Aqua 01

Aqua (aka Aqua Tower) is an 87-story mixed-use building featuring America's first Radisson Blu hotel and over 700 residences in Chicago's Lakeshore East neighborhood bordering The Loop and Lake Michigan. It was designed by Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects, and upon its completion in 2009 was the tallest building in the world to be designed by a woman and earned the distinction of Skyscraper of the Year by Emporis, a Chicago Distinguished Building Award from AIA, and an American Architecture Award among many others. Each individual balcony is unique in size, shape and protrusion, allowing residents to chat with neighbors above or below. The balconies also help to break up wind vortices, minimize wind shear, shade neighboring apartments and prevent birds from colliding with windows. Each balcony is part of a greater floor slab. Contractors used GPS coordinates to precisely pour each of the 82 designs. Building Aqua was a feat of engineering-the curving white concrete balconies and colored glass create the impression of water cascading down the building's sides, which was inspired by nearby Lake Michigan. Paying homage to the Midwest’s natural beauty is Gang’s decision to make the Aqua Tower planet-friendly, through rainwater collection systems, heat resistant and fritted glass, and energy-efficient lighting, and it features one of the largest Green Roofs in Chicago. It was also featured in Transformers: Dark of the Moon.