Yenisei Garces Bell's blog post was featured
Largest project ever awarded to an American firm headed by a woman!
The Aqua was named the Emporis Skyscrapers Award 2009 skyscraper of the year, and was shortlisted in 2010 for the biannual International Highrise Award. Aqua is designed by Jeanne Gang, principal and founder of Studio Gang Architects, and it is her first skyscraper project. Loewenberg & Associates are the architects of record, led by James Loewenberg. The Aqua Tower is an 82-story mixed-use residential skyscraper in the Lakeshore East development in downtown Chicago. The tower's proximity to nearby Lake Michigan also influenced the name..The building is the tallest in the world to have a woman as lead architect, at 859 ft (262 m).It includes one level of parking below ground. The building contains 55,000 square feet (5,100 square meters) of retail and office space, in addition to 215 hotel rooms (floors 1-18), 476 rental residential units (floors 19-52), and 263 condominium units & Penthouses (floors 53-81).The building's eight-story, 140,000 sq ft (13,000 m2) base is topped by a 82,550 sq ft (7,669 m2) terrace with gardens, gazebos, pools, hot tubs, a walking/running track and a fire pit. Each floor covers approximately 16,000 sq ft (1,500 m2).Sustainability was an important factor in Aqua's design. Gang and her team refined the terrace extensions to maximize solar shading, and other sustainable features will include rainwater collection systems and energy-efficient lighting. The green roof on top of the tower base will be the largest in Chicago.The Waves of the Future!!! Year Construction : 2007Status: completed 2010See More