Page 60 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Chicago

58  CHIC A GO AREA B Y AREA

16th floor. Here, visitors brave
enough to look down will
have a stunning view of the
marble rosette in the granite
concourse floor marking the
building’s center.
Throughout the building are
14 specially commissioned
artworks showcasing Illinois
artists, and selections from
the building’s permanent art
collection are also on view.
Ask for a directory at the
information desk.
On the main floor is the
Illinois Artisans gallery, where
local artisans frequently sell
artworks and crafts.
Not on view to the public
are eight ice banks – each
40 ft (12 m) long, 12 ft (3.5 m)
wide, and 14 ft (4 m) tall – in
the sub-basement. In summer,
up to 400 tons (363 tonnes)
of ice are frozen each night
in these giant cubes, then
used to cool the building.
Outside the building,
located at the Randolph Street
entrance, sits Jean Dubuffet’s
The towering atrium in the James R. Thompson Center 29-ft (9-m) lighthearted
p James R. numerous restaurants and fiberglass sculpture Monument
with Standing Beast (1984)
Thompson Center shops. Performances and fairs (see p127).
are often held in the atrium.
100 W Randolph St. Map 3 C1.
Tel (312) 814-6660. q Clark/Lake. The interior rotunda, at a 333 West
Open 6:30am–6pm (atrium 17 stories and 160 ft (49 m) in Wacker Drive
8am–6pm) Mon–Fri. 7 = Art diameter, is one of the largest
exhibits. ∑ theatriumchicago.com enclosed spaces in the world. Map 3 B1. q Washington (Brown,
A cylindrical skylight soaring Orange, Purple Lines). Open 7am–
The James R. Thompson 75 ft (23 m) above the roofline 6:30pm Mon–Fri. 7 h
Center (1985) is a refreshing caps the rotunda. Its steel
change from the rectangular frame weighs almost 10,500 Located at a bend in the
skyscrapers that make up tons (9,525 tonnes). Chicago River, this prominent
Chicago’s Downtown. Architect Exposed escalator and Post-Modern, 36-story edifice
Helmut Jahn designed the elevator machinery echo the echoes the curving form of its
center as a symbol of open building’s no-barriers theme. natural neighbor. Designed in
democratic government, Elevators run up glass shafts 1983 by the architectural firm
one with no barriers between to a viewing platform on the of Kohn Pedersen Fox, the
it and the people. The all-glass
walls and roof in this multi-
shaped structure provide a
monumental, dazzling – and
some say, chaotic transparency.
Originally called the State
of Illinois Building, and often
still referred to as such, the
building was later renamed
after the former Illinois governor
who commissioned it. The
tricolor (patriotic but often
criticized salmon, silver, and
blue) center is home to almost
70 government offices and The massive James R. Thompson Center, Standing Beast in foreground

058-059_EW_Chicago.indd 58 13/07/16 2:59 pm
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.6)
Date 12th July 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm