CHICAGO | Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) Hotel | 50 FLOORS | PRO
 

Sears Tower plans 'green' hotel
Comments

June 24, 2009

BY DAVID ROEDER droeder@suntimes.com
Owners of Sears Tower unveiled today a $350 million makeover to reduce the famous high-rise's energy consumption.

The plans include giving the tower a new neighbor, a 50-story hotel that the Sears owners said would feature "net zero" use of energy. The new building, sat the northeast corner of Jackson and Wacker, would be designed by noted architect Adrian Smith of the firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.


http://media1.suntimes.com/multimedi...0.imageContent


http://www.suntimes.com/business/163...062409.article

I like renderings where the top isn't cropped out of the frame.

That said, the placement of it bothers me. Looks "squeezed in".

Looks like an adaptation of S/G's Clean Technology Tower- the net-zero-energy prototype with wind turbines.

Also buried in the article is that Willis will be replacing all of Sears' window panes in an energy retrofit, along with the HVAC and lighting.

Should be interesting, however it transpires.


PS - thanks much hydro.

That Sears will not be painted silver is mentioned rather unceremoniously, almost as a footnote. Very ironic considering that, when first announced, it was headline news.

I don't like that they are building (or planning to build) on the Sears Tower plaza. The hotel looks good at least, if crammed. But while I am not a fan of putting plazas everywhere, some work well. The AMA building plaza was nice and well utilized, the hotel that is being built there is taking away from AMA. I think that the planned plazas enhance the architecture of the building they front (and others). This is becoming an unsettling trend - maybe next we can build in the plazas in front of Equitable and IBM.....

On a side note, I think I missed this or am confused. Showman's/Harry Hot Dogs is now gone so we can have a plaza (one I don't like) for 155 N Wacker (you know, across from the low rise Walgreens and the tragedy that was the old CME), but are the other two buildings still coming down or not? And did they get the property by ED finally or did they buy out the owners?

Maybe because it's squeezed in.

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/9...ldingandho.jpg
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/9614/91812095.jpg
http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/7052/79912247.jpg

A few more hotel renderings
 

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/707/40875294.jpg
http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/2083/79707791.jpg
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/7882/97624150.jpg
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/235/25148033.jpg
http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/2829/93347850.jpg
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/692/66805213.jpg
http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/5876/11444418.jpg

i don't think it's whimsical enough... it needs more curves.

hahaha!



i really dont think there is a good way of going about adding that hotel into the Sears plaza... its gonna look awkward any way you attempt it. why dont they just buy the parking lot over at 311 S Wacker's property and build there? atleast that lot was designated for a large skyscraper...

I think this is a lot like how the Marriott hotel was squeezed into the World Trade Center lot, but it turned out ok (I understand the Marriott was only 22 stories and this is 50, so yes a bit of a difference). I actually like this idea and the building; it gives a very modern touch to the aging Sears, and should hopefully bring some life to the south end of the Sears with its proposed retail, other than just the skydeck customers.

They're trying to cram 50 lbs of hotel into a 5 lb plaza...

Really? IMO it's infinitely better than the stuff going up there now.

Is Adrian Smith trying to be the new Zaha? Consider, in addition to this, the base and riverside park of Trump. What do we call this architecture? Neo-retrofuturism? In the same way Raygun Gothic imagined the year 2000, there's a new movement that appears to derive its designs from late 90s CGIed futuristic movie sets.

I mean, what's this design rooted in? I don't mind it; I kind of like it. But this site demands a building which seeks to engage in a direct dialogue with the 1500-foot skyscraper in the room, and Smith's just seems like it should be next to the river or something.

Either way, I like it. If anything, its interesting development, in a time when everything else is pretty much on-hold or dead.

And the hotel:

The new hotel will feature a host of green/sustainable features, including:

• Sky gardens: Lushly landscaped green spaces at various levels will be among the building’s signature amenities—both for hotel patrons and for viewers from neighboring buildings.

• Solar deck: A naturally lit indoor garden space, covered by a glass dome featuring integrated photovoltaic panels that harvest solar energy, will offer stunning views of the skyline. A louver system will regulate the flow of air through the deck.

• Double-walled exterior: The building facade features one of Chicago’s first double-wall envelopes. Between the walls, an interior air space provides a blanket around the building that traps solar heat, venting it in summer and providing warm air in winter.

• Green roofs/planting terraces: Landscaped event spaces add an outdoor dimension to the luxurious interior, even as they add insulation and reduce storm water runoff.

• Building-integrated wind turbines: A series of wind turbines, strategically placed to harvest wind from the southwest as it flows over the smooth front facade, generate energy for the hotel. Wind is channeled into the turbine openings, which funnel it to accelerate its speed and increase power generation.

• Efficient systems: The latest technology in mechanical, electrical and control systems for optimized energy performance.

• Sustainability standard: Designed for a LEED Gold rating.

The 500-unit, five-star hotel’s amenities will include an elegant lobby, dining room, pool and spa; modern conference facilities for small and groups, with direct connection to sky terraces and green roof gardens on multiple levels; an 8,000-square-foot grand ballroom; top-of-the-line finishes made with renewable and/or recycled materials; new retail storefronts along Jackson and Franklin; and a grand outdoor plaza featuring landscaped terraces connecting the hotel to Sears Tower.

http://www.smithgill.com/#/work/sears_tower

That hotel looks sweet! I say build it, the Sears plaza needs help.

Thank god! That wall is atrocious! I'm glad to see these people plan to make Sears less affronting to the street. Frankly I'm glad to see that shitty granite go.

I love the new building, it should be really interesting with all of the double skin glass and various skygardens. Also I'm glad to see this plaza go, its one of the worst in the city, absolute unusable except as a corner shortcut. Its fenced off 80% of the time anyhow and no one ever uses it for anything. Its far from the many master piece plazas we have including Federal Plaza, Chase Plaza, and Daley Plaza. I just hope they don't do anything to obscure the Calder sculpture in the lobby from the street.

Exactly, I'd rather have an awesome new hotel and retail center than an outdated plaza, which, to me, is just a big useless sidewalk. This project totally surprised me at first, but the more I see, the more I like! Hopefully it won't get canceled.

Yeah, I rather like the whole plan as well. Looking at the model, Sears still completely dominates so I'm not concerned that the new tower is too much for the area. Certainly from a skyline perspective the hotel will barely register at all, it'll only be ~100-150 ft or so taller than some of the surrounding office towers. From a pedestrian point of view, it seems like it'll only make a difference if you're on Jackson. But if you're walking on Jackson you already have to contend with that hostile plaza anyway, so this is probably an improvement. The digital display on Adams sounds interesting and I really like this perspective for some reason:
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/9614/91812095.jpg

Maybe things will look different if they ever develop that park to the south, which I hope they never do.

I actually really love the new hotel idea. The design looks quite innovative. I'm not sure the hotel could aspire to be a 5-star property, however. The all business location would prevent higher ratings as all-business hotels never go above 4-stars.

If this hotel and retail podium was built as depicted, I'd be very happy. However, my fear is that it could be VE'd down to something unacceptable.

Really like the new proposed hotel next to the Sears. Offers a nice contrast to the stark lines/colors of Sears and presents itself at once as Sears' whimsical sidekick but also has the architecutral presence/gravity to stand alone (it's Kazoo and Dr. Watson all at once).

There's really not a lot of "there" in the SW Loop. This tower could help change that.

Me, too ...

Hey, will they sell me a slab or two - I want new kitchen counters ...

CHICAGO | Sears Tower Hotel | 50 FLOORS | Pro
 

Height: N/A
Floor count: 50
Cost: $225 Million
Architect: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill
Developer: 233 S. Wacker Drive, LLC

Link

Video



Renderings:
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/9...ldingandho.jpg
http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/5876/11444418.jpg
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/692/66805213.jpg
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/707/40875294.jpg
http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/2083/79707791.jpg
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/235/25148033.jpg
http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/2829/93347850.jpg
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/7882/97624150.jpg
http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/7313/80623868.jpg

Renderings from the Video:
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/5952/32715637.jpg
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/2844/82516501.jpg
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/1500/59205937.jpg
http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/2104/18135113.jpg
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/3117/91141317.jpg
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/9614/91812095.jpg
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5051/15189992.jpg
http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/7052/79912247.jpg

That proposed hotel has to be one of the skinniest buildings I've ever seen! Overall this project and redevelopment looks facinating!

very interesting

.

That hotel is nice.

I like the building, but does not look too good so close to the Sears Tower.

If the hotel and base get built as depicted in the rendering, then I'd be very, very pleased. However, if it get's VE'd at all, I would have a problem with it.

we already have an ongoing thread for the sears tower in the buildings and architecture forum.

link: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=153704

this thread can be used for discussing the new hotel proposed for the sears tower site.

I suppose this could be considered one of those exception to the rule cases where a less than 700' project is interesting enough to warrant it's own thread perhaps.

And on a sidenote if the Sears Tower ever went into reconstruction status then it would warrant having a new thread in P&C, and this project can be hacked along with it.

absolutely. not only is there some very thought provoking architecture in this proposal, but its juxtaposition with the sears tower, one of the icons of the skyscraper world merits even more scrutiny and attention. this proposal is one that will likely be of interest to skyscraper fans everywhere and discussion of it should not be buried in the chicago rundown thread.

^ I wouldn't support an exception, honestly. maybe once it gets funding and/or is under construction. but take all mention of sears out of the thread at least. obviously it's right next to sears

Done but Sears Tower Hotel stays as the name title for the Hotel until the Hotel receives a name.

As long as the black color facade stays then I am for it.

I just don't get the hotel next to the Sears tower. Chicago isn't Tokyo... there is room. There are parking lots in the area, even. It's a nice enough looking building but in that location, it looks like the Sears tower growing a wart.

I get it. It's not a issue of limited space. The hotel is merely a HUGE marketing move.

The Sears Tower is one of the older, Modernist towers on Wacker Drive, probably Chicago's hottest office corridor, but it has lost out on much of the leasing action during the last boom. It is a huge dinosaur of a building that was built for a tremendous company that vacated it soon after completion, leaving a vacuum that has never been filled. It has floorplates larger than any other building in Chicago, and obviously it is also the tallest building in the city, so even the signing of large firms doesn't make much of a dent in the unusually-high vacancy rate.

Look at Willis. Sears is so desperate for tenants that they are even willing to sell naming rights. Willis is only renting 150,000 square ft - just 4% of the building.

There has not been a comprehensive renovation of the property since it opened. Renovations have focused on lobby, retail, and plaza areas, but much of the HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and telecom lines are outdated.

Many businesses also see a move to Sears Tower today as a bad idea. It subsumes their corporate identity into something monolithic, unapproachable, and expressionless. At the same time, it seems too conspicuously insecure - as if the business has something to prove by moving to the city's most famous and tallest building. Ernst & Young, for example, which occupies 387,000 sq. ft in Sears - 10% of the building - is moving out to anchor their own tower, 155 N Wacker. They will use 40% of the building, essentially making it "theirs" in a way that Sears can never be.


Building management is increasingly desperate as their property lags far behind even in the city's hottest office submarket. Hence, they are turning to dramatic measures like LEED Gold certification, a complete revamp of the tenant spaces, and the addition of this hotel, to give the building an appeal beyond its one-dimensional iconic value.

^ ardecila, well said regarding your Sears Tower post. And access to a giant hotel having an indoor connection will appeal to many businesses too.

This is a fascinating idea. A couple of things in the article surprised me since I am not in Chicago and don't follow news there that close:

The Sears Tower is going to be renamed the Willis Tower?

They were considering painting it silver?

They are going to be able to reduce energy consumption by 80 percent?

All in all, very interesting proposal. I hope it goes through. The design is meh and I agree that it doesn't need to be so close to the Sears, but those are small nits for me to be picking at.

I loves it! Chicago is going crazy with their 'green buildings'.

It is too bad that it is crammed into such a small space, tho. It won't have the exposure it would elsewhere in Chicago's skyline because of the overbearing presence of the Sears. Still very attractive, nonetheless.

What I really like about the Hotel is the double facade, those have a tendency to look absolutely crystalline and beautiful. I mean the only one currently in Chicago that I know of is in Loyola's Internet Commons and it looks fantastic and adds a ton of interest to the building. I can't imagine 50 floors of that with skygardens interspersed. If they build this I hope it is done with excellent execution and becomes revolutionary not for its aesthetics but for its engineering.

It's like the BIC lighter for the giant stoggie that is the Sears Tower. It's looking so futuristic and cool in the renderings. Not sure how I feel about the proximity to Sears, but the contrast is quite striking.

And as Nowhereman1280 said, the double facade has the chance to look really slick against the black of Sears.

It's a very interesting proposal.

I love it! Build it!!!

This is a very nice building, however I do not feel that it will be that noticeable being next to the sears tower because it is extremely small in comparison and is very close. Does anyone have an idea of an aproximate height of this hotel?

Heh, cool idea, both in design and urban positioning. Realistically, how likely is it to get built?

The render puts it at Sears first setback. That's 200 meters.

It's amazing how small a 50 story building looks next the Sears tower. It would be seen for miles away in all but the major cities of the U.S.

Net Zero Energy? Doesn't it take alot of energy to *build* it?? One way or another, its going to consume energy.

I think it would be a cool idea on it's own merits, but merged close together with Sears it comes off awkward at best. Like the tower, but not fond of the location.

^ I like anything that makes the sears look even more monstrous than it already is

Building this hotel would (in my humble opinion) destroy the integrity of the architectural program of Sears Tower. Both building would not serve each other.
Plus the fact that the original design would be transformed totally on the base of the building : that should not be authorized. Like it or not, this is an icon of modern architecture of the 1970's !! It shouldn't be altered...
Plus the fact that the hotel would be so close from the tower that there would be a lack of intimacy from customers being in rooms so close from the offices spaces !!