Chicago school (architecture)

Historians such as H. Allen Brooks, Winston Weisman and Daniel Bluestone have pointed out that the phrase suggests a unified set of aesthetic or conceptual precepts, when, in fact, Chicago buildings of the era displayed a wide variety of styles and techniques.

Contemporary publications used the phrase "Commercial Style" to describe the innovative tall buildings of the era, rather than proposing any sort of unified "school."

Some of the distinguishing features of the Chicago School are the use of steel-frame buildings with masonry cladding (usually terra cotta), allowing large plate-glass window areas and limiting the amount of exterior ornamentation.

Mies sought to concentrate on neutral architectural forms instead of historicist ones, and the standard Miesian building is characterized by the presence of large glass panels and the use of steel for vertical and horizontal members.

[2] The tube structure, formed by closely spaced interconnected exterior columns, resists "lateral forces in any direction by cantilevering from the foundation.

Where larger openings like garage doors are required, the tube frame must be interrupted, with transfer girders used to maintain structural integrity.

The Chicago Building by Holabird & Roche (1904–1905) is a prime example of the Chicago School, displaying both variations of the Chicago window
Historically unprecedented grid of wide windows, clear expression of structural frame, and minimalist ornamentation on the Marquette Building (1895).
A steel skeletal frame, like that of the Fisher Building (built 1895–1896, and still standing), meant the height of a building was no longer limited by the strength of its walls.
Willis Tower , completed in 1973, introduced the bundled tube structural system and was the world's tallest building until 1998