Few buildings are more loved in Chicago than the John Hancock Center. The black, monolithic, 100-story tower was designed by Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan for SOM in the late 1960s, and to this day commands a prominent place on Chicago’s skyline.
While most of the building is private office space and residences, three of the uppermost floors are dedicated to an observation deck (dubbed 360 Chicago)… In a recent ceremony, a bit of enigmatic ephemera was added to that observation floor that any architectural fan can appreciate.
“The Journal of Michigan Pete” is a first person account of the building of the iconic structure written by Evald Peterson, a.k.a. “Michigan Pete,” a caisson inspector for the project…
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The ceremony to open the new display included short talks by Gerald Peterson, Michigan Pete’s son, and William F. Baker, structural and civil engineering partner at SOM, and Lynn Osmond, president and CEO of the Chicago Architecture Foundation.