Up until a few days ago, the main meeting room at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s Chicago office was secured with a padlock and its glass window walls covered up with paper. This was done to prevent prying eyes from getting a glimpse into the team’s latest project, says Michael Pfeffer, a former SOM architect who was poached two years ago by mega-developer Related Midwest to help oversee big undertakings in Chicago. After years of planning, SOM and Related Midwest finally took the wraps off of their latest proposal this week, unveiling a pair of dramatic towers for 400 N. Lake Shore Drive, or as most Chicagoans know it, the site of the failed Chicago Spire skyscraper…
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The team has produced a pair of contemporary towers that nod to Chicago’s past while also speaking to a present (and potentially future) design language….