Chicago Federal Center Perhaps Mies van der Rohe’s finest work in Chicago, Federal Center is a study in simple perfection, captured in the Miesian dictate “less is more.” The formal, deceptively simple black vertical boxes of the Dirksen Building and the Kluczynski Building are juxtaposed with the horizontal Loop Post Office and the sleek flat expanse of the plaza itself. Calder’s Flamingo provides the perfect splash of color and asymmetry. It’s at its best at night, when the space lights up in glorious vacant urbanity. Sadly, ugly concrete barricades surround the plaza since 9/11, serving as mementos of our loss, not only of security, but also of simple beauty.
