Aqua Tower rises in Chicago's Lakeshore East development, completed in 2009 to a design by the architect Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects, combining a hotel, apartments, condominiums and retail space within a single 82-story mixed-use tower. Its most recognizable feature is a facade of irregularly undulating concrete balconies, each floor plate extended outward by a different amount so the building's outline ripples and shifts continuously from base to top, a form Gang designed in part to maximize views of Lake Michigan and nearby parks from as many units as possible while also reducing wind loads on the tall, slender structure. At the time of its completion, Aqua Tower was widely cited as the tallest building in the world designed by a female-led architecture firm, a distinction that drew significant attention within the profession. The building has received numerous design awards and is frequently cited as a defining example of a tall building whose structural and environmental logic is made directly visible in its exterior form.
Facts
Building TypeMixed-use (hotel, residential, retail, office) 1 Location225 N. Columbus Drive, Chicago, Illinois 1 Completed Year Building Type
Building Type (category) Building Type (category) Classification
Standing Status Connections
Has Building Type
Entity-backed identity for the building-type enum value this building already carries, resolved to an architecture concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The building-type fact itself stays on the building unchanged.
Entity-backed identity for the building-type enum value this building already carries, resolved to an architecture concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The building-type fact itself stays on the building unchanged.
In Style
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Aqua (Chicago)
Introduction
mixed-use skyscraper
Infobox, Completed field
Completed 2009
Infobox, Roof/Height field
261.8 m (859 ft)
Introduction [location]
downtown Chicago, Illinois
Entity description and the lead/infobox of the Wikipedia article
Aqua Tower rises in Chicago's Lakeshore East development, completed in 2009 to a design by the architect Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects, combining a hotel, apartments, condominiums and retail space within a single 82-story mixed-use tower. Its most recognizable feature is a facade of irregularly undulating concrete balconies, each floor plate extended outward by a different amount so the building's outline ripples and shifts continuously from base to top, a form Gang designed in part to maximize views of Lake Michigan and nearby parks from as many units as possible while also reducing wind loads on the tall, slender structure. At the time of its completion, Aqua Tower was widely cited as the tallest building in the world designed by a female-led architecture firm, a distinction that drew significant attention within the profession. The building has received numerous design awards and is frequently cited as a defining example of a tall building whose structural and environmental logic is made directly visible in its exterior form.
- In Style: Contemporary architecture, infobox architectural_style field: Contemporary architecture
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