Helmut Jahn, Architect

600 North Fairbanks Condos was designed by Helmut Jahn, the internationally acclaimed architect of Bavarian origin who completed his education under the tutelage of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe at the Illinois Institute of Technology and launched his career at C.F. Murphy Associates, which traced its origins to D.H. Burnham & Company. Mr. Jahn quickly established himself as a leader of the postmodern movement and earned commissions to design, among other Chicago landmarks, a new McCormick Place convention center, the State of Illinois Center, United Terminal One at O’Hare International Airport, and the Xerox Center, each a bold, boundary-pushing, acclaimed feat of innovation. His prolific work in Chicago was recognized around the world, as a result of which he remained in perpetually heavy demand across the globe, and his consistently inspiring creations can also be found in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Latvia, Thailand, China, and Japan. On a personal level, he was brash, strong-willed, brusque, and determined to realize his visions at whatever cost.

Mr. Jahn preferred to work in glass and steel and challenged the limits of structural engineering in order to create better sightlines, avoid conventional shapes, offer more public plaza space, and to admit an abundance of light to create more functional and desirable interior spaces. That aesthetic was reflected at 600 North Fairbanks, a stunning exposed concrete and glass edifice that cantilevered over the adjacent three-story building and stood apart from the more conventional and ordinary skyscrapers peppered around the neighborhood.