Monocle focuses eye on Marina City

“For all that Chicago sits on the curve of Lake Michigan, it’s a city of extremely sharp edges. Its yawning flat topography is punctuated by square and rectangular blocks, arranged in one of the more perfect urban grid systems….Against this matrix of steel, glass and right angles, Bertrand Goldberg’s twin Marina City blocks – giant, scallop-edged concrete cylinders – are like two fingers to the rest of the city.”

August 5, 2012 – A global affairs magazine published in London is devoting seven pages of its current issue to Marina City.

(Left) Cover of seven-page pictorial on Marina City, Life In The Round, that appears in the 55th issue of Monocle.

Monocle’s design editor, Hugo Macdonald, travelled to Chicago in mid-May to spend two days interviewing residents as Chicago photographer David Robert Elliott captured views of and from Marina City, along with interiors of four units.

“I’ve been a fan of Bertrand Goldberg’s architecture for a few years after stumbling across photos of River City in a book,” says Macdonald, referring to the Marina City architect’s other famous project on the Chicago River. “I did a bit of digging and he struck me as a bit of an unsung hero given how pioneering his work was in establishing a new vernacular of urban living.”

For an annual “quality of life” issue, Macdonald wanted to write about how a historic residence was being utilized today. “Marina City was the perfect fit.”

Macdonald (left) spoke with three architects who live at Marina City, public affairs specialist Jerry Nelson, and 34-year resident Blanche Foster. “I adored the few days I spent there – what a magnetic place. And such wonderful people.”

Monocle is published ten times a year and has a global distribution of about 150,000. Illinois is its third biggest U.S. state for sales, according to Monocle’s public relations manager, Emily Smith.

The magazine is sold at most Barnes & Noble bookstores, in Chicago at Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts at the corner of North State Parkway and West Burton Place – although only two copies remained on Friday. The issue can be ordered online for about $9.39.

Website: Monocle

(Below) An early morning on Wacker Drive in mid-May, photographed by David Robert Elliott for Monocle but not used. This view looks east from LaSalle Street. (Click on image to view larger version.)