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Old Posted Apr 12, 2017, 4:56 PM
Sigaven Sigaven is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 1,475
Yikes. I'm all for the redevelopment of Alamo Plaza but this is some pretty tacky looking stuff.

The huge glass "gate" is horrid, in my opinion. Cheesy attempt at trying to recreate the entrance or an entrance to the plaza. I think it encloses the plaza too much. It needs to be open in my opinion. Allow the breezes to go through. I know the original Alamo was walled off but the wall is gone now and I don't think it should be rebuilt in any way. I like the idea of at least honoring the fact that there was a wall originally, but I think it should be done in a much more subtle way. Maybe a low bench wall with landscaping inside all along where the original walls were.

Secondly trying to rebuild the creek that ran through the Alamo. I think this could be done in a much more elegant way than cheesy landscaping in front of the museums. I think there's something charming about the wide limestone sidewalks in front of the buildings right now, openly facing rest of the plaza without obstruction. Perhaps building a purposefully man-made looking canal, maybe a 3-ft wide channel with modern design and clean lines throughout and minimal landscaping - is enough to honor the original creek without trying to directly reconstruct it. I think trying to reproduce anything exactly as the original with the context of the 20th century cityscape all around just looks terrible.

Not sure how I feel about the big trees along the north side of the plaza either - kind of makes it feel too enclosed again. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe we love trees, i dont know.

Fourthly are they really proposing for the paving to just be dirt? No brick or stonework like the plaza is currently? I think that's a mistake too. A grand plaza should't be paved in dirt!

My three cents...I think the idea of this design is honorable but the execution is horrible and needs some big changes.

Oh and lastly - trees on the roof? Really!? When's the last time you've seen a beautiful rendering of a building with plants and trees all over the roof and they actually did that when they built the building. The answer is almost never. Another silly attempt at over-designing this rendering.

All said this honestly looks like a freshman architecture student's attempt at a design project, someone who clearly has never visited the Alamo and has no understanding of the urban context or history of the place.

Last edited by Sigaven; Apr 12, 2017 at 9:59 PM.
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