Chicago Tribune — “An exclusive look at Jeanne Gang’s Vista Tower, now Chicago’s third-tallest building”

Architecture critic Blair Kamin hails the nearly-complete Vista Tower as “a stirring work of skyline artistry…as if the waters of Lake Michigan had burst upward and transformed themselves into fluid, undulating tiers of glass.”

“Vista consists of three connected high-rises, or stems…[that] reflect Gang’s desire to make the tower a good neighbor as well as a landmark. Their underlying structure — concrete cores in the outer stems, linked by a spinelike wall in the middle stem — frees the central stem to bridge over the ground. That opens the way for Vista’s chief ground-level amenity: a well-lit passageway that leads from the handsome park at the center of Lakeshore East to the downtown Riverwalk, just to the north. A boldly curving, scooplike wall forms an inviting gateway to the passageway from the park. . . With its sleek, swelling curves and sophisticated environmental approach, it refreshes Chicago’s historic role in tall building design and charts bold new directions in skyscraper style.”

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