7 months ago
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Posted On: March 22nd 2026, 08:51 pm
“What finally is beauty? Certainly nothing that can be calculated or measured. It is always something imponderable, something that lies between things.”
Looking up from beneath The Gentlemen by Ju Ming, this frame compresses three distinct eras of Chicago architecture into one view. The foreground bronze figures and umbrellas introduce texture and human scale, while the International Style rigor of the AMA Plaza rises behind them. Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and completed in 1973 as the IBM Building, its disciplined grid of steel and glass reflects his “less is more” philosophy. Off to the side, the sculptural curves of Marina City by Bertrand Goldberg contrast that restraint with an organic, almost futuristic expression of urban living from the 1960s. Together, they capture Chicago’s identity as a living laboratory of modernism, where structure, sculpture, and skyline continuously interact.
Looking up from beneath The Gentlemen by Ju Ming, this frame compresses three distinct eras of Chicago architecture into one view. The foreground bronze figures and umbrellas introduce texture and human scale, while the International Style rigor of the AMA Plaza rises behind them. Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and completed in 1973 as the IBM Building, its disciplined grid of steel and glass reflects his “less is more” philosophy. Off to the side, the sculptural curves of Marina City by Bertrand Goldberg contrast that restraint with an organic, almost futuristic expression of urban living from the 1960s. Together, they capture Chicago’s identity as a living laboratory of modernism, where structure, sculpture, and skyline continuously interact.
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