Chicago

The Michigan Ave. “Magnificant Mile”

The Magnificent Mile is Chicago’s premier commercial district. The vibrant, bustling area is home to upscale shops, luxe fashion outlets, cool restaurants and posh hotels. Landmarks include the historic Chicago Water Tower, the neo-Gothic Tribune Tower, the terracotta Wrigley Building skyscraper and the 100-story John Hancock Center, which has a rooftop observation deck with fine dining and panoramic city views.

Millennium Park

Millennium Park is a portion of the 319-acre Grant Park, known as the “front lawn” of downtown Chicago, and has four major artistic highlights: the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Cloud Gate, the Crown Fountain, and the Lurie Garden. Millennium Park is successful as a public art venue in part due to the grand scale of each piece and the open spaces for display.

The Jay Pritzker Pavilion is a bandshell designed by Frank Gehry. The pavilion has 4,000 fixed seats, plus additional lawn seating for 7,000; the stage is framed by curving plates of stainless steel, characteristic of Gehry. The Pritzker Pavilion is Grant Park’s outdoor performing arts venue for small events, and complements Petrillo Music Shell, the park’s older and larger bandshell.

Cloud Gate, dubbed “The Bean” by Chicagoans because of its legume-like shape, is a three-story reflective steel sculpture. It is the first public artwork in the United States by world-renowned artist Anish Kapoor. Composed of 168 stainless steel plates welded together, its highly polished exterior has no visible seams. It reflects the city skyline, particularly the historic Michigan Avenue “streetwall”, and the sky. It provides striking reflections of visitors, who can walk around and under its 12-foot high arch. On the underside is the “omphalos” (Greek for “navel”), a concave chamber that warps and multiplies reflections. The sculpture builds upon many of Kapoor’s artistic themes, and is a popular photo subject with tourists.

The Crown Fountain is an interactive work of public art and video sculpture. The fountain is composed of a black granite reflecting pool placed between a pair of transparent glass brick towers. The towers are 50 feet tall, and use light-emitting diodes behind the bricks to display digital videos on their inward faces. The water operates from May to October, intermittently cascading down the two towers and spouting through a nozzle on each tower’s front face. To achieve the effect in which water appears to be flowing from subjects’ mouths, each video has a segment where the subject’s lips are puckered, which is then timed to correspond to the spouting water, reminiscent of gargoyle fountains; this happens roughly every five minutes.

The Lurie Garden is a 2.5-acre public garden located at the southern end of Millennium Park. The garden is a combination of perennials, bulbs, grasses, shrubs and trees. It is the featured nature component of the world’s largest green roof.

River Boat Architectural Tour

Chicago is known around the world for its architectural feats. From the 100-year-old Art Deco, Neo-Classical, and Gothic Towers, to some of the tallest modern-day skyscrapers, Chicago is where old meets futuristic architectural endeavors. It has something for everyone in a way that no other city replicates today. And one of the best ways to experience Chicago’s architecture is via a riverboat cruise. Several companies offer architecture river cruises, including the Chicago Architecture Foundation.