The Silver Tower by Chipka
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Description
I remember the formative days of my literary life. I remember a trilogy of novels by John Christopher: The Tripods Trilogy. I remember the titles of each of the books, particularly The City of Gold and Lead. From time to time, I revisit those novels and marvel at the character “Beanpole.” A French guy. An inventor. A renegade human doing his part for the liberation of Humanity.
Now, as I make my way through life in Chicago—looking forward to life elsewhere—I recall the Tripods Trilogy…and in particular, The City of Gold and Lead.
There are times when I feel as if Chicago has turned into something other than a human city—times it seems as if a city in flux has lost its essential identity. And there are times—more often than not—when I see the promise a city like Chicago might offer; I see bold designs and an urban core of skyscrapers built for the sheer joy of building skyscrapers. I find myself wondering what life might be like if we built such structures, not for multinational corporations, but for people, for whole living communities…for museums, galleries, and yes…even for businesses. What might our cities become if our towers of steel and glass were built in honor of affordable housing, or education? What accomplishments might a city claim if the Trump Towers, the Bank Spires, or even the Sears (Willis) Towers of the world were dedicated not only to money makers, but to artists, to universities, to hospitals. What if our houses of worship were as stunning as our steel and glass hotels? What if our universities and elementary schools were as sleek, as high-tech, as user friendly as our modern international airports? What if it became possible for the average family to live 100 floors up in towers of steel and glass with whole forests and wetlands sculpted into their common areas, their atria, and their upper-level common spaces?
I wonder these things, especially in walking near the Trump Tower (as pictured here) and imagining that it is home to the University of Chicago and the students who attend. I imagine how different life might be if those we define as “poor” and “underpriviledged” and even “dispossessed” have both physical and spiritual access to the sorts of places reserved for our bankers and our Wall Street executives? Do I think that bankers and money-wranglers deserve any less than they do? No. One deserves what one works for, but I do ask myself what life might be like if artists and philosophers and hamburger-flippers could also wake up in the morning, and see the sun rising from behind somethong other than a litter-strewn parking lot.
***
I took this photo as I was returning to Corey’s apartment after a day of hard work for little money. I found the Trump Tower to be immensely beautiful: not entirely natural and not entirely welcome in my personal sphere of existence, but beautiful nonetheless. I wondered what life would (indeed) be like, if the most common among us could make the conscious choice as to where they lay their heads at night rather than resign themselves to the company of rats and roaches.
I think of the city of steel and glass and of immense greenhouses, and wonder what wonders a city might offer if banks and Wall-Street-related institutions existed not as sky-scraping towers, but as human-scaled architectural constructs.
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you're all having a great week.
Comments (29)
beachzz
Wasted space; it's everywhere. There's a whole small subdivision that used to be Navy Housing in a town near me. All the houses have been empty for years when there are people who could live in them. Government at its worst. But I digress--this is an amazing foto--that tower is what towers like that are--works of great excess. But there is a surreal kind of beauty in it, especially the way you've captured it.
minos_6
This is an amazing building, and that perfect sky combined with its perfect symmetry gives it an unnatural feel, as if the whole thing were somehow fake. The immensity of the structure is also felt in the way it rises from the shadows, with a glint of sunlight on its edge. I really like this capture, Chip. As for your words, it occurs to me that whenever I meet the homeless in London, they often seem to be in the vicinity of immense glass and steel structures like this one, yet with their gaze rooted towards the pavement as evidence of their lack of qualification to enter within. These types of architecture do create social barriers. Those above do not see what goes on at ground level, and it's symbolic of some of our most pressing social issues. Excellent capture and words!
ToniDunlap
WOW, what a photo. Very cool capture and your wonderful eye saw it!
lick.a.witch
I read your words and find myself wishing, albeit in some far off dream world I invent when things are not how I would have them, that you and others like you were in charge of this planet. Sadly for us, that isn't so, and structures such as this are the result. It's nice enough. At least it has two of my favourite colours, pale gold and blue, but in all honesty? I find more real beauty in the armour surrounding a wood louse; a snails mobile home; an ants twitching antennae or a spiders web. I also imagine another world, far from us, where what you write is already fact. An enlightened, kinder, more caring society where art is at a premium, in whatever form and poverty is not tolerated. Where people are cherished - now there's a dream for a cold and starless night. Nothing can take away from the wonderful image. First class Chip and regards to Corey. Stay well. ^=^
helanker
That is indeed a fantastic build, but it also look like a f-finger LOL ! Like it says: "look how beautiful I am. Only special people can come through MY doors" The rest of you can have my finger. Sorry Chip, but thats how i saw this building LOL! It is a perfect capture and I love it.
Crabbycabby
Takes the breath away. Stunning shot.
durleybeachbum
Very interesting and thought provoking ruminations, Chip, and an absolutely STUNNING photograph. Me, I would wither and die in such an environment, I need to be on the ground.
alanwilliams
A stunning picture of this amazing tower block
lucindawind
wow fabulous POV !
thecytron
AmaZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzing photo manipulation!
MrsRatbag
Wonderful POV and capture; the light flare seems to set the building aside as otherworldly and off-limits to humans. Very beautiful!
MrsLubner
what a magnetic shot! Really glowing and stupefying pov.
Meisiekind
The Trump Tower in Chicago is way more impressive than the one in NYC! Marvelous piece of architecture and a marvelous image Chip!
flavia49
fantastic capture!!
jac204
Impressive building and great capture.
RowdyCowgirl
Amazing POV!!
kgb224
I like this capture my friend. I wonder what all our city's are becoming. Stunning capture my friend.
sandra46
SUPERLATIVE IMAGE! SUPERB SHOT!
auntietk
Highrise buildings ... you know, I'm still not over the fact that you can park your car in one in Chicago! Being from a city with no underground transportation, I'm used to underground parking garages. Seeing headlights coming at me from the 12th floor across the street was a bit disconcerting. Your pov on this building is fabulous! A stunning shot ... it goes up and up forever! Very cool.
RodS
Fantastic shot - has an almost Art Deco look to it! Beautifully composed, and visually stunning - most excellent!
Cameocat
They build them because they can. You do raise some impressive questions about these things. It is an extremely handsome building, and looks worthy. The true value of such things are for mere ego of the company, and seldom works for the good of the community. We still are amazed by them, though, because people can dream, and plan, and build, and make an accomplishment that we cannot. An impressive POV to this amazing high rise.
Kaartijer
Cool architecture, excellent shot!
SIGMAWORLD
fantastic capture!
KatesFriend
It is certainly a beautiful shot of a magnificent looking tower. The blues of the sky and glass are hypnotic and with its streamline curves harken back to the promise of Art Deco. The perspective gives a sense of grandeur (that's the problem with the French, they have no word for grandeur) and scale which ties in nicely with your commentary and the desire to elevate us all not just the privileged.
Alex_Antonov
Amazing!
Bothellite
Makes me feel like the avatar about with head beating on keyboard and yet your take comes to balance in perspective, as always, you amaze me.
makron
Fantastic capture and accurate. I really like the verticality of the photo. Very well done.
anahata.c
This really does pose a lot of feelings about art & its origins, and I mean from the heart, not just from the head. As we study the arts, we are struck how much of it was made for and supported by the elite throughout history, whoever they may be---from priests & priestesses to kings & queens to despots & benevolents (though mostly despots, for sure), and on & on. So many pieces of architecture were built for/by massively wealthy & powerful people. So many public spaces & so many places of worship. (I'm not telling you anything you don't know, for sure, just amplifying.) Even the great cathedrals were build with power-money, and for the powerful elders of the church, which was not only the greatest lobby in western history, but one of the great political powers of all time. So our capitalistic "churches" (like this tower, now stuck in our skyline for better or worse) are no different---only, built by/for corporate giants more than for kings & queens. And the killer is, there is beauty in some of these. This tower does have some beauty---I agree. It was built by a rather celebrated member of Skidmore Owings & Merril (hope I spelled that right---they could come here and take me away!) (We just called them SOM.) And that firm has given the world---esp chicago---some of the most mechanical freaking buildings in our heritage. They were based on some of the delicate minimalist designs of people like Mies van der Rohe, or Walter Gropius of the Bauhaus, etc. SOM turned them into very stark mechanical structures that radiated power & money. (The Hancock---perfect example. It's imposing but really it's kinda clunky & ugly. Still it sticks out for miles like the old cathedrals of european towns do...) But this one is actually poetic---I agree with you. But could they be built for the rest of us? Ideally, they should be! Your cry is as universal as it gets. But god, with the money they demand? With the money needed for upkeep & maintenance & security? I don't know how. Money has ruled the arts more than any of us like to think (in writing, music, you name it), and the common people never got a fair shake in the process. Even university architecture---you mentioned U. of C., above---has been infiltrated by big corporate funders (just as early universities were by the Church), on the hope by those funders that they can have influence on the research done within. Your cry is as old as the human race, once again, and I echo it to the core of my heart. All we can do is look at these huge structures and hope that the deep-seated instinct to find beauty & heart & personal poetry & yearning is present in them. Even a despot has those feelings, and their hired artists must as well. The Sistine Chapel was built for a Pope (and lots of patrons behind him), yet some artists managed to make some stunning art for it, even if it has symbols & icons that many people in the world don't believe in. "The agonizing symbiotic relationship between the artist and the Purse," as one teacher called it. Well, the poetry is what we hope to find in at least a small percentage of these shrines to Power. And when you go into the small churches of the countryside---here and in Europe (and I'm sure you've seen them), you see, if you're lucky, the wonderful folk arts that populate half the world, and those are worth all the Sistines in the world. When we find that poetry---right in the midst of a massive moneyed institution---then we've found the thing that transcends it all & preserves humanity in its midst. You give out that heart & soul all the time, so you're the antidote, Chip. (When I was a grad student at U of C, I walked by the spot where they split the atom---I'm sure you've been there---and I was reminded that the atomic stockpile was built for a huge government, with huge moneyed corporate contracts, to threaten the Nazis & Japanese; and ultimately lead to bombs that probably didn't have to be dropped at all, but were, and twice for god's sake. And I thought, even universities, where learning is supposed to be pure, are used for such political & moneyed purposes. The labs all across our land are...) So we find the beauty wherever we can, even in the Trump Towers, and we try to give-out beauty to counteract what Trump himself stands for. That's what your words & upload remind us of. Well Chip (if you're still reading, lol, this is a long comment!): If you were going to capture the beauty of this tower, you did it. One of the best shots I've seen of the damned beast, really. The flare going across the center & the deep blue sky are perfect. You sure caught its poetry, whatever there is of it. And that's something anyone can enjoy, even if they can't (go within it. Wonderful work, Chip. (One day Beethoven was walking the streets of Vienna with Goethe. It was after Napoleon was defeated and the city was rampant with dignitaries from all over Europe, to divide the spoils. Some dignitaries passed the two: Goethe, a diplomat, bowed deeply. Beethoven---the "f-you" rebel---said: "Don't bow to them: They should bow to us!" Lol. It was a calling card for us artists for years. Until we realized, that's still a form of power worship: Let everyone bow to everyone. Then you'd have a decent world...)
snakemove
OMG this is such an interesting building, look at this, the glass colours are amazing cool, just superB