AMA Plaza (330 N Wabash)
A crisp black-glass tower by a master of modern architecture.
Key facts
- Completed 1973
- Architect: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
- Formerly the IBM Building
- One of Mies's last works
- Pure black steel-and-glass "less is more" style
Narration transcript
Switch your gaze to the left side of the boat now, to a tall, dark, elegant tower that looks almost impossibly simple and crisp. This is AMA Plaza, at 330 North Wabash, and it was one of the very last buildings designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, one of the most important architects of the entire twentieth century. It was completed in 1973, the year after he died, and for most of its life it was known as the IBM Building. Mies was famous for a saying: less is more. He believed a building should be pared down to its purest, cleanest form, with no fussy decoration, just perfect proportions, black steel, and glass. At first glance it might look like a plain black box, but look closely and you will see how precise and refined every single line is, like a perfectly tailored suit. Architects travel from around the world just to study it. Family tip: compare its calm, simple black grid to the fancy stone carvings on the older buildings we have passed, and you can see how dramatically architecture changed in just fifty years.