Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
A city of towers.
An introduction to Chicago’s river and skyline, seen from the 103rd floor of Willis Tower.
On this page
Read the city from above
From the Skydeck, the Chicago River winds past the foot of the tower, and the city’s grid of streets runs out towards the horizon.
A guide can give context without turning a neighbourhood into a backdrop. Notice how the towers cluster along the river and in the Loop, and how the grid continues beyond them.
Structure you can see
The tower’s nine tubes rise to different heights, so the building steps back as it climbs. From the street, the setbacks are the clearest sign of the structure inside.
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 Skydeck chapter
The observation deck shows one way to understand Chicago: from above, where the river, the Loop and the grid make sense together.
Look at the meeting of the two: a tower built for offices, and a deck that opens the view to visitors.
Make room for context
Pair this reading with the tower’s history and the Journal. This is an introduction for visitors, not a claim that our team manages these places or represents the building or the deck.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
