311 South Wacker Drive

311 South Wacker Drive
General information
Status	Complete
Type	Office
Location	311 S. Wacker Drive Chicago, Illinois
Construction started	1988
Completed	1990
Height
Architectural	292.9 m (961 ft)[1]
Roof	961 feet (293 m)
Top floor	256.8 m (843 ft)[1]
Technical details
Floor count	65[1]
Floor area	1,400,000 sq ft (130,000 m2)[2]
Elevators	34[1]
Design and construction
Main contractor	J.A. Jones Construction
Architect	Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates HKS
Developer	Gerald Kostelny/Lincoln Property Company
References
[1]

311 South Wacker Drive in Chicago, USA, is a post-modern 65-story skyscraper completed in 1990. At 961 feet (293 m) tall, it is the seventh tallest building in Chicago and the 16th tallest in the United States. It was once the tallest reinforced concrete building in the world. The building is also the tallest building in the world known by its street address.^[3]

The lower level of the winter garden was designed to connect via underground passageway to Union Station. The building also contains three levels of underground parking. The building contains both retail and commercial tenants.^{[citation needed]}

Design

311 South Wacker Drive as viewed from the 103rd floor of Willis Tower

Lobby

The lobby is an impressive two-level (one below ground) 85-foot (26 m)-tall glass-ceilinged "winter garden" with palm trees and a fountain. The Winter Garden was influenced by the adjacent steel structures of Chicago’s "L" tracks and Bridges. It was envisioned as a commuter link or "pedestrian station" serving as a connection from the adjacent Train Station through the existing service tunnels under the Chicago River leading to the Willis Tower (Sears Tower) from a series of underground spaces and passages. The garden was added in 2002.^[4] Raymond Kaskey's bronze sculpture "Gem of the Lakes" looks over the garden from the Wacker entrance. The fountain shell form is taken from the city seal with a heroic figure representing Chicago as the "city of broad shoulders" wearing a cape symbolic of the great engineering feat which reversed the flow of Chicago River.^[4]

Crown

The top of the building is a 105-foot (32 m)-tall translucent cylinder, surrounded by four other smaller cylinders, which was inspired by the massing of the Tribune Tower. This makes it among the most visible Chicago skyscrapers at night, as its crown is brightly illuminated. The five cylinders on top are lit at night by 1,852 fluorescent tubes, and a lantern at the top changes colors for various holidays and special events.^{[citation needed]}

Park

311 South Wacker is surrounded to the northwest by a grassy area, commonly used as a lounging and public lunch area during warm months, which is the largest area of green space in the Chicago Loop. This park is used to host local farmer markets, musical events, and various art and cultural festivals. To the southwest is a parking lot.^{[citation needed]}

This land was originally to be occupied by two more towers, two linear slabs, developed like arms up to the shoulder of the existing building. The massing and design would allow for a built area roughly equal to the amount of the adjacent Sears Tower, which along with the winter garden would create a publicly accessible urban space, similar to the historic Rockefeller Plaza in NYC.^{[citation needed]}

Position in Chicago's skyline

Gallery

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  311 South Wacker Drive and Willis Tower

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  311 South Wacker Drive top viewed from the top floor of Willis Tower

See also

• List of tallest buildings in the United States
• List of tallest buildings in Chicago
• List of tallest buildings and structures in the world
• List of tallest buildings in the world
• Wacker Drive

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 311 South Wacker

• Official Building web site
• 311 South Wacker Drive on CTBUH Skyscraper Center
• Emporis listing

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Coordinates: 41°52′40″N 87°38′08″W / 41.87778°N 87.63556°W / 41.87778; -87.63556