Why Everyone Wants to Live in These Corn Cobs

Marina City, or Chicago's Corn Cobs are some of my favorite buildings in the city. Designed by Bertrand Goldberg in the mid 1960s, the structures were the tallest concrete structures in the world at the time of construction. More than that though, the design fundamentally questioned how people might live in the city. It was also the first mixed-use development to include commercial and residential together. In this video, we explore Marina City for both it's design and the impact it's had on the development of Chicago.

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Architecture with Stewart is a YouTube journey exploring architecture’s deep and enduring stories in all their bewildering glory. Weekly videos and occasional live events breakdown a wide range of topics related to the built environment in order to increase their general understanding and advocate their importance in shaping the world we inhabit.

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Stewart Hicks is an architectural design educator that leads studios and lecture courses as an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also serves as an Associate Dean in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts and is the co-founder of the practice Design With Company. His work has earned awards such as the Architecture Record Design Vanguard Award or the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has been featured in exhibitions such as the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Design Miami, as well as at the V&A Museum and Tate Modern in London. His writings can be found in the co-authored book Misguided Tactics for Propriety Calibration, published with the Graham Foundation, as well as essays in MONU magazine, the AIA Journal Manifest, Log, bracket, and the guest-edited issue of MAS Context on the topic of character architecture.

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[lsmft]

A Marina City resident once took me up to the rooftop and demonstrated the echo between the two buildings by clapping loudly while standing at the edge between the “stems” of the two towers. It was one of the most indescribable noises I had ever heard, as though the curves of the buildings and their individual balconies were acting like a gigantic synthesizer, modulating and warping the common sound into something new and alien. Yeah, the architecture and history of the place is great, but have you tried clapping?

[moneytalkviewpoint]

We live in Marina City in the early 1980's until the 90's. My husband grew up in Canada and I grew upon the far south side of Chicago and then later we moved to the suburbs when I was in high school. After I met my husband and we started house hunting. He had a seat on the CBOT Chicago Board of Trade. At the time I didn't want to live in the burbs and he didn't want to live in the city. Then he though about the early morning commute in the winter. We moved to Marina City into a 2-bdrm with 2.5 balconies. When friends visited they parked in the building. The balconies were large and friends loved it when we had parties. When a neighbor invited us to go sailing, his boat was dock in the marina in the building .We could go to the restaurants, movies, bowling, banking, health club, groceries, salon, and uniformed doorman. Could get a taxi in a snap for a ride up Michigan Ave for shopping. It was a great place to live. We move to the burbs when we started a family. It was hard to let go, but life moves on.

[gabevogel]

Marina city was also the inspiration for the Oscar Niemeyer towers in Rio de Janeiro. Originally the planned neighborhood of Barra da Tijuca was going to be filled with these towers, but that idea was cancelled, with only one being built and the other (named Tower H) abandoned during construction in the late 80s. Tower H only ever returned to construction last year after a fund bought the rights and managed to finally get the project back on track. Its a story worth checking out.

[catherinerodeback]

My Grandfather was one of the Welders who contributed to the building of Marina City. I have always love them and felt an affinity to the buildings.

[alastairtheduke]

I lived in the east tower for 8 years. The apartments are like pizza slices which make finding furniture to match a nightmare lol. One nice side effect of the balconies is that you often had conversation with neighbors to the left and right of you, and even below you. I often would go out onto the balcony during hot summer nights and I would find a guy in the sister building across from me play guitar softly. We'd nod to each other and carry on looking out at our views.

[jco]

I lived there in a partially renovated unit for a few months around 2018. They were redoing the balconies and the roof, so I never got up to the roof, but my balcony was only closed for about two days during that time.

It surprised me how well thought out they were. I expected furniture placement to be a pain in the ass, but at least in the studio, it wasn’t an issue. The narrowest part was split between the hall and the entrance to the bathroom. The narrowest part of the bathroom was a linen closet, then the sink, then the toilet, and the broadest end had a bathtub with storage around the edges. Kitchen was against the reverse of the bathtub wall, fridge and stove with some counter space, a bar area opposite. From that point outward the room was quite spacious. I had the bed facing the window, backed up against the wall of the kitchen, nightstand in the corner where the angle might have been noticeable. Having a full wall of windows made it light and airy, I used a film on the windows rather than curtains to keep it that way.

The crazy thing was the balcony was so big, it was about half the size of the entire apartment. If I’d lived there longer, I’d have furnished it better, but I just kept the stuff the previous tenant left behind, and that was fine. My unit had a decent view. It faced the other building almost directly, but a semicircle balcony means plenty of room to look in other directions, and I had a great view of the river.

It was a lovely place to live, but even as the cheapest place in downtown, ruinously expensive since it was just a place I lived in for work during the week - the rent there was more than twice the mortgage payment for my 2300sf home 2 hours away, and the job didn’t pay well enough for me to leave there with much of a profit. But the commute to work from there was elevator downstairs, stop in the little underground grocery store for an iced coffee, walk west to the stairs to street level, cross the street, angle to the plaza to 353 n Clark, and take the elevator to my office. Maybe 5m not counting getting a coffee.

[Devyn_Caldwell]

An ex of mine lived there about 15 years ago. The apartment was spacious and the balcony was so large, (basically a half circle, 20' wide) I joked that it was like having a yard in the sky. The rooftop views are beyond stupendous. I took in many a fireworks show and many an evening just looking out at the city. Good times, I will always cherish the time spent there.

[dannydougin]

Lived on the 60th (?... can't recall anymore I was 12 when we moved in) floor of the south tower 1976-1978 with my mother. They were very quiet. Had everything you needed. Several TV shows and films were made on location when we lived there. Great video and the host is most handsome!

[strongtowns]

The footage of Marina City in the background of your talking head shot is CLEAN. This felt like a complete documentary, story and all, but is somehow less than 15 minutes. Not a second wasted- bravo!

-Mike

[KORDELYA]

living in these must’ve been so clutch during the pandemic

[solomonsaintclair]

Been living in the complex as a renter for almost 2 years and have loved it more and more! After moving here, I’ve learned to appreciate good design - in particular, Goldberg’s masterful use of space. The original units take good consideration of a room’s size in relation to its function and usage. For example, the bathroom is the smallest room in the unit which reflects its infrequent use throughout the day when compared to other rooms. I only wish more towers like these existed elsewhere since the winter keeps us from fully enjoying the balconies year-round! I guess that’s what keeps the rent relatively affordable!

[mattm.]

Funfact, in Katowice (Silesia in Poland) there are residential high rise buildings which are based on Chicago’s Marina City, they were heavily inspired, even it’s official name is “Kukurydze” which literally mean corn of the cobs 🌽

[roccobierman]

Stewart Hicks needs his own talk show where he gabs about architecture and Chicago history all day.

[ChaundaLee]

I love those buildings! My dad took a business trip to Chicago and came back with slides of the city when I was little. Those buildings were my favorite. This was before we had a TV so a good old fashioned slide show was the best!

My mom had a set of hair curlers that looked very similar to the buildings to me so I grew up calling them the curler buildings.

A few years ago I was sent to Chicago on business and I took an architectural boat tour. I loved those buildings even more in person.

Thank you for the great video!

[gregoryferraro]

Marina City is proof that brutalism doesn't have to be ugly and soulless.

[MarkVanOuse]

Excellent and informative video! My dad's Aunt Bess was among the very first residents of Marina City in the 1960s (40th floor, I believe). Even though I was a child at the time I distinctly remember the incredible View, at that time unhindered to Lake Michigan. But it wasn't long before other skyscrapers were built and blocked the view. Aunt Bess ended up moving to the shoreline of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee. I distinctly remember what Marina City was like in the 1960's: sleek, modern and fun. I also remember Dad driving the car round and round and round up the parking garage to get to a parking spot.

[johnbarker]

Love these buildings. Any view in which they're visible is immediately identifiable as Chicago. Anyone having the slightest familiarity with downtown Chicago instantly knows them by their description. They are the very definition of landmarks.

[Sirmellowman]

can you imagine living in a place like that in the 50s. these towers are so ahead of their time. it would have been wild.

[Greg-omhb]

I grew up in Chicago in the 1960s, and I’ve always been fascinated by Marina City. I never imagined those spectacular buildings were designed for housing the middle class. It’s amazing now to see how the surrounding neighborhood looked then. The early residents enjoyed million-dollar views, before all the other high-rises popped up.

[Jackjohnjay]

Such smart design. Especially a place as cold as Chicago.