333 West Wacker Drive is a highrise office building in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, noted for its reflection of the curves of the Chicago River on its river-facing side.

Design features

On the side facing the

Chicago River The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop). The river is one of the reasons for Chicago's geographic importance: the related Chic ...

, the building features a curved green glass façade, while on the other side the building adheres to the usual rectangular street grid. The glass reflects both the sky and the river flowing next to it. The architecture firm

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) is an American architectural firm based in New York City that provides architecture, interior, programming and master planning services. They engineer different projects including civic and cultural spaces, co ...

who designed 333 also designed the high-rise buildings 225 W Wacker to the east, and 191 N Wacker Drive to the south. The building marks the division between North

Wacker Drive Wacker Drive is a major multilevel street in Chicago, Illinois, running along the south side of the main branch and the east side of the south branch of the Chicago River in the Loop.Hayner, Don and Tom McNamee, ''Streetwise Chicago'', "Wacke ...

and West Wacker Drive as the street makes a 90 degree turn. Based on the Chicago grid system for street numbers, if the building had been given an address on North Wacker, the street number would have been an odd number between 200 and 300.

In popular culture

333 Wacker Drive was featured in the 1986 movie ''

Ferris Bueller's Day Off ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' is a 1986 American Teen film, teen comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by John Hughes (filmmaker), John Hughes. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck, with supporting roles from Jenn ...

'' as the building containing Ferris Bueller's father's offices, and was voted "Favorite Building" by the readers of ''The Chicago Tribune'' in 1995. In celebration of the 2018 Illinois Bicentennial, the 333 W. Wacker Drive building was selected as one of the Illinois 200 Great Places by the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...

Illinois component (AIA Illinois). The building is used for exterior shots of Crows Security headquarters in ''

Batwoman Batwoman is a name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts and allies of Batman similarly to Batgirl. The original version of the character, Kathy Kane (eventually given t ...

''.

Gallery

File:333 Wacker Dr.jpg, Closer view File:Chicago River from Lake Street bridge.jpg, 333 Wacker (far right) and its

surroundings File:Wolf-Point-Chicago-01.jpg, Another view of the building in the context of the river, looking towards the east.

References

External links

333 Wacker Drive
at Hines Interests Limited Partnership
333 Wacker Drive
at Chicago Architecture Info
Illinois Great Places

333 W. WackerSociety of Architectural Historians SAH ARCHIPEDIA entry on 333 W. Wacker Drive
{{Authority control Office buildings completed in 1983 Skyscraper office buildings in Chicago Hines Interests Limited Partnership Kohn Pedersen Fox buildings 1983 establishments in Illinois