Ideas/ Journal

The new tower, 1000M, and ongoing work to restore the city’s famed Thompson Center showcase the lasting influence of Helmut Jahn on the Chicago cityscape.

Since it first opened in 1985, the 17-story atrium of the James R. Thompson Center has been one of its defining features — a symbol of a government that should be transparent and accessible to all. As the original architects of the building, our team is honored to be leading Google's 21st-century reimagining of this building, extending this promise to a new generation of users.

A quick scan of the Chicago skyline reveals a sea of glass curtain wall towers. For 1000M, a new residential building in the Historic Michigan Boulevard District, Jahn set out to design a building that sets itself apart from this monotony. The facade of the 805-foot tower was faced with a unitized curtain wall that was further articulated by mill finished aluminum spandrels.…

Jahn has completed the state-of-the-art facility to house and expand the collections of the Pritzker Military Museum & Library. The library relocated its operations from Chicago to the new Archives Center in Somers, a village in Kenosha County approximately 30 miles outside of Milwaukee.

Rising above a rural Wisconsin landscape where one might expect to find a red barn, the new Pritzker Military Archives Center, boasting bright red metal frames, looks more like a tank than anything found on a farm.

Chicago architecture studio Jahn has used massive steel trusses and a glass envelope for a military archive building with a structure informed by amphibious landing vehicles. The Pritzker Military Archives Center is a facility for the storage, preservation and exhibition of documents and artefacts from participants in the US military, especially from the two world wars.

9 years in the making, 1000M held its grand opening on June 13. The building stands as a testament to exceptional design, engineering, and execution, expressing our firm’s belief that perfection can only be achieved when nothing can be taken away.

On May 25, Jahn joined our client, local leaders, and community members to celebrate the opening of the Pritzker Military Archives Center in Somers, Wisconsin.

Jahn is proud to celebrate the beginning of construction on the James R. Thompson Center. The redevelopment of this iconic building into Google’s new Chicago offices builds upon Jahn’s original vision for “a building for the future,” in which urban responsibility, technological achievement, and a commitment to sustainability are at the forefront.

YouTube channel Klign, which creates mini documentaries focused on design, engineering, and construction projects, recently featured 1000M. Titled, "The New Chicago Tower that is actually AFFORDABLE," the documentary discusses the history of the project and the design and engineering features that help it stand out in Chicago's skyline.

In 2003, Colonel Jennifer Pritzker founded the Pritzker Military Museum and Library in Chicago, Illinois. According to its website, the museum’s mission is to “increase the public’s understanding of military history, military affairs and national security by providing a forum for the study and exploration of our military.” The Museum retained the services of Jahn, the architectural practice of the late Helmut Jahn, to design an archival facility to hold the museum’s library collection.

Scott Seyer, AIA, LEED AP, has joined Jahn as a managing director, returning to the firm where he started his career.

With the last building that the innovative architect Helmut Jahn designed for his adopted hometown of Chicago nearing completion at 1000 S. Michigan Ave., leasing of its apartments has started and Crain’s got a first look inside.

Tech company Google and architecture studio Jahn have released visualisations of the planned revamp of the James R Thompson Center, an iconic postmodern-style building in Chicago's Downtown.

The building would stand out in even the biggest of cities. But here, amid a sea of nearly ripe corn, a solar field and wetlands in northeastern Kenosha County, the Pritzker Military Archives Center overshadows the rural landscape. The building’s shape resembles a World War II landing craft. Its steel girders and columns are painted a bright red. Its founder is a retired colonel who happens to be a billionaire with a passion for military history. The building’s architect is world renowned, and the project serves as a unique gateway to this village of just over 9,000 people in southeastern Wisconsin.