[LouisVanDerWright]

I haven't really shared my thoughts on this one yet because I didn't really know what to make of it at first. But it's been growing on my quickly. The base is really refined and has and abstract blocky quality composed of various insets and cantilevers. That subtle detailing of the massing continues up into the tower with the subtle setback and cantilevers at the transition from hotel to residential. The same blocky mass is also repeated in the macro as the facade seems to have separate patterns for each different use. Each hotel is wrapped in it's own unique glass pattern (this appears to be fritted glass like the stuff used on the Coast balconies) and the residential has it's own pattern as well. The base has yet another type of skin (which looks a lot like the glass from the original renderings of the coast).

The stacking plan is really what let me understand the design. Without knowing the different uses the facade seems arbitrary and random. Once you see the stacking plan it all makes sense. I'm really liking this take on the long tradition of formal modernism in Chicago. You don't really have a lot of options on a lot of this shape anyone so something minimal and subtle is the best option.