Chicago Spire

ARCHITECT AT WORK

Architect Santiago Calatrava illustrated his design ideas for the Chicago Spire. "We are trying to give a kind of beautiful significance to the [skyscraper], as it is in nature," he said.




Floor plan of tower lobby
The skyscraper would have a simple structural system despite its complex twisting shape. A lobby floor plan indicates the proposed tower's thick-walled concrete core, the yellow circle at the center. Surrounding it is a ring of columns, clustered in groups of three and indicated by dark black dots. The tower's perimeter would consist of a scalloped, seven-point shape.




Cross section of lobby
Calatrava wants to create spatial drama, as seen in this cross section of the tower's lobby. A cable-supported glass wall, seen in blue, divides inside and outside. To its right is the skyscraper's exterior arcade, framed by the W-shaped columns, here colored yellow and seen in a partial view. Inside, to the left of the glass wall, is a larger concrete arch, also yellow, that would be part of another grand arcade. Calatrava enlivens the lobby with a drawing of an Alexander Calder mobile, seen in red.






Silhouettes of tower
Two recent sketches of architect Calatrava's tower. Both have tapering profiles. One would rotate 270 degrees from bottom to top. The other would make a full 360-degree turn.