OUR PROPOSAL FOR THE CHICAGO UNION STATION 2020 COMPETITION

Chicago is renowned for its number of public parks, famous for giving birth to the world’s first skyscraper and recognized as a metropolis that in its structure masters the choreography of urban movement.

This proposal is a loving tribute to the inherent qualities of the city and it’s history. The new dynamic center has two key components; the Union Plaza and the Vertical City. A vibrating metropolitan plaza, celebrating the dynamics of the transit’s constant state of flux, and a reinvention of the skyscraper through a site specific structure - incorporating the diverse characteristics of Chicago.

In respect of Union Station, the historic building is kept almost entirely in its original form with its importance enhanced by the new adjacent Union Plaza. The Grand Hall is given a new life as a connection point between the West Loop Transportation Center and the HSR-platforms. The perforated plaza, above the platforms, is conceived as a vibrating urban juncture between horizontal and vertical movements – between the underlying flow of high speed trains, the Chicago river and the stream of people traveling through the vertical city.

Elevated above the plaza, the Vertical City can be viewed as a condensed sampling of the unique urban fabric of Chicago – a slice of the city that has been rotated 90 degrees. A collection of “horizontal” skyscrapers - each with their individual program and identity; streets, sidewalks and parks, stacked on top of each other. Programmatically tipping our hat to Burnham & Bennets’s Plan of Chicago, a vertical chain of public parks and recreational areas is introduced throughout the structure.

The proposal’s ambition is to create a strong landmark for Chicago, rooted in the city’s genus loci, and at the same time challenge the traditional typology of plinths and towers.

Results of the competition can be seen here