71 South Wacker Building

The 71 South Wacker Building is a Contemporary skyscraper designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, with Henry N. Cobb as lead architect, in association with A. Epstein and Sons International, and built between 2002 and 2005 in Chicago, IL.

71 South Wacker Building is not the only name you might know this building by though. The building is, or has also been known as Hyatt Center.

Its precise street address is 71 South Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL. You can also find it on the map here.

The 71 South Wacker Building has received multiple architecture awards for its architectural design since 2005. The following is a list of such prizes and awards:

• The Outstanding Building of the Year (TOBY) Earth local and regional Award in 2007
• The Outstanding Building of the Year (TOBY) Earth international Award in 2012

The building wasn't initially conceived with LEED standards in mind. Constructed by the Pritzker Realty Group back in 2004, the property changed hands to The Irvine Company in 2010, coinciding with the culmination of a significant sustainability initiative. Setting up a sustainability steering committee alongside the four primary tenants in 2009, they embarked on an exploration of sustainable prospects. Their efforts were widely successful, and the building won numerous awards and certifications in the realm of sustainability after that date.

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, with Henry N. Cobb as the lead architect, was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design, in association with A. Epstein and Sons International.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but here is a list of the people we do know also played their part in making the 71 South Wacker Building a reality:

• Halvorson and Partners in charge of Structural Engineering
• Permasteelisa Group in charge of Facade Consultancy
• Higgins Development Partners, LLC as the Main Developer
• Environmental System Design, Inc in charge of MEP Engineering
• Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects in charge of Landscape Architecture
• Ricci Albenda and Keith Tyson as the collaborating Artist

The 71 South Wacker Building can be categorized as a Contemporary building.

That being said, and even thought being a contemporary building, probably taking advantage of modern materials, construction techniques, and technology, the design of the 71 South Wacker Building is inspired by the international-style style.

The 71 South Wacker Building uses a framed tube-in-tube structure , with steel columns and concrete slabs.

A framed tube-in-tube structure uses a central core, known as inner tube, which usually holds stairs, lifts and installations, and a perimeter of columns around it, which form the exterior tube. The interior tube is tipically more massive (often made of reinforced concrete), and the exterior tube is "lighter" (made of steel or concrete columns). Both tubes are conencted via horizontal elements which make up the floors and also transmit any horizontal froces from the facade to the core.

The facade employs a non-load bearing curtain wall system. This means the curtain wall modules are anchored to the building's structural frame at the edges of the floor slabs. The perimeter columns are set back slightly from the facade, allowing them to remain independent of the curtain wall system.

This configuration enables a completely free design of the curtain wall, unencumbered by structural elements, thus providing greater flexibility in aesthetic choices and maximizing the visual impact of the exterior.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features a bold elliptical shape, featuring curved stainless steel and glass curtain wall. Each module of the curtain wall is divided into 3 sections, a large green-tinted pane, a smaller, opaque, green spandrel, and a squared-shaped stainless steel section that hides each floor slab and the space that the installations take up through the false ceiling. Each panel is also framed by a stainless steel frame. The building is therefore perceived as the staking of horizontal bands, each with three layers.

At street level, a glass-faced lobby rises 36 feet, welcoming pedestrians into its space. Additionally, the block-long garden, shaped by the tower, serves as an oasis of green amidst the urban landscape, offering respite to the thousands of commuters who traverse Monroe Street daily between the railroad station and the Loop.