In an interview with the Chicago Tribune’s Blair Kamin, Mayor Rahm Emanuel rattled off a few of his favorite buildings in the fair city of Chicago. Rahmbo steered clear of the supertalls—no Sears, Hancock, or Trump—and he’s apparently a thoroughly modern guy, skipping the old Water Tower, the Board of Trade or any classical designs.
Nope, it’s Kohn Pedersen Fox’s 333 Wacker Drive, clad in curving, reflective green glass, that leads off his list. He also gave shouts out to Frank Gehry’s fittingly bombastic Jay Pritzker Pavilion and the industrial-turned-condo buildings of Printer’s Row in the South Loop. Makes sense that Mr. Tourism-and-Development would gravitate towards buildings with real estate stories as interesting as their designs. No qualms with his picks, but we’d like to see old, pre-sweater wearing Rahm pen a screed dropping f-bombs on his least favorite buildings. Now that’d be something.