The Water Tower Place is a Modern Style skyscraper designed by Loebl Schlossman Bennett and Dart, with Edward D. Dart as lead architect, and built between 1972 and 1976 in Chicago, IL.
Its precise street address is 835 Michigan Av, Chicago, IL. You can also find it on the map here.
In 1986 the Water Tower Place was awarded with the J.C. Nichols Prize.
Loebl Schlossman Bennett and Dart, with Edward D. Dart as the lead architect, 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 Water Tower Place a reality:
The Water Tower Place can be categorized as a Modern Style building.
The modern style, also referred to as Modernism in the U.S. (distinct from the European Modernist movement), is characterized by minimal ornamentation, clean lines, and the use of materials such as glass, steel, and concrete. This style prioritizes functionality and the honest expression of materials and structure.
Modern architecture in the U.S. follows many principles of the International Style but with slightly less rigid rules than those of the purist European International Stylists like Le Corbusier, or even those who imported the style to the U.S. like Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius.
Modern skyscrapers often feature expansive glass curtain walls, open floor plans, and focus on volume over mass. This blend of innovation and simplicity defined the modern skyscraper, creating the sleek, functional urban landscapes prominent in mid-20th-century U.S. architecture.
By their own nature, the Modern and International Styles can still look current, even in contemporary buildings. So that's not to say the Water Tower Place appeared old or outdated when it was completed, but Loebl Schlossman Bennett and Dart certainly did not take many risks when it came to choosing the design style. This made the building look more "classic" and integrated within the city's architecture.
The Water Tower Place reaches an architectural height of 860ft (262m). It has a total of 78 floors, 74 above ground and 4 basements.
Ever since opening its doors to the public in 1976, the Water Tower Place has been a mixed use building. It incorporates 3 main uses, which are hotel, residential, and retail spaces.
The lower eight floors of the complex house one of the world's earliest vertical shopping centers, built around a spacious atrium with tiered terraces and a central tower showcasing glass elevators. This vibrant space features more than 100 shops, various dining options, a museum, and a theater.
Above this atrium, floors 10th to 32nd are dedicated to the hotel, and 33rd to 74th to residences, while the underground floors are parking space
The hotel is a 5 stars category hotel, with a total of 435 rooms available to the public. The name of the hotel is Ritz-Carlton Chicago. You can learn more about the hotel by visiting their website here.
The Water Tower Place has a total of 360 residential units throughout its 74 floors.
The Water Tower Place uses a frame structure made of reinforced 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 window wall system, which by itself is non-load-bearing. However, in this case, the facade is technically load-bearing, since there are structural elements that have been integrated into it, adirectly influencing the facade’s design.
Window walls are easier to install than curtain walls, often resulting in reduced construction time and cost. However, the exposed edge of the slabs, and in this case other structura elements too, are weak points in terms of thermal insulation. These areas need to be carefully detailed to prevent thermal bridging and potential condensation issues.
The building held the title of the world's tallest reinforced concrete structure from its completion in 1975 until 1990. Its record was eventually surpassed by 311 South Wacker Drive, also in Chicago
From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features gray marble panels cladding the stabs and structural columns present at the facade level. Windows are "cut" into the marble surface, they are made of dark reflective glass with minimal aluminum framing.
