Essex on the Park Building

The Essex on the Park Building is a Contemporary skyscraper designed in 2015 by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture, and built between 2017 and 2019, for a reported $190 million dollars, in Chicago, IL.

Essex on the Park Building is not the only name you might know this building by though. The building is, or has also been known as 812 South Michigan.

Its precise street address is 808 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL. You can also find it on the map here.

In 2019 the Essex on the Park Building was awarded with the WELL Certification multi-family.

The building has a four story winter garden oasis with unobstructed lake and city views. This garden becomes a vertical extension of the park, while the swimming pool mirrors the water of Lake Michigan.

Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

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 Essex on the Park Building a reality:

• WSP in charge of Structural Engineering
• Power Construction as the Main Contractor
• Oxford Capital Group as the Main Developer
• IMEG Engineering Consultants in charge of MEP Engineering
• Confluence in charge of Landscape Architecture

The Essex on the Park 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 Essex on the Park Building is inspired by the international-style style.

The Essex on the Park Building uses a frame structure made of concrete columns and beams.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

To support the building's height and accommodate its architectural design, a reinforced concrete core is the backbone, housing elevators, stairwells, and utility shafts. The structural system incorporates innovative seismic design strategies to ensure resilience against potential earthquakes, a critical consideration in Chicago's urban landscape

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features a continuous curtain wall. The shade of the windows falls somewhere between blue and green. The facade is punctuated by white vertical fins, that not only serve as sunshades but also add a sense of depth and texture to the building's exterior.