#urbanologist

Let us start at the northeast corner of the intersection, which can be summed up in one word: bollards. These stout fellows surround the Metcalfe Federal Building, which is described by the General Services Administration as being executed in the "style of Mies van der Rohe". A generous description, indeed. From the street level, I just think of the bollards as a remnant of the obsession with security concerns in the wake of 9/11. Has this assembly created a sense of security? Sure. Has it prevented possible harm to this structure and those who work within? Most likely. Is it a way to entice the casual visitor into the area surrounding the structure? Of course not. Security concerns here trump any consideration of public space and access on this corner. Perhaps it's for the best.

Walk across the street and stand right in front of the piercing point that marks the terminus of the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC). To your left sits a public plaza that is sorely underutilized. Space is at a premium in the Loop and I always wonder: Why don't more people sit here to have lunch and contemplate discipline and punishment?

To the right is, well, in short, the rest of the relatively undistinguished block of South Clark Street. As an idea, as an urban moment, the MCCis a modernist moment to be savored and if you linger long enough, a correctional facility officer will inevitably answer your queries, architectural or otherwise. As many Chicagoans can recount, it has been the site of numerous dramatic escapes, including a recent one that involved a rope fashioned from bed sheets.

After this close consideration, walk across the street  to my personal favorite. The southwest corner of Clark and Van Buren contains the type of retail milieu that used to be much more common in the South Loop. There's a no-frills sub shop, a serviceable Italian restaurant, and down Clark Street, a men's hotel, a down-tempo jazz club, and other decidedly non-chain establishments. Architecturally, this corner's got nothing. As a reminder of the messy, chaotic and run-down South Loop that has been largely snuffed out, it has everything. It's the Nelson Algren-esque contrast to the shiny, steely Oprah-style family-friendly environment of what transpired at Block 37. Explore this corner closely, my friends. It has secrets that are worth your time.

With a heavy sigh, cross over to the northwest corner of this four-way opportunity. It's the least interesting one, regrettably, and it is a temple of commerce that needs little introduction. It is just the backside of the Chicago Board of Exchange, the humming hive of futures, T-bonds, and residual pork bellies. It's a blank slate, a  ho hum facade that tells pedestrians to keep on walking. I have never seen anyone pause here to consider this facade. But maybe I haven't been looking close enough.