Chicago Spire

source: http://sustainabledesignupdate.com/?p=811

The Chicago Spire, a spectacular 2,000-foot twisting tower will dramatically change the Second City’s skyline. The proposed LEED Gold structure is sure to become an immediate icon.

By comparison the Sears Tower is 1,451 feet to the top of the structure and 1,730 feet to the top of the antenna. If the Chicago Spire decides to add a finial or antenna, it may be the tallest building in the world for quite some time.

Designed by Spanish architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava, The Chicago Spire will be the world’s tallest exclusively residential building and the tallest building in the western world when complete in 2012.

Rising 150 stories, the slender, twisting tower will house 1,194 residences. Each level in the seven-sided structure will rotate an average 2.44 degrees between floor plates, giving the structure its distinctive fluid appearance; the building will turn a total of 360 degrees.

Some call this a biomimetic design because it picks up on sea shells and naturally occurring spirals, but in my vocabulary biomimetic designs are more than cosmetics layered over a traditional structure.

The Chicago Spire will be designed to the LEED Gold certification level.

Via: Inhabitat

Cool Video at: The Chicago Spire