A new, 30,000-square-foot public park on the podium’s roof can host everything from yoga classes and concerts to weddings and special events. One of the most notable transformations is the “Catalog”-named so as an homage to the classic Sears Catalog-a multi-level, 400,000-square-foot open lobby which features new dining, entertainment, and retail spaces. While the building was originally conceived as a single-use structure, architects Gensler, SkB Architects, and OLIN aimed to transform the space into a modern mix of uses available to office workers, residents, and tourists. purchased the Willis Tower and immediately began the biggest restoration project in the building’s history, referred to as a “street to sky” re-envisioning. On July 16, 2009, the name of the building was officially changed to Willis Tower.
Their contract included naming rights for 15 years. In 2009, the London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings leased more than 140,000 square feet of office space on three floors of the Sears Tower. This history explains why many Chicagoans still nostalgically refer to the building as the Sears Tower, although it hasn’t technically been the Sears Tower for years. The inhabitants of the bustling office building generated new energy in a formerly stagnant West Loop neighborhood. But in the end, the tower’s location proved to be advantageous for the city as well.
The location of the tower was strategically selected for its proximity to expressways and commuter rail lines to benefit Sears employees. In order to consolidate current staff and accommodate anticipated growth, the company hired SOM to design a three million-square-foot office tower. In 1969, Sears Roebuck and Company was the world's largest retailer, employing approximately 350,000 people across Chicago. Willis Tower soars to a height that was limited by the Federal Aviation Authority at the time of its construction. In 1970, Sears Chairman Gordon Metcalf explained, “Being the largest retailer in the world, we thought we should have the largest headquarters in the world.” Did You Know In order to build a structure with such an enormous footprint, Sears purchased and closed a section of Quincy Court that passed through part of their future site. The massive floor plates enabled employee interaction with limited elevator travel. When Sears first occupied the building, their merchandising department utilized the first 50 floors. Meanwhile, the variations in tube height disrupt the force of the wind. The tubes support one another, strengthening the structure as a whole. The tower is comprised of a cluster of nine tubes connected together to act as a single unit. Their use of the innovative system ushered in a whole new era of skyscrapers. When this 110-story tower was designed, architect Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) utilized the bundled tube system to address structural problems never before seen at this scale. But as buildings continued to grow taller and taller, new solutions were required. Everything about the Willis Tower says 'big.' The building’s many stories, its place in Chicago business history, its design and its recent energy-saving improvements are a mini-course in 'why design matters.' Susan Jacobson, CAF Docent Class of 2008Īrchitects have always been tasked with designing tall buildings to resist wind loads. The Willis Tower still claims the distinction of having the highest occupied floor among North American buildings.
Bruce Graham and Fazlur Kahn’s game-changing design A Docent Perspective
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