One row of glass, just above street level, is making its way around the Thompson Center, as Google renovations continue at Helmut Jahn’s Loop office building. Starting on the corner of Clark and Lake Streets, the glass stretches the entirety of the north façade, then down the west façade along LaSalle Street to Randolph Street. There’s more along the west side of the Randolph facing, and then just a few panes along Clark Street.
It’s the beginning of the long process of replacing the Thompson Center’s original skin with energy-efficient triple-pane glass that will lend itself better to heating and cooling the 1,300,000 square feet of interior space. Every single original panel was removed from the building, but now it’s not quite as bare as it had been for months.
Google Glass along LaSalle Street as Thompson Center renovation continues. Photo by Daniel Schell
LaSalle and Randolph Streets. Photo by Daniel Schell
Looking north from the west side of LaSalle Street. Photo by Daniel Schell
Randolph Street, near the corner with LaSalle. Photo by Daniel Schell
This bit of glass is along Clark Street, near Randolph. Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
LaSalle Street. Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
The corner of LaSalle and Lake Streets. Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Looking west on Lake Street from Clark, where the glass begins. Photo by Daniel Schell
Randolph Street. Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Near the corner of Clark and Lake, from the Clark/Lake elevated platform. Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Looking east along Lake Street from the L platform. Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Looking straight into the new windows. Photo by Daniel Schell
Clark Construction is carrying out the build. This will become the new Google headquarters when renovations are done, developed by The Prime Group with Jahn providing the plans for the transformation. It is expected that Google will be able to start moving employees into the building in 2026.
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Looks like very cheaply made glass. Now imagine it covering the entire structure…
Are you a glazer Stephen? I don’t have to imagine because there are renderings.
It’s certainly not “cheaply made glass” – whatever that means? It’s a finely detailed unitized cladding system, with high performance triple glazing. The last image provides a more detailed view.
Dan. I never liked the cladding on the Thompson Building. The replacement glass looks much better than the original. I looked at the building in person today. When the second row is installed we should have a good frame of reference.
They were working on the second row along Lake Street yesterday, so we’ll get a good look at that very soon.