12/9/2023 0 Comments Apartment john hancock towerThe design served the building's functional needs by providing big floors on the bottom for offices and parking, and smaller floors above apartments (later condominiums). While the inward-sloping shape created a strong skyline image, it was anything but an arbitrary choice. In contrast, the Hancock's steel tube created vast expanses of column-free space - and it was enormously economical the tower was built for the cost of a conventionally supported, 45-story office building. Though the cage allowed office buildings to reach once-unthinkable heights, it required a relatively large number of interior columns and chewed up valuable floor space. It grew from a major technical advance: a structural steel "tube" of exterior columns, reinforced by the big X-braces.Įarly skyscrapers typically were supported by an internal cage of steel columns and beams. This new concept of urban living was made possible by a stunning synthesis of architecture and engineering. You can even go grocery shopping there, at a market (also on the 44th floor) that overlooks the old Lindbergh Beacon atop 919 N. Indeed, the Hancock is not just a city within a city, as Marina City was conceived, but a city within a building - a vertical village. There's nothing quite so bracing, its cliff dwellers will tell you, as going for a swim in its 44th-floor pool. Like Bertrand Goldberg's Marina City, which preceded it by a half-dozen years and provided one of the first, high-visibility alternatives to the suburban sprawl then sweeping the nation, the Hancock is truly a skyscraper where you can live, work and play. "This consistent positioning of the carpet and stone flooring, as with the soffit ceilings, contributes a symmetrical effect that helps draw the rooms together.Even in the Chicago area, where its tapering silhouette provides an instantly recognizable backdrop for television news sets, many people are unaware that the Hancock is not simply an office building but a mixed-use tower that also houses a parking garage and more than 700 condominiums. "The idea was to have heavy traffic areas protected by durable natural stone, with the central carpeted areas providing a comfortable setting for sofas, desks or beds, depending on the room," says the designer. All rooms are floored with marble tile, with large sections of loom carpet inset into the central area. Together with the walls and soffit ceilings, the floors also helped shape the look of the apartment. "In some areas, where in-ceiling space allowed, we raised the soffits into the available space the result is a series of symmetrical, airy ceilings throughout the unit." "Soffit ceilings already existed in the apartment, but we dropped formwork from existing, higher ceiling levels in other areas to shape new soffits to match them," says Fenoglio. Most of the other apartment walls were rebuilt so that high-tech wiring systems could be installed within them.ĭesign through structural expression was also employed in the soffit ceilings of the apartment. In the revamped kitchen and entrance, walls were removed completely, enabling this area to look across the central living space and over the city. The glass dividing walls contribute to the modern ambiance of the apartment, while the crisscross framework gives the entire exterior of the Hancock Center a powerful structural aesthetic." "The tower's external structural support has made this possible, freeing the interiors from the constraints of load-bearing walls. "We replaced drywall with glass partitions in two key areas, enabling occupants of the master bedroom and office to look through to the exterior windows and views beyond." Seen on a floor plan, the changes look modest, because most of the walls were rebuilt in the same place, but some with a difference," says Fenoglio. "Essentially, we stripped the interior back and started afresh. The unit was dark and sectioned into walled-in rooms that limited appreciation of the views. When the designer of this John Hancock Center apartment, Joe Fenoglio, first laid eyes on it, the interior was still sporting its original late-sixties decor. The steel exoskeleton provides higher wind resistance and minimizes the need for structural support on the building's interior. Built in a new structural expressionist style, the tower's external X-bracing allowed the building to climb to its then record-breaking height. In architectural terms, the John Hancock Center is particularly arresting. Home to offices, restaurants, and around 700 condominiums, the skyscraper has several claims to fame, including the world's highest swimming pool. Chicago's 100-story John Hancock Center was the tallest building in the world outside New York City when completed in 1969.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |