixth and final link leads to the homepage of the Trump Chicago complex, which is currently under construction along the Chicago River. [KMG]