The Burnham Plan in Miniature

"Chicago, often seen as the model of growth for a 20th Century urban industrial megalopolis, now has been reproduced in an enormous model with the help of computers and a new three-dimensional "printing" process called stereolithography.

Beginning this week, a 25- by-35-foot model of the city will be open for viewing, free of charge at the Chicago Architecture Foundation, inspired by similar models in Beijing and Shanghai that show how those cities also have rapidly grown and changed.

The model buildings came from Columbian's workshop. The exhibit is broken down into 400 city blocks, in squares the size of dinner plates carried in food caterer's serving carts. With the buildings already glued in place, the blocks were placed into the exhibit like waiters carefully placing food plates into a buffet table."