Video: Five Classic Chicago Skyscrapers in Animation

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on May 21, 2013 7:10PM

Chicago is the birthplace of the skyscraper and artist Al Boardman has created this short video using motion graphics to honor five of the more notable and tallest buildings in the city skyline: The John Hancock Center; the Crain Communications building (aka Smurfit-Stone); Marina City; Trump Tower; and the Building Formerly Known as Sears Tower.

Boardman puts some inventive work behind the video. We're especially enamored by how the Hancock begins as something resembling a Cat's Cradle game before morphing into a guitar neck. The animation for Willis Tower brings us back to the days when we would be captivated by the led readings of a graphic equalizer in a stereo system.

Marina City's animation is our favorite, however. It's reminiscent of both origami and assembling an artificial Christmas tree.

Chicago - Five Great Buildings from Al Boardman on Vimeo.