Another of Foster's ecologically consciousness designs, the renovation of German's parliament building, the Reichstag, which features a spiraling pedestrian ramp enclosed by a glass dome, draws thousands of visitors daily. If, as expected, Foster includes green elements in his Chicago skyscraper, his selection by the Pritzkers is likely to go down as a political masterstroke. While Mayor Richard M. Daley and his tradition-minded urban planners often set roadblocks in the path of innovative design, Daley also is the mayor who has planted thousands of trees around Chicago and who has put a rooftop garden atop City Hall. Color modernism green and the mayor is almost sure to go for it. The Pritzkers, who disappointed earlier this year with their retro 70-story Park Tower, deserve kudos for bringing aesthetic risk back into the equation of commercial construction in Chicago.
Good architecture is impossible without good clients.
The Pritzkers and Foster, one hopes, are about to lead by example.