Architecture Adrenaline
Promoting Freedom for Creative Architecture
Chicagoans have entered a new era of their relationship with the river in recent years. Thanks to deindustrialization, improved environmental stewardship efforts, and monumental engineering fixes, Chicago's waterways are now healthier than ever.
Discover Chicago Riverwalk and uncover its bounty of restaurants and outdoor bars, pier fishing, kayaking, public art installations, bird-watching opportunities and much more. Here are a few great spots to get you started:
The Wrigley Building, situated on Chicago's Magnificent Mile and illuminated nightly, has become an iconic Chicago landmark. Designed by Graham Anderson Probst & White with two towers clad with glazed terra-cotta cladding. This architectural wonder was inspired by Spain's Giralda tower at Seville Cathedral as well as featuring French Renaissance architectural details.
The architects set out to create something truly original, and this remarkable building certainly meets that goal. A fine example of Art Deco architecture, it showcases William Wrigley Jr's pride for both his company and city.
Michigan Avenue Bridge is the ideal starting point for exploring Chicago Riverwalk. Built in 1920s Chicago's Magnificent Mile and famously designed with Beaux Arts style that is uniquely Parisian in essence.
As soon as the bridge opened for business, there was quite an impressive spectacle: Mayor William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson cut the ribbon and fireworks shot up into the air while marching bands performed musical numbers.
The Michigan Avenue Bridge features bas-relief sculptures that depict Chicago's early history, accessible to pedestrians walking across it. Furthermore, two levels of roadways exist - one for faster cars to use while commercial traffic uses another one.
Chicago is famous for its straightforward grid system, yet Lower Wacker Drive stands out as one of its more difficult streets to traverse. Its narrow streets and intimidating pillars can make driving it feel akin to running an exhaust port on Death Star!
This project modernizes the historic Lower and Upper Wacker drives from Randolph Street to Congress Boulevard and reconfigured the busy Congress Parkway Interchange. This change provides congestion relief, speeds, and safety improvements as well as creating an attractive streetscape and additional green space along the riverwall.
Sip wine in intimate coves or take a breather on breezy riverfront patios: the Marina is an idyllic spot to unwind. Explore evocative public art and architecture such as Ellen Lanyon's trellised Riverwalk Gateway or Carolyn Ottmers' Allium sculptures; or stroll leisurely through its lush grounds.
The Marina was conceptualized as a series of "rooms," each designed with subtle and overt design changes to create new civic spaces for city life. Achieve these spaces was technically challenging due to permit restrictions that limited buildout at bridges to 20 feet while 25-foot wide connections between blocks had 25-foot build-out requirements; also meeting ecological and hydrological criteria required significant effort on behalf of design team.
LaSalle Street Bridge (or Marshall Suloway Bridge as it is officially known) stands out among Chicago's iconic bridges as one of its signature gateways, providing stunning views to downtown from both its curving pony trusses, ornate railings, and four bridge tender houses - making for an impressive entrance into Loop.
This location offers stunning views of the Riverwalk with the skyscrapers of Merchandise Mart looming large in the background, making it an ideal spot for engagement and wedding photos. It is also popular as an engagement or wedding photo location.
The latest section of the Riverwalk, between State and Clark Streets, has opened to the public and Ross Barney Architects has designed its stretch between State and Clark Streets. The City is currently looking into funding sources to extend this section further towards Lake Street.
Wells Street Bridge is a double-leaf bascule bridge designed to carry vehicular traffic (three southbound lanes and sidewalks) on its lower deck while serving CTA 'L' trains on the upper. Built in 1922, this fixed trunnion style structure has become one of Chicago's landmarks.
Rebuilding and rehabbing the old Wells Street bridge that serves a high volume of L train traffic required constructing a bascule bridge - something achieved by redirecting L train traffic away from its current route and permitting a new bridge to be put in place with only 48-hour delay in traffic flow.
DB Sterlin provided Construction Management services for the Wells Street Bridge Reconstruction. Our responsibilities included overseeing on-site inspections, providing construction management and engineering advice, creating records and documentation as well as submitting pay estimates, change orders and progress reports.
