Dome

View looking up the south elevation; "The building opened in May 1985 as the State of Illinois Center. It was re-dedicated in 1993 to honor former Illinois Governor James R. Thompson. The property takes up the entire block bounded by Randolph, Lake, Clark and LaSalle Streets, one of the 35 full-size city blocks within Chicago's Loop. In front of the Thompson Center is a sculpture, Monument With Standing Beast, by Jean Dubuffet. The JRTC is sometimes referred to as the State Building. The JRTC was designed by Murphy/Helmut Jahn and called "outrageous" or "wonderful" by critics when it opened. The color of the street-level panels was compared to tomato soup. The 17-story, all-glass exterior does not reflect the building's function, and instead conveys an image of pure postmodernism; the effect is striking, especially from the Daley Center. Visitors to the JRTC's interior can see all seventeen floors layered partway around the building's immense skylit atrium. The open-plan offices on each floor are supposed to carry the message of "an open government in action." Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 11/4/2007)