10 South Lasalle
by Dino and Sharita
You may walk by 10 S. LaSalle in Chicago’s Loop and think you are passing by a 100 year old building. If you look up, you’d see that although the base looks old, the rest of the building is newer. The name of the building is 10 South Lasalle. It is significant because it replaced the Otis Building. The building is located at 10 South Lasalle on the corner of Madison. The building was created by Moriyama & Teshima Architects. Its also significant because of the Chicago style windows and also because it was finished in 1986. My main focus on the building is to understand the was the building was made, and why.
The building stands on the corner of Lasalle and Madison. This part of the city is always busy as people are walking, running, and driving by. The street is busy with cars people going to lunch and people coming back from lunch. The building sits back off the street kind so that people can have sidewalk to walk on and so that they can look up at the building up close. There is also an addition to the east side of the building a chocolate company Godiva.
The 10 S. Lasalle skyscraper is an interesting and unique building. The building puts together modern day architecture, including an all steel structure, and original architecture for the basis on the skyscraper. The color of the structure is light blue, with the glass reflecting the color of the sky. It makes it seem like its floating on the classical basis of the building, which is the color grey and beige. The 10 S. Lasalle building has intricate designs on the new modern part of the building. These designs include green-yellowish stripes on the blue outside base that border the large blue windows. On the older base of the building, old style designs that look like cathedrals decorate it. This building was completed in 1986, and is 37 stories tall. The first 4 floors of the building are from the original facade of the otis building, as mentioned previously. The roofing on the building is built like a staircase, leading into the sky.
The purpose of this building is for businesses. From my view on the outside of the building looking into the entrance, it had many fancy elevators, stairs, and front desk. The main entrance of the building is marked with the address to notify tourists where they are in the city, or if someone has a meeting there. Due to the fact that there is are only revolving doors installed in the building’s entrance, people with disabilities would have difficulty in entering. The economy during the construction was starting to improve. During that time, Reagan was president and he reduced tax rates so people would have to earn money by working longer and harder. The purpose of this building now is so people can have somewhere to work and people can have stores for convenience. When the 10 S. Lasalle was first developed, it held fancy restaurants for people with extra money in their pockets.
This building appeals to me because of the way it sits on another building, and the slight slant of its positioning. Special materials that were used in construction was brick and glass so that it prevents the elements from affecting the internal structure. When it comes down to it, 10 S. Lasalle offers a place for business, commerce, and appealing views for tourists in the busy city of Chicago.
Bibligraphy:
Baer,Geoffrey. Chicago’s Loop a new walking tour with Geoffrey Baer. [Chicago] WTTW11/ Window to the World Communications,2011
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