Lake Point Tower ranks 73 in the List of Americans Favorite Architecture

Lake Point Tower was designed by John Heinrich and George Schipporeit, both students of Mies van der Rohe. The design for Lake Point Tower was partially derived from a sketch Mies van der Rohe made in 1921.

The original proposal made by Schipporeit and Heinrich consisted of a building with four wings, but was ultimately replaced by a design which included only three wings. The advantages of the three-wing design were a shorter construction time and a 120-degree angle between the wings, so that the apartments would not face each other. The design also offered less surface area exposed to direct wind loads in comparison to the conventional rectangular designs. It is possible to view the bronze curtain walls of Lake Point Tower from all sides.

Lake Point Tower was completed in 1968 and was at the time the highest apartment building in the world, reaching a height of 645 feet, with 70 floors. The plan to construct two other similarly shaped towers on both sides was never realized.

• www.lakepointtower.org
• http://www.favoritearchitecture.org/