Riverwalk - phase III
 

June 30
Breaking "ground"


Aug 04




Aug 07

Wabash Station
 

June 22


Aug 07
Drill


injection piles


What is this for ? biggest threaded rod I have ever seen.

I was in Philadelphia this weekend for the first time in awhile. Took a liking more this time to the arts scene there and it got me thinking. - has Chicago ever toyed with anything like the 1% public arts program they have?

^We've had one in place since 1978. 1.33% of the construction or renovation budget must go to art. Here are some current opportunities and recent commissions.

CTA has a nice guide to all the pieces in transit stations.

Thanks for the link. Had no idea...very good. But is that for any building or just ones built for the city, like a new library.

Percent-for-art programs in most cities are only for public buildings. Philadelphia is unusual in extending the requirement to buildings built on land assembled by the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority.

In Chicago, we don't use land assembly and writedown all that extensively for private development, but I suppose it would have given us additional public art pieces at Block 37, 35 West Wacker/Renaissance Hotel, Jewel/Osco at Roosevelt & Wabash, and a few other places.

A better question is how meaningful the artworks are to the general public, particularly as modern art has diverged so much from popular understanding. As Dave Barry once wrote, we know it's public art because hardly ever do private citizens get together and decide to put up something that looks like the rusting remains of a helicopter crash. I think about that every time I pass Frank Stella's The Town-Ho's Story in the Metcalfe Federal Building lobby.

One promising recent idea has been the way some agencies (Seattle Metro was a pioneer) now use their percent-for-art commissions to create useful, artisanal objects rather than later add-ons. So they'll have the artist create security gates or benches that are thought-provoking as well as practical.

i think the art mandate is good in general. if nothing else, it helps differentiate the stations at least a little bit, now that basically all of our stations are so similar. it would be nice to see some stations on the Blue Line get this treatment...those median stations could really use some sparks of life and color (although id be content with some general upkeep).

That would be a great resource. Every time I come into the city I see something new. Like last time, there's infill on Belmont, around Southport I think. Probably nothing special, only 7 stories or so, but good streetwall fill, and I wanted to see a render of it but no idea where to find it. It'd be nice to have a list of all the little guys like that.

I know the high-rise thread was going to be updated, but did it completely disappear for anybody else?

Apparently the building that will go in at Clark/Belmont (where Punkin Donuts was) will break ground already on Wednesday.

^ I've been waiting 13 years for this.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=218289

New thread started, will probably be a while before it shows up on the Chicago threads page though. Some sort of weird hurdles exist with the site and adding threads there.

I wouldn't mind if we got what the Brits got when they renovated St Pancras...

http://www.independent.co.uk/incomin...ires-Getty.jpg
independent.co.uk

I have definitely noticed how public art really beautifies some cities. Percent for Art and Mural Arts have been amazing for Philadelphia; Kansas City has fountains literally everywhere...

The interesting thing here, though, is that public art can show that people truly care about a place. Some of the best public art in the country is no more or less fancy than shop owners putting nice murals up on their walls. "Bureaucratic" art rarely ever works.

Three cranes over Schaumberge
 

July 27


Aug 07

Demolition has started on the existing building at 2501 West Armitage. These were the last plans for the site that I remember.

http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2...ve-forward.php

http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs...campbell-1.png
Is this image reversed? Or are they really putting most of the retail on Campbell instead of Armitage? Maybe there's more retail behind the Cintas truck?
Anyway, this is a huge improvement for that corner and should inject some much needed life there. It's really exciting to see the Western stop growing up, long overdue.

That's Campbell. The prints had the cutaway on the Campbell side.

Although I am curious as to what the 7 story building they see in the distance is.
It has a roofline like the streetcar barn nextdoor, but it's gained several floors and moved a couple blocks.

171 N Halsted - July 21st
 

frm Morgan El sta.

I have a framed photo of a portico on the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel in my living room. The portico leads directly into St. Pancras station, one of the more beautiful train terminal in Europe.

I just want to say harryc had some awesome pics on the previous page on various projects.

Greatly appreciated. :)