Studio Gang Architects. Aqua Tower

map: 225 N Columbus Dr, Chicago, Illinois, USA

:   :  : ::: THE FACT

• It is the tallest building designed by a woman-owned architectural firm and the first skyscraper from Chicago’s Jeanne Gang, of Studio Gang Architects, who is just 45 years old.
• It’s already won an award from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals because birds will be able to see its curving balconies and therefore will be less likely to fly into the tower.
• Its powerful form suggests the limestone outcroppings and geologic forces that shaped the great lakes region.

:   :  : ::: THE QUOTE

Concrete is always treated like it’s a solid stone material, but it’s really this fluid.

Jeanne Gang. Read more at metropolismag.com

 :   :  : ::: THE CRITIC

At Aqua, the old base-middle-top formula is out. The top is conspicuously flat. It is the middle, with its playful bulges, that is the star.

Blair Kamin. Read article from Chicago Tribune Citiscape's

And using the curves to dissipate the wind gave Gang a bonus: she was able to put balconies on every floor, all the way up. Usually, condominiums sixty or seventy floors above the street don’t have balconies, because it’s just too windy up there to go outside.

Paul Goldberger for the Newyorker. Read article

:   :  : ::: THE LINKS

• Gang architects official site 
• blog post at Edward Lifson's "Hello Beautifull"
• Aqua official site

Studio Gang Architects. Aqua Tower