The Sears Tower, considered the tallest structure in the world from 1974 to 1998, was designed by SOM, and the same firm has now designed all-glass balconies for the Skydeck viewing platform on the 103rd floor of the building (412 m). These are blocks 1.2 m high and 3 m wide protruding beyond the facade, thanks to which you can view the panorama of Chicago and the surrounding area more widely than from the tower window, as well as look at the city streets vertically from top to bottom - through the transparent floor of these balconies …
But the $ 8 million project seems insignificant compared to the Sears Tower redevelopment plan, which includes greening the skyscraper and building a hotel nearby. This project will cost $ 350 million and will radically transform the appearance of the famous building. But the first to change its name - instead of included in the books on the history of modern architecture "Sears Tower", starting this summer, the tower will be called "Willis Tower", according to the new tenant of its office space, the insurance company Willis Group.
The author of the reconstruction project is Adrian Smith, the architect of the Burj Dubai tower, who left SOM several years ago and founded his own workshop. Even before the Sears Tower, he was involved in the modernization of skyscrapers that were outdated in terms of energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, but too high to be easily demolished. For a Chicago skyscraper (roof height - 422 m, antenna - 527 m), clearly belonging to this category, Smith proposed a program to reduce electricity consumption by 80%. This includes both reducing energy costs and generating electricity using wind turbines and solar panels installed on the building volume that rises in steps. The energy saved is 68 million kWh per year or 150,000 barrels of oil.
It is planned to start by replacing the glazing of 16,000 tower windows from single to multi-layer, which will save up to 50% of the energy spent on heating. They will also be replaced with new and more efficient mechanical heating and cooling systems, as well as elevators (104 units) and escalators (15 units).
Systems will be installed to save water (40%) and electric lighting (also 40%). On the rooftops of the building, wind turbines and solar panels will be complemented by a solar water heating system; also all roofs will be transformed into “green roofs”, unique in terms of their height to the world experience.
The appearance and foot of the skyscraper will also change: the lower floors of the tower will be transformed into a glazed shopping center, information screens will be installed on its facades, and the roofs will be planted with trees, as well as the area around.
A LEED gold-certified hotel will be built nearby: Sears Tower will generate all the electricity it consumes. Also, vegetation will be widely used in his project: on the floors of his base of organic forms, in open "heavenly gardens" and under the glass dome of the roof.
