Viguier's "contemporary contextualism"
is evident in two primary gestures: the facade and the plaza.
The former realizes that Chicago's early skyscrapers expressed
themselves through the vertical structure while infilling the
remainder of the facade with decoration, usually between window
openings. Later facades were hung off the structure enabling
them to be lighter with greater area for glazing. Viguier relates
to both with small random openings located between the columns
and an all-glass facade made of transparent and opaque, white
pieces. Here the facade refers to both while appearing new. In
the plaza the architect concedes to the city's urban open spaces
generated by zoning trade-offs with the low mass bound by a convex,
curving facade which in turn creates a small hardscape. These
gestures, combined with the angular cantilever of the hotel floors,
have created a building that Chicago is proud to call its own.
