One Illinois Center

The One Illinois Center is an International Style skyscraper designed in 1966 by Mies van der Rohe, in association with Joseph Fujikawa, and built between 1967 and 1970 in Chicago, IL.

One Illinois Center is not the only name you might know this building by though. The building is, or has also been known as 111 East Wacker Building.

Its precise street address is 111 East Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL. You can also find it on the map here.

The building is one fo two forming the Illinois Center.

The complex is crossed by East South Water Street, and it does so at three different levels.

• The upper level is designated for local traffic
• THe middle level is reserved for direct traffic passing through
• The lower level is reserved for service vehicles

Also underground, we can find a pedestrian walkway, and a collection of commercial an retail spaces. This space connects directly to the three levels of underground parking, which is shared by all the two buildings in the complex and all it's tenants, including four hotels. This underground space also provides access to the EL and Metra train lines.

The building has been restored 2 times over the years to ensure its conservation and adaptation to the pass of time. The main restoration works happened in 2018 and 2018.

Mies van der Rohe was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design, in association with Joseph Fujikawa.

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 at the very least we know that there was one other part involved, that was Tishman Construction as the Main Contractor.

The One Illinois Center can be categorized as an International Style building.

The One Illinois Center 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.

The facade uses a non-load bearing curtain wall system. This means the curtain wall modules are anchored to the building's structural frame, typically by being attached to the edge of the floor slabs. The curtain wall system connects to the slabs using brackets, anchors, and mullions, which transfer the loads imposed by wind and temperature changes, to the building's primary structural elements.

This setup allows the curtain wall to accommodate differential movement between the facade and the structural frame, such as thermal expansion, floor deflection, or sway from wind forces. This system's integration with the slab edges also allows for continuous insulation and weatherproofing layers.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features a bronze-colored anodized aluminum and polarized glass curtain wall..