Open House Chicago

Location: JAHN (Jeweler's Building)

Date: Saturday, October 19, 2013; 12:45-5:00 pm

I had been to Chicago several times before finally moving here.  It had always been one of my favorite cities and part of the reason had been the architecture.  I have been always impressed by skyscrapers and had imagined myself living in one such high rise in a major metropolis.  Even when I had visited Chicago in the past, I had made it a point to spend time marveling at the architecture and after becoming a resident here, had taken membership with ‘The Chicago Architecture Foundation’. This had led to me going on several walking tours of the city, as well as the fantastic river cruises.  What I did not know was that every year for one weekend, the CAF opens the doors to over 150 buildings across Chicago, and allows people access to certain areas that they normally would not have.  But with crowds lining up outside all of these buildings, CAF required a lot of help in managing this process and that’s where One Brick came in. 

The great Chicago Skyline

I walked over after my Chicago Cares training and arrived at the Jeweler’s Building, which was one of the locations that we would be helping out in.  As I got there, I realized that it was in fact the same building, which housed the Starbucks that I frequently visit on my way to office.  I went inside to check in with the EM Laura, and found some other regulars there as well.  Besides this building, they also wanted some folks in ‘The House Of Blues’ building and so some of the volunteers left for that location while I stayed.  There were 3 tours of architecture firms being offered in our building – Clayco and Arup for general public and Jahn for members and those with priority access pass. There were two tables in the lobby, which were staffed by 3 volunteers each. One of the tables was checking-in general admission and the other was for members.  At each table one volunteer had to count the number of people, while the other noted down the zip code where they were from.  It sounded redundant to me since the zip codes should point towards number of people visiting, but that’s just me.  I had no idea what the third volunteer was supposed to do.

The earlier shift left and now it was up to us.  I was dispatched outside to manage the long lines that had formed on the sidewalks.  There were two lines, for general and priority access, and were on either side of the entrance.  The interesting thing was that the priority access line was much larger than the general admission, which was counter-intuitive.  I was trying to figure out my exact role outside, when one of the organizers realized that there was a person who was already doing this duty and so I was sent back in.  My job was to stand near the revolving door – that again – and manage the entry of people in the member’s section.  At any point there were to be only 16 people inside, where 8 went upstairs for the tour.  The other 8 then stepped forward and I was to let in the next 8 in the line outside.  This seemed easy enough and I positioned myself next to the security guard.  He asked me not to let people exit from the revolving door, but rather from the one on the side.  Now, this was not as easy as it sounds and I had some difficulty controlling the crowd.  I asked another of our volunteers to ensure that people were exiting correctly, but many still found a way to slip through our “net”. 

While I was responsible for letting people in, another volunteer Monika, was managing the process of letting them on to the elevators.  Sometimes a family would come in, skewing up the 8+8 count and she kept reminding me to just let 8 in.  Every now and then I had to make some adjustments by letting some single visitors in before a couple in order to keep the number at 8.  While I could understand the reasons why we wanted the numbers consistent, it was a cold day and people were shivering as they waited.  I would much rather let more people in than less, but had to follow the guidelines that had been established.  The general admission folks were using the entrance as well and it got chaotic when both groups of people came in at the same time.  Since I had to shuttle in and out, many times the people coming in were confused and went to the wrong check-in.  Plus a new security guard had started his shift and could care less what was happening.  But, we more or less were able to “herd the cats” in a systematic manner. 

Since it was cold outside, many people coming in were asking if there was a bathroom that they could use and unfortunately that was not an option.  Furthermore, the guards had told us not to let anyone do photography inside the lobby, which was a challenge to manage with everyone carrying smart phones.  But the people coming in were great about everything and quite friendly as well.  Two extremely enthusiastic girls arrived and I mentioned that they looked delighted to be visiting. One had a camera and I told her that photography was not allowed; though for the life of me I did not know what national secrets the lobby was hiding.  At this she said, “Don’t even get me started!”.  Another gentleman asked if we were paid as volunteers and I said that we weren't.  He could not understand how that was possible and I mentioned that volunteers weren't paid, not because “they are worthless, but because they are priceless”.  I thought it was poetic enough but he clearly wasn’t impressed.  I don’t think he will be signing up for any One Brick events anytime soon!

Some people bypassed the lines and walked straight inside and when I pointed out that they had to wait, they would pull out their priority access card.  I had to explain that it still did not mean they could walk in and unfortunately there was a line for them as well.  But, they were nice and as we got closer to 4 pm, it was obvious that many would not be able to come inside, despite waiting in the line for so long.  It was shame since they were braving the cold wind and it looked like it would be to no avail, at least for today.  The organizers then told us to only let 6 people in, since two of the volunteers were now going to be allowed upstairs – plus we were getting the priority access. As I stood in the line, there was a couple in front of me and the girl kept looking at the elevator nervously.  She mentioned that she was claustrophobic and I said to her that everything would be fine and if she wanted, I could show her pictures of puppies on my phone.  She laughed at this but when time came to board, she couldn't go through with it and preferred to wait downstairs while her boyfriend went with us.  Personally, I think he could have come up with a better solution, such as getting her to lean against him as the went up, but then I am known to have delusions of romantic notions every now and then. 

View from the Jeweler's building

We were going to tour the Jahn offices and their staff member showed us designs of many projects that they have done all over the world.  One such project was the ‘O’Hare Airport’, and having a managed an energy project there, I know what kind of messy design they have there.  I tried to ask him some questions on that, but after having conducted dozen’s of tours today, he clearly was in no mood to engage.  The best part of the tour was when he took us to a very unique looking circular elevator, which deposited us on an observation deck with spectacular views of the city.  It had been worth every single minute of my shift and I suddenly felt bad that the couple with the girl waiting downstairs could not share this together.  I could have stayed there for a long time, but that wasn’t going to happen and we came down to prepare to leave.  One of the perks of doing this project – besides the tour – was the awesome swag, including walking tour passes and discount coupons for the CAF store.  I went with our team for a drink at the ‘Emerald Loop’, but couldn't wait long since there was still another chapter to be written on this Sweetest Day.