Crane and Mini-Crane

February 10, 2017

On my walk to the Metra each morning, I see in the distance a large crane. It’s visible once I get along 55th, but it becomes even more so when I’m on the Metra platform.

This morning though, there was what looked like a smaller crane – a curved and deep blue arm I had never seen before.

It was hard for me to make out, but I tried zooming in. The big crane itself towers over the building, but the smaller crane (?) seemed to be located at the highest point of the construction.

It looked like a crane to me. But I also wondered if it was possibly a delivery mechanism for concrete somehow? Because why go through the trouble of setting up a second crane, when you’ve got that big one already in place?

I watched for a few moments, before heading towards my stop. Another one of those moments where I wanted to stick around and just watch. Although I would have preferred going over there and watching up close, and pestering everyone on the site with all of my questions.

Interesting note: the building under construction is called Solstice on the Park, and it’s a project by Studio Gang. The firm is run by architect Jeanne Gang, best known perhaps for Aqua – a mixed-use residential skyscraper in downtown Chicago.