The design called for an extremely narrow white tower, telescoping through several setbacks to a very narrow point at the top.

Planned in 1988 as a new world's tallest building, this would have surpassed the existing titleholder (the Sears Tower) by a record 550 feet.

The basic form of the building was to be an elongated version of 181 West Madison, a 680-foot building across the street built by the same architect and developers.

The Skyneedle would have been built on the southwest corner of Wells and Madison Streets. A 10 story parking garage has since been built in its place.

Inside the building plans called for an observation deck, a skylobby, 12 floors of indoor parking at the base, and a two story health club.

This project was cancelled after the Persian Gulf War and the concurrent recession, during which the U.S. real estate market crashed.

A short time after the Skyneedle was cancelled, the same team of architects and engineers was hired to build the new world's tallest building in Kuala Lumpur, a pair of twin towers whose concrete structure is very similar to the innovative plan designed for this building.

The next major proposal for a world's tallest building in Chicago was 7 South Dearborn.