Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
A city of towers.
An introduction to the Chicago River and the buildings that line it, a short walk from the Center on Wacker Drive.
On this page
Read the city from the river
The Center stands on Wacker Drive beside the Chicago River, where towers from many decades face each other across the water.
A guide can give context without turning a neighbourhood into a backdrop. Notice how the older stone buildings and the newer glass towers sit side by side along the river.
A Mies van der Rohe building
The Center’s own home, One Illinois Center, was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
Begin with a detail and ask how it was designed, built and maintained. A photograph alone cannot tell you who raised a steel beam or the conditions in which they worked.
A Chicago Architecture Center chapter
The Center shows one way to understand Chicago: through models and stories first, then the real buildings outside.
Look at the meeting of the two: a scale model of the city indoors, and the city itself just beyond the windows.
Make room for context
Pair this reading with the Center’s history and the Journal. This is an introduction for visitors, not a claim that our team manages these places or represents the Center.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
