Image via Complex Original
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Built between 1959 and 1967, architect Bertrand Goldberg's dramatic Marina City famously rises from the banks of the Chicago River. The twin towers have entered our popular memory through film - with roles in The Blues Brothers (1980), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), I, Robot (2004), and The Break-Up (2006) - and have battled a dubious association with Nickleback (Marina City figures prominently in the aforementioned band's "Rockstar" video). The buildings are, in short, icons of the Windy City skyline and a triumph of reinforced concrete construction.
Goldberg's "city within a city" promised affordable housing with unmatched amenity. The complex includes a bowling alley, theater, and the coolest parking garages in the world. Since opening, Marina City has attracted creative professionals engaged with both Goldberg's original idea and the community it offers.
With Inside Marina City, photographers Iker Gil and Andreas E.G. Larsson document the lives of the residents in Goldberg's cylindrical towers. Their portraits share a diverse set of people, each with a unique relationship to the modular framework of the architecture.
The series is currently on display at The Art Institute of Chicago through January 15, 2011, complimenting an exploration of Marina City itself, Bertrand Goldberg: Architecture of Invention.
Check out highlights from Inside Marina City.
