The owners of the John Hancock Center defaulted on a loan this week and have called in third party help. more ›

Last week it was Willis Tower where we had to keep an eye out for falling ice. Today, it's the Hancock Center. Streets have been closed around the skyscraper after reports of falling ice. Traffic was shut down on East Delaware Place between Michigan and Wabash. No injuries have been reported thus far. more ›

Bruce Graham, the architect who designed two of Chicago's tallest and most iconic buildings, died this weekend at his home in Hobe Sound, Fla. He was 84 and died due to complications from Alzheimer's disease, according to Crain's. Graham designed the Willis Tower - formerly known as the Sears Tower - which was the world's tallest building from its opening in 1974 until 1996. At 1,451 feet, it's still the tallest building in the U.S. He also designed the 100-story John Hancock Center, which opened in 1970. He helped design the green-glass high-rise Inland Steel Building, located at 30. W. Monroe, in the 1950s. Graham, originally from Bogota, Colombia, was a senior architect at the famous firm, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, from 1951 to 1989. more ›

Tomorrow is Mother's Day, a day to show appreciation for the strong women in your life. And one way of showing that appreciation is the 10th Annual Beverly Breast Cancer Walk in Beverly Hills and Morgan Park. Per the Southtown Star: more ›

In case you didn't notice, the Chicago skyline has been showing its Irish pride like everyone else by wearing its finest green outfits. Every few weeks a few brave individuals travel to the tops of the city to change the colors of the lights on the tops of our skyline, but how do they do it? "Magic and pixie dust," he said. Of course, Randy Stancik, building manager of the Sears Tower, was joking. It is actually a manual process, Stancik said. It takes two men about two hours to change the colors, attaching theatrical gels to the tops of the 22 spotlights that illuminate the antennae. more ›

Everyone knows Chicago architecture is excellent, but we recently realized how little we know about it again when we heard about the John Hancock Center's commercial space being sold. more ›

Lakefront beach photo via scrapplequeen on Contribute. You can feel the heat radiating just by looking at this photo! more ›

Among the 12 designs are two Chicago landmarks -- the John Hancock Center and Mies van der Rohe's minimalist apartment buildings at 860-880 N. Lake Shore Dr. Trib architecture critic Blair Kamin, however, takes exception to the small number of Chicago landmarks included in the set -- and he's absolutely right. If there's one this this city knows -- other than hot dogs and pizza -- it's revolutionary architecture. Blair mentions Marina City and the Farnsworth House as among those which should have been included, and Chicagoist agrees. more ›

Architect Adrian Smith of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in Chicago has designed the world's largest tower. The skyscraper is called Burj Dubai and will be built in the United Arab Emirates. At over 2,000 feet tall, Burj Dubai will be almost twice the height of the John Hancock Center. more ›