Editing Merchandise Mart (section)

==Building==
[[File:2007-09-13 2400x1800 chicago merchandise mart.jpg|thumb|right|From the [[Chicago River]], looking west]]
[[File:The Merchandise Mart Photo Walk Chicago September 2, 2013-4874.jpg|thumb|right|The sign on the building]]

The Merchandise Mart was designed by the Chicago architectural firm of [[Graham, Anderson, Probst and White]] to be a "city within a city".<ref name="Emporis"/>  Second only to [[Holabird & Roche|Holabird & Root]] in Chicago art deco architecture, the firm had a long-standing relationship with the Field family.  Started in 1928, completed in 1931, and built in the same [[art deco]] style as the [[Chicago Board of Trade Building]], its cost was reported as both $32 million and $38 million.  The building was the largest in the world in terms of floorspace, but was surpassed by the [[The Pentagon|Pentagon]] in 1943,<ref name="MarshallField">{{cite web| url=http://www.merchandisemart.com/marchitecture/marshall_field.html| access-date=2007-07-19| title=Marchitecture Marshall Field| publisher=merchandisemart.com| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070816020544/http://www.merchandisemart.com/marchitecture/marshall_field.html| archive-date=2007-08-16| url-status=dead}}</ref>  and now stands forty-fourth on the [[list of largest buildings in the world]].  Once the largest commercial space in the world, [[New Century Global Center]] in China is now recognized by [[Guinness World Records]] as holding the record.<ref name="AmericanWay">{{cite web|url=http://americanwaymag.com/aw/travel/feature.asp?archive_date=4/15/2005 |author=Pope, Elizabeth |date=2005-04-15 |access-date=2007-08-16 |title=Wall Street of Flowers |publisher=American Airlines |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927043449/http://americanwaymag.com/aw/travel/feature.asp?archive_date=4%2F15%2F2005 |archive-date=2007-09-27 }}</ref>

===Architecture===
Designer Alfred Shaw integrated art deco stylings with influences from three building types—the [[warehouse]], the [[department store]] and the [[skyscraper]].<ref name="Building"/> A warehouse block stands as the 18-story bulk of the building. Ribbon [[Pier (architecture)|piers]] define the windows, and the building's chamfered corners, minimal setbacks, and corner [[pavilions]] disguise the edges of the mass and visually reduce bulk.<ref name="Building"/>

The south corner pavilions are of greater height than the north corner pavilions. The building is open at the pedestrian level with bronzed framed [[display window]]s, typical of a department store, on the south, west and east boundaries. The 25-story central tower ascends with a peak in the form of a skyscraper, and rests in the southern half of the building. Deeply recessed [[Portal (architecture)|portals]] occur between raised panels, and are adorned with [[Medallion (architecture)|medallion]]s featuring the interlocked initials of the Merchandise Mart. The same [[logo]] occurs throughout the building. Fifty-six [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indian]] [[tribal chief|chiefs]] circled the tower's crown, a reference to the site's history and Chicago's early trade activities. Three and a half feet wide by seven feet tall, the [[terra cotta]] figures were barely visible from the street, meant to be viewed from the upper floors of the skyscrapers planned to rise along the riverbank.<ref name="Building"/>

The lobby of The Merchandise Mart is defined by eight square [[marble]] piers, with storefronts in side aisles framed in embossed [[bronze]] trim.  The green and orange [[terrazzo]] floor was conceived as a [[carpet]]: a pattern of squares and stripes bordered by overscaled chevrons inlaid with The Mart's [[initials]]. The [[Chevron (insignia)|chevron]] theme is continued in the column [[Sconce (light fixture)|sconce]]s lighting an ornamented [[cornice]] overhead.<ref name="Building"/>

Referred to as "business boulevards", two wide {{convert|650|ft|m}} long corridors with [[terrazzo]] floors in the upper levels featured six and one-half miles of display windows. Building regulations specified identical entrances along corridors but tenants could personalize the individual floor space. Excepting the corridors, elevator halls, and exhibition space on the fourth floor, the {{convert|5|acre|m2}} of each upper floor was "raw space" with concrete floors.<ref name="Building"/>

===Artwork===
[[Jules Guerin]]'s [[frieze]] of 17 [[murals]] is the primary feature of the lobby and graphically illustrate [[commerce]] throughout the world, including the countries of origin for items sold in the building.<ref name="Emporis"/> The murals depict the industries and products, the primary mode of transportation and the architecture of 14 countries.  Drawing on years as a stage set designer, Guerin executed the murals in red with [[gold leaf]] using techniques producing distinct image layers in successive planes. In a panel representing [[Italy]], [[Venice, Italy|Venetian]] [[glassware]] appears in the foreground with fishing boats moored on the Grand Canal and the facade of the Palazzo Ducale rises above the towers of the Piazza San Marco.<ref name="Mural">{{cite web| url=http://www.merchandisemart.com/marchitecture/mural.html| access-date=2007-07-19| title=Marchitecture Murals| publisher=merchandisemart.com| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022100533/http://www.merchandisemart.com/marchitecture/mural.html| archive-date=2007-10-22| url-status=dead}}</ref>

"To immortalize outstanding American merchants", Joseph Kennedy in 1953 commissioned eight bronze [[Bust (sculpture)|busts]], four times life size, which would come to be known as the Merchandise Mart Hall of Fame:<ref name="OfficeRetail"/><ref name="Lot"/>
* retail magnates [[Frank Winfield Woolworth]], [[Marshall Field]] and [[Aaron Montgomery Ward]]
* [[Julius Rosenwald]] and [[Robert Elkington Wood]] of [[Sears, Roebuck and Company]] fame
* advertiser [[John Wanamaker]], merchandiser [[Edward Albert Filene]], and [[The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company|A&P]] grocery chain founder [[George Huntington Hartford]].
All of the busts rest on white pedestals lining the Chicago River and face north toward the gold front door of the building.

===="Art on theMART"====
"Art on theMART" is a digital art display begun in 2018.   It provides a 2.5 acre "canvas" (2 football fields) for digital artwork projected on the Chicago River facing facade of the Merchandise Mart. It featured works from the nonprofit organization [[Arts of Life]]. The project is intended to be the largest digital art projection in the world and is scheduled to occur over thirty years with annual showings initially between March and December.  In 2019 it was expanded from five nights a week to every night.  Displays begin 15 minutes after sunset and loop for two hours.  Obscura Digital studio initially installed 34 projectors to allow the rotating roster of artists to display their work.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/museums/ct-ent-art-mart-chicago-spring-0222-story.html |title=Art on theMart announces new videos for spring — part of Year of Chicago Theatre |last=Johnson |first=Steve |date=February 22, 2019 |access-date=2019-04-22 |publisher=Chicago Tribune}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/museums/ct-ent-art-on-themart-launch-1001-story.html |title=Art on theMart kicks off with a really big-screen question: Is Chicago ready for video art? |last=Johnson |first=Steve |date=October 1, 2018 |access-date=2019-04-22 |publisher=Chicago Tribune}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/chicago/article/Art-On-TheMart-To-Project-Seven-Nights-A-Week-Starting-May-13-20190417 |title=Art On TheMart To Project Seven Nights A Week Starting May 13 |last=BWW News Desk |date=April 17, 2019 |access-date=2019-04-22 |publisher=Broadway World}}</ref>

===Surroundings===
[[Image:Behind the Merch Mart.jpg|thumb|Plaza in front of the Merchandise Mart|alt=]]

Dominating the skyline in the south end of the [[Near North Side, Chicago|Near North Side]], the Mart lies just south of the gallery district on the southern terminus of Franklin Street.  Eateries and nightclubs abound on [[Hubbard Street]] one block to the north.  The Kinzie Chophouse, popular with [[politicians]] and celebrities, stands on the northwest corner of Wells and Kinzie, across from the Merchandise Mart. The [[Chicago Varnish Company Building]], listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] and now housing [[Harry Caray]]'s restaurant, is located east on Kinzie Street. Across the street to the east is 325 N. Wells Street, home to [[The Chicago School of Professional Psychology]] and DIRTT Environmental Solutions.

The Mart is not rectangular in shape, having been constructed after the [[bascule bridge]]s over the Chicago River were completed. The control house for the double decked [[Wells Street Bridge (Chicago)|Wells Street Bridge]] stands between the lower level and the southeast corner of the building.  The [[Franklin Street Bridge]] stands at the southwest corner of the building, at the junction of Orleans Street and Franklin Street.  The building slants at the same angle as Franklin Street, from southeast to northwest along Orleans Street.

===Exterior lighting===
A heritage of lighting the structure finds the central and corner towers, along with the columns between each window on the setbacks, bathed nightly in an upwardly focused white light. [[Tradition]] dictates annual changes to green in mid-March for [[St. Patrick's Day]] and orange during the fall months around [[Halloween]] and [[Thanksgiving]].  Prominent events have found the [[behemoth]] lit in pink for [[Cancer]] Awareness Month.  To note the [[2006 Chicago Bears season]], highlighted by reaching [[Super Bowl XLI]], the building was lit with team colors, orange floodlights for the setbacks and blue floodlights for the towers.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://urbanmatter.com/merchandise-mart-projection-screen/|title=A Giant Projection Screen Will Light Up the Merchandise Mart {{!}} UrbanMatter|date=2017-03-13|work=UrbanMatter|access-date=2017-03-16|language=en-US}}</ref>

Red and green lights are used during the [[Christmas]] season. During the [[Art Chicago]] 2008 the American artist [[Jenny Holzer]] illuminated the facade of the building with a poem by the Polish winner of the [[Nobel Prize]] in Literature [[Wisława Szymborska]]. In 2018, a large projection screen began displaying images and videos across the structure's riverfront side.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://urbanmatter.com/merchandise-mart-projection-screen/|title=A Giant Projection Screen Will Light Up the Merchandise Mart {{!}} UrbanMatter|date=2017-03-13|work=UrbanMatter|access-date=2017-03-16|language=en-US}}</ref>

Nighttime lighting on the Mart typically matches the colors of [[Antenna (radio)|antenna]] lighting on the [[Sears Tower]] and [[John Hancock Center]], as well as the colors used on the top floors of the [[Aon Center (Chicago)|Aon Center]].

===Green building practices===
Under [[Christopher G. Kennedy|Chris Kennedy]]'s leadership of the Mart, it was the largest building in the world to be awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification in 2007<ref name="greenprogress.com">[http://www.greenprogress.com/green_building_article.php?id=1408/ World's Largest LEED-EB Certified Building<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> from the [[United States Green Building Council]] (USGBC). The Mart has long been implementing sustainable practices. The Mart Center began operating a thermal storage facility in 1986, capable of building {{convert|2000000|lb}} of ice per night, cooling 71 buildings in the surrounding neighborhood, and saving $200,000 in electricity costs in the first year.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}

In 1990, the Mart Center began using [[Green Seal]]-approved green cleaning products and the next year implemented a recycling program, which today includes all forms of paper products, glass, light bulbs, batteries, aluminum and construction materials. In 1996, the Mart Center became one of the first major property owners in downtown Chicago to enter into an agreement with the district cooling system now known as Thermal Chicago, thus contributing to the national effort to reduce the discharge of ozone-damaging [[Chlorofluorocarbon|CFC]]s.

In 2006, MMPI joined Clean Air Counts, a voluntary initiative to reduce smog forming pollutants and energy consumption in the Chicago area. Part of the campaign strategies included utilizing only low VOC cleaning products, paints and building materials, as well as energy efficient lighting and alternative workplace transportation options. To date, the Mart Center has reduced pollution by {{convert|264018|lb}}, the largest reduction by a commercial building.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}

In 2006, the Mart Center recycling program saved over 13,000 trees and recycled nearly 11 million pounds of waste, while water conservation efforts saved {{convert|5.5|e6USgal|m3}} of water. More than eight percent of the estimated 10,000 people working at the Mart walk, bike or take public transportation; to encourage greener methods of transportation, the Mart expanded bicycle storage capacity to more than 200.  In 2009, MMPI converted all stationery to a one hundred percent post-consumer recycled product. {{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}

The Mart has nine LEED-certified showrooms, with five others on their way to LEED certification.