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2000 NB
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Its
sloping sides are at once simple and profound, a paradox of strength and
sleekness that make this one of the world's top ten skyscraper successes.
The Hancock is overshadowed by the Sears Tower in height and statistics
but not in the hearts of Chicagoans. As Blair Kamin writes (see below),
arguably no buliding embodies Chicago's character the way the 100-story
Hancock does. Not only do its X-braces and truncated sloped form make it
look like a stocky person with big shoulders, but the building stands resolutely
and brazenly against Lake Michigan's windy fury, just as Chicagoans do. The
Hancock has a more inviting urban space at its feet; while the Sears
Tower lies in the city's financial district and expresses the
corporate coldness of capitalism, the dynamic Hancock combines more of
the city's essential ingredients, peering over a park, a church, a beach, the lake,
and of course, the tourist district--though while it allows the Magnificent
Mile to approach it, the Hancock keeps its distance from the area's tackiness.
And while the Sears is all offices, the mixed-use Hancock is a small city
you can inhabit for days at a time, containing offices, parking, housing,
shopping and even a 44th floor swimming pool. The Hancock also has a more
breathtaking view from its observatory, which hoists you over Lake Michigan.
Thankfully, the sunken plaza at the Hancock's base on Michigan Avenue won
out over an ill-conceived plan to build a bubble-like atrium at the building's
feet (prompting a crowd of protesters, one bearing a sign that said "Don't
put a skirt on Big John!"). The result is an essential icon in a city full
of them. -NB
Blair Kamin:
It is Chicago's
Eiffel Tower and Washington Monument, its Chrysler Building and Big Ben.
... Dark, strong, powerful, maybe even a little threatening--like a muscle-bound,
Prohibition-era gangster clad in a tuxedo--the John Hancock Center says
"Chicago" as inimitably as the sunburstlike summit of the Chrysler Building
evokes the jazzy theatricality of New York. ... Today, even with construction
cranes for new condominiums jostling for a piece of the sky around it,
Big John stands taller than ever, fusing form and function, economy and
beauty, blue-collar and black-tie.
-from Why
Architecture Matters: Lessons From Chicago
-Official
site of the John Hancock Center
-Official
site of the Hancock Observatory
-More
about the Hancock from PBS' Building Big series
-More
about the Hancock from AViewOnCities.com |
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