Sustainable & Innovative Aqua Tower Adds to Chicago Skyline

The Aqua Tower, a new 82-story building in Chicago's downtown, was featured on the January/February cover of Greensource Magagzine.  Designed by Jeanne Gang, along with Magellan Development Group, this residential and hotel tower is making headlines for both its sustainability and its innovation.  Sustainable practices were incorporated throughout the building process, and design features such as a 3rd-story podium park, a public electric car charging station in the underground garage, and curving balconies which shield sunlight, have made the tower eligible for LEED status.  The Aqua Tower, shows an innovative design in that both the footprint and the floorplans of the interior spaces remain rectilinear, unlike its predecessors, Bertrand Goldberg's twin cylinders of Marina City.  The curved exterior is achieved through the swerving concrete balconies.  Check out the photo gallery and article in Greensource.