The Aqua

Driving through Lakeshore East, one of Chicago’s more prominent neighborhoods featuring several of the city’s tallest buildings, it is impossible to avoid the newest addition to the neighborhood’s already memorable contribution to the Chicago skyline. Audacious and unavoidable as it may be, the 82-story recently completed “Aqua” has garnered attention well beyond the confines of the urban development in which it exists.

Whether it’s the height of the structure or the asymmetrical design that prompts its nationwide recognition is arguable, what isn’t as arguable; the design being unique. The Aqua sticks out like a sore thumb amidst the surrounding modernist high-rises. With a gelatinous façade, and balconies that extend unevenly from the structure’s core, the Aqua appears like a rough day at sea 800ft. into the Chicago skyline.

Within the structure, we find the standard amenities of most mixed-use residential skyscrapers (fitness center, pool, sky garden, etc.), complete with those geared toward the Aqua’s prospective clientele (first class appliances in each unit, floor to ceiling windows, etc.). The Aqua also boasts a high standard in green living, with energy efficient lighting in most public areas, an energy efficient façade that shades residents from direct sunlight and keeps units cooler during the warmer seasons, as well as a system for rainwater drainage aimed keeping temperatures consistent within the Lakeshore East urban development (e.g. reducing the UHI, urban heat island, phenomenon).

Aside from the fancy bells and whistles that the Aqua has to offer, Jeanne Gang, the building’s architect, seems to have traded traditional fundamentals in design for a unique structure that catches the eye. Unlike the surrounding structures that adhere to certain standardized characteristics in design, the Aqua negates all prior architectural approaches and thus its ability to fit well with neighboring buildings.

Although a relatively new urban development with relatively new buildings, the Lakeshore East neighborhood did boast good taste in its high-rises. The Aqua, while unique, and in many cases pioneering, does not fit well with the Lakeshore East neighborhood and its original architectural design.

Rightfully so, the Aqua is well know for its design, and has received much praise for its visual appeal and thoughtful crafting, and there is no questions that Gang and the Aqua were deserving of the 2009 skyscraper of the year award. That aside, though Gang did well to manifest a structure which appears organic in design and functions by organic (green) standards, and although it’s unnecessary to know the structure’s name before understanding its resemblance, the Aqua is an audacious addition to the Lakeshore East neighborhood which lessens from the neighborhood’s overall appeal before adding to its trend.