Marina City

Bertrand Goldberg's Marina City, completed in 1964, is the pair of round "corncob" towers on the north bank of the river — for a while the tallest residential buildings in the world. Goldberg built them as a city within the city: apartments above, a spiral of open parking wrapped around the lower floors, and a marina at the base, so a resident in theory never had to leave. The scalloped balconies make them instantly recognizable.

Photographed June 2024. There is nothing else shaped like them. In black and white the curves of the balconies turn into a repeating pattern that climbs the whole tower — part building, part optical rhythm.