Notes on the city

A little city sense.

Short readings of the neighborhoods in the collection. They are essays, not listings.

Streeterville · Lakefront

Modernism, beside the lake.

On the drive, the day is mostly horizon. Mies put two glass towers a few feet inland of that light and let the grid do the rest. Walk it in the morning, when the east elevations are bright and the steel is still a drawing.

Read the building

A feeling, then a pin

The best Chicago address is a feeling before it’s a pin.

From the lake’s changing light to a limestone facade after rain, choosing well means understanding the city at a human scale — and knowing which details stay with you. The collection is organized that way on purpose.

Explore the collection

River North

Round concrete, at the bend.

Marina City is the moment the river stops being an edge and becomes a front door. The corncobs are housing, parking, and a marina stacked into one idea: downtown as a place you sleep, not only a place you work.

Read the building

Lakeshore East

A neighborhood drawn after the rails.

Lakeshore East is new ground, planned where the yards used to be. Aqua’s balconies and the St. Regis stems are the two ways that new ground learned to meet the sky — one soft, one segmented, both aimed at the water.

Read the building