Politics
These Chicago Architects Want to Blot Out Trump Tower With Flying Golden Pigs
There's one for each year of a presidential term.
by
Brian Boucher
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President-elect Donald J. Trump notoriously called comedian Rosie O’Donnell a “fat pig” in a long-running feud. He also mocked beauty show contestant Alicia Machado by dubbing her “Miss Piggy.”
Now, a Chicago architectural firm wants to blot out the real estate developer-cum-politician’s name on that city’s Trump Tower with a series of floating golden swine.
New World Design‘s Flying Pigs on Parade: a Chicago River Folly (2016) proposes four pig-shaped golden balloons tethered to buoys in the Chicago River, which will float in such a way that they obscure the Donald’s name, emblazoned on the structure in 20-foot-high lettering.
New World Design, Flying Pigs on Parade: a Chicago River Folly (2016). Courtesy New World Design.
Founded in 2002 and led by principal Jeffrey Roberts, New World Design has undertaken corporate and residential projects, from modernizing the infrastructure of a historic 1925 Chicago high-rise to designing a residential retreat in the Bahamas.
The color of the plump pigs obviously echoes Trump’s taste for gilding; the proposal also makes a nod to Pink Floyd’s pig-shaped balloons, a staple prop in their live shows and an icon from the cover of their 1977 album Animals.
As the architects point out on their website, the number of pigs represents the number of years in a presidential term, and the airborne swine echo the expression “when pigs fly,” referring to widespread pre-Election Day dismissal of Trump’s chances of winning the presidency.
Despite such predictions, the real estate maven is now headed to Washington, DC; the pigs, accordingly, would face in the direction of the nation’s capital in New World Design’s scheme.
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