The Elgin Tower Building, currently the icon of the city in both literal and metaphorical senses, was originally constructed to house a bank and several offices. Since it opened it’s doors in 1930, the Elgin Tower has seen dozens of tenants filter in and out, most rarely staying for longer than a few years. Currently, the Elgin Tower is completely blocked o from the rest of the city by a chain- link fence and warning signs; it has sat vacant for the past two years, undergoing a seemingly endless cycle of construction and repair. Unfortunately, the Elgin Tower never quite reached the heights it was intended to inspire.
level retail, a fitness center, leasable office spaces, and residential units of varying sizes.
For my interpretation of the project parameters, I explored various precedents both in biology and in postmodern architecture. In particular, what struck me the most about the project was to explore the image of the city as a hive of activity: people living, working, and playing at various levels of the tower in a cohesive addition to a relatively inactive existing condition. My goal was to restore a sense of urgency and pride in Elgin’s residents by offering a cultural landmark for the future while acknowledging To that end, and to restore to Elgin a piece of her history, the towers Elgin has lost. To that end, I believe the HIVE the Judson University ARC452 studio bypass. has set TOWER is a battery in a static landscape, a solution to about exploring various options to return the site of a problem Elgin has forgotten it has. HIVE is a line in the the Elgin Tower Building into an economic, cultural, and sand between the past and the future, linking the two residential powerhouse, with programming elements towers across time in a dramatic attempt to re-envision such as a small theater, a conference center, street- the city of Elgin and all it could become.
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