The Aqua Tower

By Phaidon

The Development

Studio Gang, Aqua Tower, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 2010. The Aqua, an 82-story residential skyscraper in downtown Chicago, and the 93-story Visa Tower, also in Chicago. Both buldings feature innovative facades that use syncopated patterns of undulating or irregular shapes in lieu of the standard right-angled grid.

The Aqua Tower’s floor plates were shaped to give residents sight lines to specific Chicago landmarks as well as to provide solar shading and help break up the wind. The cantilevered, curvilinear slabs produce an elevation with variegated light and shadow as well as the appearance of undulating movement when seen from below.

Gang describes how the rhythm of the facade and its balconies enables visual and social interactions between the occupants of the building, somewhat like the interior of a theatre where the balconies allow the audience the pleasures of watching each other as much as the action on the stage.

Strategically sculpting the shape of each floor slab offers comfortable outdoor terraces, where neighbors can casually and comfortably interact when desired, as well as views to Chicago landmarks, navigating sight lines around the corners and through the gaps between existing buildings.