Marina City under construction, Chicago, 1962. Courtesy of Geoffrey Goldberg.
This is an in-person program at the Museum's lower Manhattan gallery.
In the postwar decades, Chicago played an outsized role in the historical development of the rise of the concrete skyscraper that was at least as decisive as its famous 19th-century innovations with skeletal steel. Through its local architectural and engineering culture, and equally important, in its innovations with material manufactures and construction companies, Chicago helped transform concrete from a handmade, relatively weak craft into the industrially produced, precisely engineered material that it is today. Strong relationships with research institutions and industry associations, the city’s volatile real estate and labor markets, and a rich tradition of collaboration and knowledge transfer all contributed to Chicago’s leadership in concrete high-rise construction throughout the last half of the twentieth century. Significantly, more than half of the roughly 400 buildings taller than 12 stories built in Chicago between 1950 and 1986 were constructed of concrete.
Historian of architecture, engineering, and the urban history of Chicago, Thomas Leslie, guest co-curator with Carol Willis for the Museum's exhibition The Modern Concrete Skyscraper, will summarize the new avenues of research that grew from research on the exhibition. This in-person program traces the history of concrete skyscraper construction in Chicago, highlighting how the material challenged the more established steel industry in the city and how local organizations played pivotal roles in advancing concrete technology to new heights.
To register for this FREE program, click on the link above to RSVP. You will be redirected to Ticketstripe to reserve your seat. In-person attendance is limited to 50 people, but you can still watch the program live on our YouTube channel when it begins at 6pm. Museum members receive prority registration by emailing programs@skyscraper.
You do NOT need to register for the YouTube livestream.
Thomas Leslie
Thomas Leslie is Professor of Architecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where he researches the integration of building sciences and arts, both historically and in contemporary practice. He is the author of Chicago Skyscrapers, 1871-1934 and its sequel Chicago Skyscrapers, 1934-1986 (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2013 and 2023). He is also the author of Beauty's Rigor: Patterns of Production in the Work of Pier Luigi Nervi (University of Illinois Press, 2017).