Icons of Chicago

The Exhibition

Four large-scale models from the Chicago Architecture Center’s Skyscraper Gallery are on long-term display at O’Hare International Airport, reminding travelers of Chicago’s global renown as the City of Architecture. The exhibition comprises iconic modernist Chicago skyscrapers Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), 875 North Michigan Avenue (formerly the John Hancock Center) and the two towers of Marina City. The architectural models, the tallest of which stands at 18 feet, were fabricated at 1:91 scale in 2018 for the Chicago Architecture Center’s new location on the Chicago River.

Marina City (Bertrand Goldberg Associates, 1967) innovated the concept of the “city within a city.” The mixed-use complex with its “corncob towers” was an urban experiment designed to entice middle-class Chicagoans back to the city after more than a decade of suburban migration.

With its X-braced structure expressed on the outside, 875 North Michigan Avenue, formerly the John Hancock Center (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 1969), helped make it possible to construct buildings taller than 100 stories. Engineer Fazlur Khan's idea for a "trussed tube system" was an important stage in the development of the skyscraper, making it possible to build to unprecedented heights while allowing for larger interior spans.

At 110 stories, the Sears Tower, today Willis Tower (designed by architect Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill), was the tallest building in the world when it was completed in 1974 and held that distinction for more than 25 years.