71 South Wacker (previously known as the "Hyatt Center") is an American office tower 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 ...

completed in 2005. The 48-story

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

stands at 679 feet (207 m) on 71 South Wacker Drive. It is owned by the Irvine Company. The architects were

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Pei Cobb Freed & Partners is an American architectural firm based in New York City, founded in 1955 by I. M. Pei and other associates.

. The tower is notable for the lozenge shaped plan and the resulting convex curves of the steel and glass north and south facades. The 1,765,000 square foot (164,000 m²) building contains 65,000 cubic yards (50,000 m³) of

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

and 12,000 tons of structural

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

. It took about 2,700 truckloads to excavate the building's foundation, and 1,300,000 man hours over nearly two years to finish. Twenty-eight high speed

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

s serve the building. The building features extensive landscape design by Chicago's Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects, both inside and outside, from

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

groves, complete with fountains, lining the modern lobby to lush green grass in raised curved stone planters on the building's south side. 71 South Wacker also contains art panels by

Keith Tyson Keith Tyson (born Keith Thomas Bower,Keith Tyson

and a ''

trompe-l'œil ; ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional surface. , which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into perceiving p ...

'' mural by Ricci Albenda. The anchor tenants of the building include Colliers International, Benesch Law, EVRAZ North America, Columbia Threadneedle Investments and

Mayer Brown Mayer Brown is a global white-shoe law firm, founded in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It has offices in 27 cities throughout the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, with its largest offices being in Chicago, Washington, D.C., New ...

LLP. The floor 2 cafe is available to all tenants and registered guests. The building was formerly the headquarters of the Hyatt Corporation, who relocated their headquarters to

150 North Riverside 150 North Riverside Plaza is a highrise building in Chicago, Illinois, completed in 2017 and anchored by William Blair and Co. The building is 54 stories tall and was designed by Goettsch Partners. The building occupies a two-acre site on the we ...

in 2017. After Hyatt relocated their headquarters, its name was removed from the building's title, and the building began using its address of 71 South Wacker as its title.

Previous concept

Originally, the Pritzker Realty Group intended for British architect Lord Norman Foster to design what was then called Pritzker Tower to house the offices of the Global Hyatt Corporation and other family holdings. However, plans for the 60-story building were scrapped due to financial considerations and the uncertainty of global events after the terrorist attacks on

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

Security

Being the first high rise built in Chicago post 9/11
Kroll Security Group
the Security Consulting and Engineering division of Kroll, Inc., was hired as the security consultant for the project providing complete security systems design.

Lobby

Iconic 50-ft height atrium lobby with floor-to-ceiling glass, gently curving zen gardens and jet-mist granite walls project a bold-confidence with tranquil reflection to inspire from the outside in.

References

* *
Hyatt Center Website
{{Authority control Skyscraper office buildings in Chicago Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum certified buildings Office buildings completed in 2005 2005 establishments in Illinois

Previous concept

Security

Lobby

See also

References