CHICAGO | St. Regis Chicago (Vista) | 1,191 FT | 101 FLOORS

[nmadsen]

Originally Posted by pilsenarch

Yes, but the refusal to depict any solutions at all in the renderings is the unforgivable crime... it's basically an admission that they were unable to create an acceptable solution...

I fully agree with you here. I'm an industrial designer and part of the product design process is integrating the necessary mechanical systems into the aesthetic design. You need to show your client how those systems are integrated with the design in the renderings so you aren't left with a last minute and un-integrated change like this. I feel the studio should have learned from this same mistake they made with the mechanical floor on Aqua and understood that these types of floors would need to be incorporated into the design from the concept stage.

That said, the building looks very nice - particularly from the north.

[dweeprise]

Originally Posted by nmadsen

I fully agree with you here. I'm an industrial designer and part of the product design process is integrating the necessary mechanical systems into the aesthetic design. You need to show your client how those systems are integrated with the design in the renderings so you aren't left with a last minute and un-integrated change like this. I feel the studio should have learned from this same mistake they made with the mechanical floor on Aqua and understood that these types of floors would need to be incorporated into the design from the concept stage.

That said, the building looks very nice - particularly from the north.

I also love the look of the building for the vast majority of the building. I'm so surprised that a firm like Studio Gang couldn't come up with a better solution. But I wasn't in the meetings and I don't know what caused them to resolve it the way they did.

Does anyone know why certain projects are set up to have a design architect and a stamping architect? In Wanda's case, bKL was the stamping architect but Studio Gang actually designed it.

[cozy]

Originally Posted by dropdeaded209

Like loving a woman with a broken nose...

my first girlfriend had a weird nose. vista's black strips are cute.

will always look at this building in awe, flaws and all

[Bill_Ding]

Originally Posted by cozy

my first girlfriend had a weird nose. vista's black strips are cute.

will always look at this building in awe, flaws and all

It is still a very cool building. No doubt. I think what has everyone irritated is that it could have been an absolute stellar building. But there have been some mistakes that will prevent that from happening. High expectations demand perfection.

[Darude_Sandstorm]

Originally Posted by Bill_Ding

It is still a very cool building. No doubt. I think what has everyone irritated is that it could have been an absolute stellar building. But there have been some mistakes that will prevent that from happening. High expectations demand perfection.

I'll always take an unambitious building that is formally successful and aids skyline composition over an ambitious building that is formally flawed and problematizes a skyline view.

[Darude_Sandstorm]

Originally Posted by nmadsen

I fully agree with you here. I'm an industrial designer and part of the product design process is integrating the necessary mechanical systems into the aesthetic design. You need to show your client how those systems are integrated with the design in the renderings so you aren't left with a last minute and un-integrated change like this. I feel the studio should have learned from this same mistake they made with the mechanical floor on Aqua and understood that these types of floors would need to be incorporated into the design from the concept stage.

That said, the building looks very nice - particularly from the north.

Do other studios make this mistake? It seems crazy that a major player would repeatedly be this unprofessional.

[pilsenarch]

Originally Posted by Darude_Sandstorm

Do other studios make this mistake? It seems crazy that a major player would repeatedly be this unprofessional.

No, no other architectural firm on projects of this scale make this mistake.

[ardecila]

I dunno, I'm reminded of the screens on the Morningstar building at Block 37 that were to overlook Daley Plaza... another architectural frustration.

IIRC, CBS-2 refused to pay for the wider screen that Ralph Johnson had designed and provided the structure for, and slapped a tiny postage-stamp screen on the wide structure. Not to be deterred, Ralph suggested perforated panels to wrap the exposed structure and provide the intended horizontal band... but again CBS-2 refused.

Sometimes the client just doesn't want to keep spending money, and there's nothing the architect can do.

I don't know the specifics of what happened for Vista but I imagine it was something similar.

[plinko]

I find it interesting with all the armchair architects blaming Gang here. Maybe they are to blame, but what about bKL? What about the structural engineer? What about the ownership group or construction manager?

The truth is, nobody on this forum knows what level of service was in Gang's contract as design architect and how much oversight or input they even had over bKL or the structural engineer (likely much less than you think).

To Ardeclia's point, Gang could have had numerous and multiple ideas about how to address either issue, and been rebuffed due to costs, technical issues, etc by bKL, the engineer, or the owner.

We simply don't know and won't ever know.

It's a great building with some weirdly visible flaws. But to continually bag on Studio Gang because you feel like there was some sort of magic bullet solution is fairly ignorant .

[Darude_Sandstorm]

Originally Posted by plinko

I find it interesting with all the armchair architects blaming Gang here. Maybe they are to blame, but what about bKL? What about the structural engineer? What about the ownership group or construction manager?

The truth is, nobody on this forum knows what level of service was in Gang's contract as design architect and how much oversight or input they even had over bKL or the structural engineer (likely much less than you think).

To Ardeclia's point, Gang could have had numerous and multiple ideas about how to address either issue, and been rebuffed due to costs, technical issues, etc by bKL, the engineer, or the owner.

We simply don't know and won't ever know.

It's a great building with some weirdly visible flaws. But to continually bag on Studio Gang because you feel like there was some sort of magic bullet solution is fairly ignorant .

This forum is here for us to discuss the successfulness of buildings, and there is nothing ignorant about seeing what happened with this building as an inditement of the process that birthed it. This isn't about a solitary step for some "magic bullet solution."

Perhaps, the blame has been too specifically placed on Studio Gang. Someone had said bKL made a demand that ended up affecting the design of the louvers, so I realize that we can't pin down how exactly this building got saddled with it's south face.

What would be nice to pin down is why all parties failed to communicate the final design to the public...not just before construction began, which should have happened, but even now there has been absolutely no public-facing communication about the final design. It's incredibly disrespectful to the people of Chicago.

[chicagoisepic]

Not sure if this has been pointed out before but it looks like Vista has some blue lighting in the blow-through floor as can be seen from the webcam.
(https://chicago-webcams.com/chicago-skyline/)

[harryc]

Originally Posted by chicagoisepic

Not sure if this has been pointed out before but it looks like Vista has some blue lighting in the blow-through floor as can be seen from the webcam.
(https://chicago-webcams.com/chicago-skyline/)

The siding in the blow-through is blue - so even white lights will look blue.

[cozy]

Originally Posted by chicagoisepic

Not sure if this has been pointed out before but it looks like Vista has some blue lighting in the blow-through floor as can be seen from the webcam.

Originally Posted by harryc

The siding in the blow-through is blue - so even white lights will look blue.

Yeah unfortunately the city will not allow any lights in the blow-through floor last i read in the chicago tribune

[HomrQT]

Originally Posted by chicagoisepic

Not sure if this has been pointed out before but it looks like Vista has some blue lighting in the blow-through floor as can be seen from the webcam.
(https://chicago-webcams.com/chicago-skyline/)

Quick photoshop.

[harryc]

April 19

[The Lurker]

That first shot. Wow. I kinda like the blowthru in the silhouette shot.

[mrnyc]

nice — and definitely has its swerve on.

i also like the base entrance, that’s really interesting vs the rest of the bland street level.

don’t like the glass though. at least i don’t think i do from these recent pics. that probably demands an in person visit to see it better though.

[Zapatan]

Nice, the first shot really captures the scale. Your dog is adorable by the way.

[donnie]

What a diva....

[Toasty Joe]

Originally Posted by HomrQT

Quick photoshop.

I try to give the vista team the benefit of the doubt, but how the hell could they settle on black for the blow through floor? Anyone know why they couldn't just pick one that's along the same color of the glass at the wide points and maybe even added some metallic shine to mimic the glass? Doesn't seem much more expensive...

while we're on the topic, why couldn't they make this an amenity floor or covered roof deck for the top floor residents? Cost prohibitive or building codes?