The north elevation almost looks like a natural terra cotta texture. That would be bad-ass if they did that. I really wish we used more of it in construction around town. Pretty much my favorite type of cladding system.

http://www.nbkterracotta.com/en-US/p...oject_id=11463

Here are some more images of that Advocate outpatient project:

http://www.advocatehealth.com/immc/M...roj_full-8.jpg

http://www.advocatehealth.com/immc/M...roj_full-5.jpg

http://www.advocatehealth.com/immc/M...roj_full-1.jpg

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/11/prweb10074880.htm

Am I the only one upset with the street closure? Huge megablocks are to be avoided, especially right next to an L station.

Nelson is currently a one-way drive running from Wilton to Sheffield. It's not a through street, so I don't really see any function other than internal circulation for the hospital. Am I missing something?

But if they were to be (publicly) pedestrian-porous, even at night (and generally speaking, not limited to here), how strong does this objection remain?

For totally selfish reasons, I am upset about the closure, because Nelson is one leg of a handy shortcut minimizing stops and red lights.

The modernist complexes of the 60s did exactly this. Long pedestrian passages don't feel safe and sometimes aren't safe. You're not likely to get businesses that animate the pedestrian corridor, because businesses want vehicle access for deliveries at a minimum. It's basically a recipe for a windswept passage, and it doesn't make a megablock any less problematic.

But, yeah, in this case a pedestrian passage would be good. If the city hadn't sold off the easterly chunk of the street to Dayton Court Apartments, there could be a nice pedestrian passage here; a gateway to the hospital.

They're closing off Wilton, too, which changes the functionality of the Wilton Building. It's designed to be an urban building fronting a street, not suburban fronting a parking lot.

You aren't the only one who thinks the street closure is completely stupid. I think it is an outrage that such a thing is even in consideration. I feel like a broken record since I was just ranting about this the other day, but I thought we already learned our lesson about savaging the street grid back in the 1960's. If this isn't already approved it needs to be blocked with an iron fist. Completely and totally unacceptable.

I suppose the argument here is the same stupid "needs to be cheek to cheek" bullshit spewed by Northwestern during the whole Prentice thing. Sorry, but if you need to be "cheek to cheek" so bad either leave the city or buck up and pay for an elevated multilevel skybridge. Don't shrug the costs of your "need" off onto everyone else's shoulders by taking away public rights of way.

Advocate Lakeview Campus Expansion
 

Talk about being torn on this project. For the most part (although I do think they perhaps 'dumbed down' the Barry Ave facing facade somewhat too much) I love the architecture. But it definitely has a suburban feel to it that irks....

UGH!!! This is AWFUL!!! :yuck:

"healing garden" and "green wall" fronting the sidewalk? not to mention the hideous suburban look and feel! WTF? :hell:

^ Specialized care centers tend to do that. This isn't some large hospital pavilion like NMH or Rush where you can have massive ground floor public lobbies that go right up to the street. Their edges are typically softened with green space and located in a campus-like configuration.

Not too fond of the Nelsen Street closure either.

This would be so great for the south side, especially the Washington Park area itself. I'm a little skeptical but this guys sounds like he knows what he's doing.

105 acres of sports on the South Side

By: Abraham Tekippe February 15, 2013


Mr. McDermott is the man behind the Chicago Sports Village, a 105-acre, $530 million athletic complex that he and his partners plan to build in Washington Park, one of the city's most crime-ridden neighborhoods.


Located on some 100 parcels between Washington Park and the Dan Ryan Expressway — he declined to identify an exact location — the center would include facilities for more than 25 sports, including tennis, hockey and golf to less traditional offerings like fencing, skiing and snowboarding. It also would include residential and commercial space and hotel rooms.


Read more: http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.co...#ixzz2L0GKeM8D
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The Advocate Health plan is really just a 21st century duplicate of Ravenswood Hospital. A parking garage, medical office buildings, interior drop off points, and a little green space all separated from the rest of the neighborhood. I cannot say anything good about the layout of Ravenswood hospital and I cannot say anything good about this new layout either.

Quinlan School of Business
 

http://imageshack.us/a/img152/3799/quinlan6curbed.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img221/2135/quinlan5curbed.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img812/4553/quinlan5acurbed.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img805/2131/quinlan4curbed.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img94/8871/qu...ingneighcu.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img19/6793/quinlan2curbed.jpg

Start date or not yet? Does this mean good things for the proposed tower next to it?

It's not slated to begin anytime soon as Loyola is still looking for a developer. The rental tower should begin construction this summer. Here's my post at Curbed if you want more info: http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2...ntal-tower.php

That Curbed story has a tower elevation -- which, interestingly, has a cantilever. So the "yin" and "yang" planes of the bipartite south facade will be planes that are slightly offset from each other.

http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs...tionCurbed.jpg
http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs...tionCurbed.jpg

Hydro, what's going to happen to the existing Loyola structures between Pearson and Chicago? Can we hope the red brick bunker along State will be gone 10 years from now?

The former Jilly's / Backroom building should be down to floor 2 by today. The building is being dis-assembled. I can see from my window a very organized deconstruction. So where does all this stuff go? Say I wanted to buy that old facade of that building. Is there architectural salvage warehouses where I can find a completely cataloged facade?

I would also like to know this.

I have often visited small towns/cities whose original urban centers have been abandoned/neglected and have wondered about the feasibility of purchasing a structure, document, dis-assemble, catalog, ship, and rebuild in a different location. Maybe there are already places that do this?

Possibly. The concept of pillaging struggling towns for their architectural heritage is kind of icky to most preservationists. Usually the decision to relocate comes after all options for reuse have been exhausted, and the building must be torn down due to decay or replacement with something new.

Relocating small-town buildings to Avondale or East Garfield Park just sets off my moral alarm bells, though. Not only is it an affront to the small town, stripping it of potentially valuable assets, but it is also a statement of no confidence in Chicago architects' ability to design handsome, appealing infill. It's not really a savings from the cost perspective; you'd still need an architect to design a code-compliant building behind the facade, since relocations are considered new construction.

The Platt Luggage Building down at McCormick Place is an instructive example.
(PDF) http://www.masonryconstruction.com/I...68-1376840.pdf

Decorated shed.