Gateway Center
Chicago, IL
Gateway Center is a five-building complex designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and opened in stages from 1967 to 1983. It includes Gateway Center III, which was built over the Union Station concourse in 1971 and gives Union Station the constrictive claustrophobia and chronic overcrowding that is a constant reminder of the absence of civic forsight embodied in the building's construction.
In contrast to the stark, straight, modernist lines of Gateway I, Gateway IV has two distinctive features that embody the postmodernist desire to reflect the surrounding environment. The mirrored glass skin reflects the images of surrounding buildings, and the curved facade reflects the curve of the Chicago River at that point.