US: Like a carefully twisted ribbon or a burnished birthday candle, the new skyscraper would soar into the Chicago skyline, surpassing the nearby Sears Tower as the US's tallest building - and leapfrogging a tower backed by Donald Trump as the city's snazziest.
Trump, for one, is not pleased.
Developer Christopher Carley formally unveiled the drawings yesterday for Fordham Spire, a 115-storey spiral designed by Spanish-born architect Santiago Calatrava, who designed the James Joyce Bridge in Dublin which opened in 2003.
From the chiselled plaza to the top of its spire, the hotel and residence would measure just over 444m (1,458ft) at its rooftop and, with its spire, reach about 610m. The 442m Sears Tower extends to just over 518m when its tallest antenna is included.
What is surely most distinctive about the prospective €416,000 building is its twist, achieved by rotating each floor slightly more than two degrees from the one below, or 270 degrees in all.
Where some see an architectural signature in the city where Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Daniel Burham and Frank Lloyd Wright toiled, Trump said he sees the work of addled minds.
"In this climate, I would not want to build that building nor would I want to live in that building," Trump told the Chicago Tribune. "Any bank that would put up money to build a building like that would be insane."
Carley fired back: "I wonder where the insanity limit is. It must be just over 1,360ft."
The figure on Carley's lips happens to be the height of a tower Trump is building along the Chicago River, the project for which he hired Bill Rancic on the first season of The Apprentice. During the design phase, Trump opted out of the tallest-building race, saying he was deferring to buyers who feared becoming a terrorist's trophy.
It remains uncertain whether Carley can put together the financing and win city approval.
A fact sheet distributed by Carley's team promises a "heavily reinforced concrete" core able to withstand high temperatures, as well as two "independent systems of emergency exits".
The Fordham building would rise on just under a hectare (2.2 acres) at East North Water Street and Lake Shore Drive, near Lake Michigan.