Related Midwest recently unveiled its proposal for 400 Lake Shore Drive, two towers set 150-ft apart designed by architect David Childs with fellow architect Scott Duncan and structural engineer William Baker of Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM).
The plan for the 2.2-acre, waterfront site that's been home to a 76-ft-deep construction hole for a decade calls for a 1,100-foot southern tower containing 300 condo units and 175 hotel rooms and an adjoining 850-foot tower with 550 rental apartments. The hole was left behind when the 2,000-foot-tall Chicago Spire project, designed by Santiago Calatrava, halted construction right in the middle of the global financial crisis in 2008. Several developers tried to revive the Spire project to no avail. Childs said SOM chose a terracotta and glass facade to reference Chicago's architectural history but also to dampen the noise from busy Lake Shore Drive.