Delaware Penthouses Proposal B, Chicago, Illinois, Plan

Scholars and journalists have often focused on isolating the first incarnation of Goldberg’s signature round or petal shapes, which he used in his groundbreaking towers for Marina City. The architect claimed that his circular designs began with an alternate scheme for Astor Tower (1958–63), but he also stressed that curvilinear shapes were an essential part of the natural world and common to human designs, from the towns of ancient Native Americans to rose windows in medieval cathedrals. Goldberg’s circular designs included round living spaces in two brick houses designed in the late 1930s, but an alternate proposal for the Delaware Penthouses apartment building offers the best demonstration of this formal and functional evolution. Years before his assured plans for Marina City’s residential towers, this tentative study shows how he approached the basic organization of circular space with a focus on room size, furniture placement, and egress within the unconventional angles of this radial plan.