A "Chicago in Stone and Clay" Companion, Part 2: Both Before and After Sunset
This series complements my award-winning guidebook, Chicago in Stone and Clay: A Guide to the Windy City's Architectural Geology. Henceforth I'll just call it CSC.
The CSC section and page reference for the building featured here: 5.9; pp. 51-53.
Facing northeastward from Millennium Park. Standing just south of Anish Kapoor's "Cloud Gate" sculpture, better known as the Bean.
The focal point of this post's discussion is that glorious monster, the 83-story Aon Center, once known instead as the Standard Oil Building, and then as the Amoco Building. It was completed in 1973.
The two Prudential Plaza skyscrapers, partially visible at left, were cursorily described in Part 1 and will be featured again. As far as our beloved Bean goes, I have already showcased that stainless-steel tourist magnet in this post and its sequel. Check 'em out.
And so I now return to the title's import. The exact time of sunset is of course dependent on your latitude and longitude. But this photo seems to suggest that it's also a matter of your altitude as well.
As the Michigan Avenue streetlights captured on the Bean's mirrorlike surface indicate, we're a few minutes past sunset down at ground level. But up there on the Aon, starting at about the fortieth floor, Old Sol's rosy fingertips are still touching the off-white Mount Airy Granodiorite that replaced the original Carrara Marble cladding. So, if one is up that high, our favorite star has not yet quite slipped under the horizon.
The result is a remarkable pinkification of the mighty structure's upper portion. The same coloration effect on the Aon can be seen in both of the Bean images linked three paragraphs above.
In the comments section of Part 1 I mentioned that the dearly departed Carrara gave off a roseate glow at sunset. But obviously so can the flatter-toned Mount Airy, at least on such beautiful late-October evenings as this.
For much more on the sites touched upon here, get and read Chicago in Stone and Clay, described at its Cornell University Press webpage.
The other photos and discussions in this series can be found in my "Chicago in Stone and Clay" Companion album. In addition, you'll find other relevant images and descriptions in my Architectural Geology: Chicago album.
A "Chicago in Stone and Clay" Companion, Part 2: Both Before and After Sunset
This series complements my award-winning guidebook, Chicago in Stone and Clay: A Guide to the Windy City's Architectural Geology. Henceforth I'll just call it CSC.
The CSC section and page reference for the building featured here: 5.9; pp. 51-53.
Facing northeastward from Millennium Park. Standing just south of Anish Kapoor's "Cloud Gate" sculpture, better known as the Bean.
The focal point of this post's discussion is that glorious monster, the 83-story Aon Center, once known instead as the Standard Oil Building, and then as the Amoco Building. It was completed in 1973.
The two Prudential Plaza skyscrapers, partially visible at left, were cursorily described in Part 1 and will be featured again. As far as our beloved Bean goes, I have already showcased that stainless-steel tourist magnet in this post and its sequel. Check 'em out.
And so I now return to the title's import. The exact time of sunset is of course dependent on your latitude and longitude. But this photo seems to suggest that it's also a matter of your altitude as well.
As the Michigan Avenue streetlights captured on the Bean's mirrorlike surface indicate, we're a few minutes past sunset down at ground level. But up there on the Aon, starting at about the fortieth floor, Old Sol's rosy fingertips are still touching the off-white Mount Airy Granodiorite that replaced the original Carrara Marble cladding. So, if one is up that high, our favorite star has not yet quite slipped under the horizon.
The result is a remarkable pinkification of the mighty structure's upper portion. The same coloration effect on the Aon can be seen in both of the Bean images linked three paragraphs above.
In the comments section of Part 1 I mentioned that the dearly departed Carrara gave off a roseate glow at sunset. But obviously so can the flatter-toned Mount Airy, at least on such beautiful late-October evenings as this.
For much more on the sites touched upon here, get and read Chicago in Stone and Clay, described at its Cornell University Press webpage.
The other photos and discussions in this series can be found in my "Chicago in Stone and Clay" Companion album. In addition, you'll find other relevant images and descriptions in my Architectural Geology: Chicago album.