Among the most compelling and interesting architectural and engineering challenges of the last century, the Chicago Spire Of Santiago Calatrava it was supposed to be the tallest residential building in the world, with ben 150 floors… it’s a shame that things didn’t go well due to the 2008 financial crisis. The skyscraper of 610 meters it should have been built in Chicago, Illinois, but the project started in 2007 ended shortly after, in 2008, without ever being completed.
The Chicago Spire project in Illinois
What Santiago Calatrava had in mind was a residential building that would have to be tall 610 metersentirely dedicated to hosting ultra-luxury apartments. It would have been one spiral-shaped towerwhich rotates on itself 360 degrees, formed by 150 floors. The function of this effect is due to the need to cope with the horizontal loads represented by the wind which, more than 600 meters highrepresent an element that designers must consider.
The rotation a 360 degrees of the structure it is obtained by a movement of suns 2.44 degrees of the upper floor compared to the one below. From a purely structural point of view the project would have foreseen the presence of a central nucleus, an enormous reinforced concrete cylinder, through which the elevators would pass. From this structure a series of branches would then branch out “ribs”or shear walls, therefore capable of supporting the floors. This solution would therefore have resulted in the absence of perimeter pillars, and the apartments would have been able to enjoy a breathtaking all-round view of the city skyline.
Why Calatrava’s skyscraper was never built and what will be built in its place
Only the foundations of this project were built. These consisted of 34 boxes of concrete which sank for approximately 37 meters until you reach the mother rock. To protect the site from water infiltration phenomena, a wall with a diameter of 37 meters And 24 m deepentirely in reinforced concrete.
However, as anticipated, the project was never realised. In the 2007 work began but in 2008 the company that was building the tower, the Shelbourne Development Grouphit hard by the financial crisis of those years, blocked the project. The crater remained closed to the public for years for obvious safety reasons, in the Streeterville neighborhood.
To date, the site has been redeveloped, with the total abandonment of Calatrava’s project, and two identical twin towers, measuring 261 meters, will be built on it in the fairly near future. The site will be called 400 Lake Shore and the first tower will be completed as early as 2027.
