The retail base in the development is the design's biggest disappointment. Taking care of many crucial site and design issues, after KPF's design, SCB kept the same base massing as previous, cladding the facades in a different manner: more transparent and articulated. A simple change in envelope though does not remedy the base's utter lack of scale in an area with significant buildings of at least eight stories (the Lord & Taylor entrance is across the street from the 10-story Marshall Field store). Why is this the case? Is it to accommodate the rooftop plaza (at left), definitely the most refreshing aspect of the design? Or is it based on zoning bonuses? Although the latter may not be the reason it is definitely a problem in Chicago, where bonuses are given for setting back above a base, enabling one to build towers higher and higher. It may be called the Michigan Avenue Effect, that street littered with residential towers above indoor shopping malls. In the case of Block 37 the hotel and residential components are lifted above, not inserted into, the base, decreasing the size and scale of the base accordingly. Block 37.........................Chicago, Illinois