There are taller buildings. There are plenty of newer buildings. But where it matters, the John Hancock Center, which is now officially known as 875 North Michigan Avenue can’t be beat. Simply put, it’s as iconic as iconic gets.
I have loved architecture since 5th grade, when my dad brought home a huge architecture book (at the time, it felt like 2,000 pages, 65 pounds). I was enraptured looking at the intricate diagrams, renderings, floorplans, and elevations. It made me imagine a more interesting, better world.
When done well, architecture can challenge and guide us. How can we build a sense of community? How should people exist together? How can we foster a local identity? At age 8, I didn’t know to ask these questions, and certainly couldn’t answer them. But what I did feel — implicitly — was an excitement. Even without being able to directly understand the buildings and the ways of life they proposed, I felt their magnitude. I understood that design and buildings could shape us.
This sense of wonder and possibility made me dream of living in a city, and it’s what I tried to capture in this video.
The Hancock Center stands resolutely yet gently in the Chicago skyline. Its graceful obelisk-like silhouette is instantly recognizable, but so are its details. Just picture those sinewy “X” bracings, the black metal cladding, the slightly lopsided antennae. Beyond being a visual icon, the tower was an engineering and architectural turning point. Fazlur R. Khan’s visible bracing structure unlocked functional and design possibilities for the tower that have shaped everything that’s come since; it heralded the arrival of a new architectural idiom: structural expressionism.
I worked with a team of camera operators, producers, and WTTW’s indispensable Geoffrey Baer to tell the story of the building. Over the course of a few weeks, we spoke with leading structural engineer William F. Baker, the building’s chief engineer Bill Casey, 360 Chicago general manager Nichole Williamson, and Chicago Architecture Center docent Kathy Kulick.
I edited all the footage, working with a producing partner to gain assets from peer organizations (like the Chicago History Museum) and with the graphics team to create an engaging, inspiring short-form video.
And stay tuned for more on my favorite building in Chicago… it’s not what you think.