In Chicago last weekend I took the Chicago Architecture Foundation‘s boat tour of the Chicago river – probably the most invigorating 90 minute experience of a city and its architecture I have ever had. Along the way the city reveals itself through an unexpected perspective, but nearly all the buildings – including some of the most beautiful high-rises in the world – are strictly land-locked. All, that is, except for Bertrand Goldberg’s stupendous utopian river residences, Marina City(above) and River City (below). Each of these masterpieces is a completely self-sustaining piece of urbanity, including shops, offices, exercise facilities, even parking for cars and for boats. They are also unique: in a sea of rational rectilinear high-rises, the concrete structures imply cellular arrangement and metabolic structure. In this age of new environmentalism, the idea that buildings could adopt natural rhythms and contain all of their needs has new spirit: these utopian creations could one day have their own power-generation, geothermal climate control and even compost and water treatment – but they won’t have to look any different.
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