110 North Wacker Drive Office Building / Goettsch Partners

Offering one of the best office building locations in Chicago in terms of accessibility and visibility, this site would have been developed many years ago if not for its trapezoidal shape. Given that the east and west property lines are not parallel, fitting a typical Class A office floor plate, including the center core and desired lease spans, is a challenge. In addition, for any site along the river, the city requires a 30-foot-wide publicly accessible riverwalk, further complicating the site. The design addresses the challenges with an unusual stepped center core, which allows for a 45-foot lease span on each side. To avoid an angled perimeter, the west wall has a series of 30-foot-wide, five-foot setbacks, accommodating an orthogonal, five-foot planning module throughout the building.