The next structure of Jeanne Gang’s I found fascinating is the Aqua Tower. The tower is in Chicago, IL and was built in 2010. Being about 1.9 million square feet, the structure is enormous in size. With 82 floors the building reaches the height of 876 feet. “Combining a hotel, offices, rental apartments, condominiums, and parking, along with one of Chicago’s largest green roofs, Aqua facilitates strong connections between people and to the city.”
One of the most fascinating and groundbreaking elements of this structure is that it is the tallest building in the world designed by a woman. For me this is very inspiring because I plan on going into the field of architecture/interior design post-graduation. I know that for many years the profession was predominantly males. Therefore, having a woman architect achieve such a high remark is inspiring.
Each floor of the apartment building is a different shape. “The “waves” of the balconies that provide Aqua’s rippling effect extend out as much as 12 feet from the glass curtain wall”. This building has a lot of rhythm and curves. Gang has created a structure that is so large and stately yet refined.
Overall, this building is a big step for woman architects. It is beautiful, functional, and sustainable.
References: https://studiogang.com/project/aqua-tower https://www.archute.com/aqua-tower-chicago-studio-gang/
