Lee Bey

Construction workers apply a grey marble cladding to the Obama Presidential Center in Hyde Park on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Unlike the renderings that showed white or cream color, a grey marble is being installed.

Obama Center gets skin in the game with fancy new granite cladding on its tower

The swirl-patterned granite panels will contribute much to the visual identity — while perhaps adding color and life to a structure that appeared cold and mausoleum-like in renderings.

By Lee Bey

Columnists

As Chase renovates its downtown HQ, can the plaza's modernist McDonald's stay on the menu?

Whatever happens with the upcoming Chase Tower renovation, here’s hoping the little Mickey D’s on the plaza survives.

By Lee Bey

400 Lake Shore Hero, Related Midwest_jpg.jpg

Columnists

It takes two to make a thing go right: Construction starts on a pair of towers at old Chicago Spire site

A pair of tapering, faceted towers designed by architecture firm Skidmore Owings & Merrill that holds the promise of finally delivering the come-up the historic 3-acre parcel has always deserved.a

By Lee Bey

Guaranteed Rate Field sits in the middle of 70-acres of stadium parking.

Columnists

Chicago’s best bet might be keeping White Sox at Guaranteed Rate

The city and state officials should think long and hard before helping reward the team with a new stadium at The 78, particularly when it could come at the expense of the South Side and the Armour Square and Bridgeport neighborhoods.

By Lee Bey

Salesforce Tower Chicago, at left, looks mirror-shiny on a cloudy day.

Columnists

From new skyscrapers to Union Station redesign plans, 2024 will be a busy year for architecture

Bally’s planned casino and the fate of the Century and Consumers buildings are among the five architectural projects worth watching as this new year progresses.

By Lee Bey

Columnists

Google takes a step forward with new renderings of Thompson Center makeover plan

The renovation would keep the atrium and have a more transparent facade and a new plaza. But we need to see more, architecture critic Lee Bey writes.

By Lee Bey

The former Swift Mansion, 4500 S. Michigan Ave., on Monday, a day after it was substantially damaged by an extra-alarm fire. The blaze is being investigated as an arson.

Columnists

Gutted by fire, the fate of Bronzeville’s historic Swift Mansion remains in limbo

The fire is under investigation, but the 131-year-old home’s survival could rest with the results of a structural report now being prepared by city building inspectors.

By Lee Bey

A Chicago building at 1130 S. Wabash Avenue.

Columnists

South Loop had a hybrid car dealership — a century ago. Now it’s headed toward demolition.

But a building that beckoned toward the future, housing the former Woods Motor Vehicle Co., shouldn’t be consigned to the past, architecture critic Lee Bey writes.

By Lee Bey

Columnists

With its curving canopy, suburban grocery store offers a special on good design

Caputo’s Fresh Markets in Norridge has a visually-exciting canopy — no, it’s not a roof collapse — that is a counterpoint to the drab, by-the-numbers store frontages most shoppers encounter.

By Lee Bey