Chicagos Consortinaed University Tower

Standing at 421-425 South Wabash, the scheme will have 32 floors and rise to 143 metres, a middling height for Chicago. It's been designed for the John Buck Company, who are developing it on behalf of the university, by architecture firm VOA. Clad in panels of two different shades of blue floor to ceiling glazing that offer varying transparency and reflectivity, the tower cuts a narrow profile onto South Wabash thanks to the long slender plot that it tries to make the most of although at ground level the buildings foyer is set back slightly from the existing streetline expanding the pavement out slightly under the entrance canopy. Above it on both the east and west sides, are angled facades that zigzag in and out slightly creating a consortinaed look extending past the perimeter columns before moving back in again. The southern face, meanwhile, is sheer glass although the angled narrow sides of the tower contribute to a changing profile. Unlike the other three faces of the building, the northern façade of the building is designed to be partially bare, but this is because it has been drawn up bearing in mind it will have a neighbouring tower immediately adjacent. The current building on site, the Herman Crown Centre is presently being demolished, after which construction is set to begin on Roosevelt University's new dormitory.