In the heart of the city lies three buildings that are the centers of city, county, and state government activity in Chicago. Today's entry takes a look at the building responsible for services to the state government, the State of Illinois building. Or as it has been known for the past 20 years, the James R. Thompson Center. Built in 1985, the Center houses offices of the State of Illinois. For instance, the DMV is located on the ground level of the place. The most distinctive feature of the building is without a doubt it's exterior design. Architect Helmut Jahn decided on a distinctly post-modernist design that can be best described as a 17-story spaceship in the middle of the Loop.
While this design may be aesthetically arresting, it creates huge problems when it comes to regulating the temperature of the building. Originally plans called for curved, double-paned glass to improve insulation. However, costs proved prohibitive, and after Jahn rejected flat double-paned glass, the building was erected with curved, non-insulated glass. This immediately necessitated an upgrade to the HVAC systems in the building, which ultimately proved to be insufficient, since the interior temperature of the building still gets to be up to 90 degrees on hot summer days. In addition, the building can get very cold in the winter. In fact, in the building's early days ice would form on the interior of the windows in the building, and the melting water damaged the marble in the atrium. Fortunately, that particular problem has since been addressed.
One other interesting quirk about this building is the presence of art in and around the building. Through the Percent for Art program, .5% of the total construction costs were set aside for the purchase of works of art. One of the more unique pieces is outside of the building, Standing Beast by Jean Dubuffet. Overall, this is a very interesting building. If you find yourself in the city at some point, I highly recommend it.
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