Two architecture firms proposed a plan to connect Chicago’s Riverfront to Navy Pier via a hanging cable car network.
ArchDaily reports that Marks Barfield Architects and Davis Brody Bond designed the Chicago SkyLine, individual pods or “gondolas” that will be suspended 17 stories above the Chicago River.
“The Chicago Skyline could do for Chicago what the London Eye has done for London, and become a very identifiable landmark within the city, driving tourism and prosperity,” David Marks, Director at Marks Barfield Architects, said in a statement. “Its design touches the ground lightly and with an environmentally sensitive and delicate presence—like jewels in a necklace—energizing the city's Riverwalk, and attracting the eyes of the world.”
The Chicago Tribune reports that the SkyLine will be used to attract visitors, as city business experts predict that it will bring in 1.4 million people per year. Experts also guess that it will cost $250 million to build, but that it could be entirely privately funded.
The Tribune also notes that the SkyLine could accommodate 3,000 people an hour, and that tickets will cost about $20. If built, the it will operate year-round.
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The story of the Fox Oakland Theater is like that of so many movie palaces of the early 20th century. Built in 1928 based on a Middle Eastern-influenced design by architect Charles Peter Weeks and engineer William Peyton Day, the 3,400-seat cinema flourished until the mid-1960s, when the trend toward smaller multiplex theaters took its toll on the Fox Oakland.
