(Above) The foundation of the proposed 150-story Chicago Spire features a 110-foot diameter hole. The Chicago Architecture Club, which supplied this photo, is sponsoring a contest to find the best ideas of what to do with the gap. (Click on image to view larger version.)

February 18, 2010 – What is 76 feet deep, 110 feet across, and a constant reminder of a deflated real estate market? That would be the Chicago Spire, of which 150 planned stories overlooking Lake Michigan did not make it past the foundation.

Construction of the condominium tower started last June on a 2.2-acre lakefront site but ground to a halt in the fall, a victim of the global credit crunch. The tower’s cylindrical concrete core was going to fit into the circular hole.

So, what to do about the gap? The Chicago Architecture Club is looking for suggestions and will pay $3,500 for the best idea.

“Mine The Gap” is the 2010 Chicago Prize Competition of the 125-year-old club. Architecture writer Lynn Becker, a Marina City resident, will be one of six judges. Writing on his web site on Thursday, Becker called the tower “the stuff that dreams are made of, specifically, the dream of a twisting, 150-story Chicago Spire, by Santiago Calatrava, redefining the city’s skyline.”

Construction crews have long since gone home, leaving only the hole. “And with lenders putting the screws to the developer behind the dream,” writes Becker, “it may be there a very long time, a mystic talisman, a riddle on the dynamics of urban life.”

The deadline for entries is May 3. There is a $90 entry fee for professionals, $50 for students, and $30 for CAC members. Second prize is $1,500 and third prize is $750. Winners will be announced in May and all entries will be published in an upcoming issue of CAC Journal.

(Above) Location of Chicago Spire (red dot in upper right corner) in relation to Marina City (left).

Not wanting to influence entries, Becker declined to offer his own suggestions on what to do with the gap.

“I was very honored to be invited on the jury,” he mused, “although I’m still a bit ticked off that no one wanted me for Tweet Home Chicago,” a design contest sponsored by the City of Chicago for bird houses.

More information:

• Chicago Architectural Club
• ArchitectureChicago PLUS