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donahuebenjamin9

So Long Thompson! by Benjamin Donahue




I like architecture.

That's a pretty pretentious way to start anything, maybe even an architectural tour.

We don't have to get into all the architectural terminology because frankly I forget which ones aptly apply half the time.

Someone at some point did tell me all those terms & then it got lost in my brains backlog of "How do I get home?", "What the fuck is my password?", or some other factual anecdote that my subconscious deemed more important.


To summarize my taste in aesthetically pleasing to look at buildings, it's typically something made of brick, wood, or some kind of rock I'm not particularly picky.

Boring? perhaps, but thousands of birds don't tend to charge headlong into them at top speed.

(Look up McCormick Place and a thousand birds, I dare you)

To the ire of my eye & migratory bird species, all that ever seems to get built anymore are exclusively glass buildings of varying shapes & sizes.

There's nothing quite so infuriating as scanning a skyline for the handful of buildings you might want to look at, because the tourist board told you to do so, yet only being able to see what I can only describe as what would happen if a disco ball became a real boy.


Surmise to say I won't personally be missing Chicago's The Thompson Center, it's current rendition that is. It's recently been purchased by Google, whose engine you should use if only for the class-action lawsuit money, plan to remodel the "beloved" building.

If you have never been to The Thompson Center, go back to the top that picture & this one and that should give you the vibe.

What they call in the architectural field as a shit ton of glass & iron.




There was a time, the 1980's it could have only have been the 80's, this building seemed like a beautiful addition of Chicago's architecture.

Designed by Helmut Jahn, which sounds like a fake name, but they all are when you really think about so we won't linger on it. Mr. Jahn built this building with what I'm guessing were unused sketches for the Total Recall set design.

Now, I don't want to poke fun at Helmut Jahn, I personally couldn't design and build an office building, government office, train station, mall, food court clusterfuck of a building.

Mr. Jahn has actually been brought on by the aforementioned privacy thieves to do the redesign, so even the original creator thinks this place needs to have some work done.


That being said if for some reason beyond my logic, this building is really your thing don't worry, this is what will look like in the near future.



If a shit ton of glass is your vibe you can rest assured the reflection of the light blinding the unfortunate motorist or pedestrian & the rhythmic thumping of migratory birds against the windows shall continue unabated.

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