CHICAGO | Highrise Projects & Construction, v7

[r18tdi]

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

The article says it's GREC Architects

Interesting. This is at least the second West Loop project that switched from Morris Adjmi to GREC (the other being the Hoxton).

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

New renderings for 1201 W Fulton, they hope to break ground in December. A big improvement from the previous design

Hard disagree. This dinky low-rise annex looks like the kind of faux-urban, whitewashed brick thing you'd build at Northbrook Court for Hampton Social (the round blade signs actually look like Etta, but maybe that's just a placeholder).

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the design change was done to land a major restaurant tenant.

The old design would have had a super cool arcade space under the building with a ceiling mural, though. The courtyard would have had a proper sense of enclosure and it would feel a lot more private/secluded.

Originally Posted by r18tdi

Interesting. This is at least the second West Loop project that switched from Morris Adjmi to GREC (the other being the Hoxton).

Interesting, I didn't think Hoxton switched, just that GREC was the local AOR. I see now that MA does not feature Hoxton on their website, though.

[r18tdi]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Interesting, I didn't think Hoxton switched, just that GREC was the local AOR. I see now that MA does not feature Hoxton on their website, though.

You're correct that GREC started as AoR on Hoxton but ended up as design architect after MA left the project. Not sure about the circumstances that led to the change...

[nomarandlee]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Hard disagree. This dinky low-rise annex looks like the kind of faux-urban, whitewashed brick thing you'd build at Northbrook Court for Hampton Social (the round blade signs actually look like Etta, but maybe that's just a placeholder).

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the design change was done to land a major restaurant tenant.

The old design would have had a super cool arcade space under the building with a ceiling mural, though. The courtyard would have had a proper sense of enclosure and it would feel a lot more private/secluded.

I agree. The old design could have been a truly distinct space that doesn't really exist in the city. I am trying to think if I've seen a similar template elsewhere. Maybe a permanently shaded plaza space would have flown, given the Chicago weather, but maybe it would have. We will never know.

The new design is still a plus design, and I'd probably be more excited about it if I hadn't seen what was planned before. Now it seems like a bit of a letdown. It does indeed feel like faux-white wash brick, which seems trendy. Maybe it will hold up well and be successful, but it won't serve as anything exceptional.

[sentinel]

Deleted post regarding new 1201 W. Fulton design; didn't realize it had already been posted on 5/21. Oops!

[r18tdi]

Originally Posted by sentinel

Honestly, looks a lot better than the previous design:

I disagree. The tower went from having one unified facade to a mash-up of three systems. Looks messy by comparison.

[BrickellBased]

I too preferred the previous industrial look with cross bracing vs a much more run of the mill typical glass tower.

Also I liked the red brick base more vs the super plain beige.

[IrishIllini]

Yeah, kind of hard to sell this as an improvement, but beats what's there currently

[BrickellBased]

We'll take it.

The plaza public space is the best part of the project. It will add a nice feel to that corner.

[OhioGuy]

I like the new design. I appreciate speak visual diversity.

[dewbs]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Hard disagree. This dinky low-rise annex looks like the kind of faux-urban, whitewashed brick thing you'd build at Northbrook Court for Hampton Social (the round blade signs actually look like Etta, but maybe that's just a placeholder).

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the design change was done to land a major restaurant tenant.

The old design would have had a super cool arcade space under the building with a ceiling mural, though. The courtyard would have had a proper sense of enclosure and it would feel a lot more private/secluded.



Interesting, I didn't think Hoxton switched, just that GREC was the local AOR. I see now that MA does not feature Hoxton on their website, though.

It's not just the annex. The entire thing looks like it could go in Skokie (or, perhaps more likely, around North and Clybourn, but same difference).

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by ardecila

The old design would have had a super cool arcade space under the building with a ceiling mural, though. The courtyard would have had a proper sense of enclosure and it would feel a lot more private/secluded.

I liked the idea of that space in theory but always wondered how it would live in reality. I can imagine it being a dark, cold space with all hard materials (and a haven for pigeons and their shit). Though, it looks like it was to be a double-height space, so maybe it would have had the right opening volume to be inviting and feel fresh, I dunno. As depicted in the renderings, it reminds me of Midcentury office buildings that have raised floors with parking tucked underneath. Or an institutional building of the same era -- like a school -- that has windswept arcades that just collect trash. If it were to be enclosed with a slick door system, it could be a nice indoor-outdoor space. Those ceiling murals, though, to me, are never more than a tawdry substitute for a ceiling that lacks any architectural merit to stand on its own as a true crowning surface to a proper public space.

I prefer the facade treatment of the of the GREC design (understated, nicely proportioned and divided, looks like there's potentially a nice mix of materials). The repurposed white-painted volume feels uninspired, though, for sure.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Jibba

I liked the idea of that space in theory but always wondered how it would live in reality. I can imagine it being a dark, cold space with all hard materials (and a haven for pigeons and their shit). Though, it looks like it was to be a double-height space, so maybe it would have had the right opening volume to be inviting and feel fresh, I dunno. As depicted in the renderings, it reminds me of Midcentury office buildings that have raised floors with parking tucked underneath. Or an institutional building of the same era -- like a school -- that has windswept arcades that just collect trash. If it were to be enclosed with a slick door system, it could be a nice indoor-outdoor space. Those ceiling murals, though, to me, are never more than a tawdry substitute for a ceiling that lacks any architectural merit to stand on its own as a true crowning surface to a proper public space.

It reminded me of the MASP in Sao Paulo, or the CaixaForum in Madrid. The first design with the floating corners really blurred the line nicely between the covered space and the space of the street, the 2nd version was not as strong with corner columns clearly staking out a different turf. Ceiling seems to be around 20' which is comparable to many downtown office lobbies.



Side note: I don't love this type of rhetoric about plaza spaces, it's kind of self-defeating. I'm all for design excellence but some of the best plazas truly are just patches of pavement defined by the buildings around them and the human activity within. If we keep calling plazas "windswept" then we end up with a streetscape that just doesn't have public space, or we just get subtly hostile "green space" that looks pretty without being a space you can occupy or use. Maybe modernist plazas in the 60s became windswept when all the surrounding buildings were torn down for parking, or when elevated several stories in the air, but in an actual dense environment they make a lot of sense. And I'm not even getting to the twin fears of homelessness and protest/uprising that seem to underly all of our attitudes about public space...

[rgarri4]

Street experience looks good.
Sad they lost the X-bracing. Without it, it's going to get lost to all of the very similar designs coming to the area.

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Side note: I don't love this type of rhetoric about plaza spaces, it's kind of self-defeating. I'm all for design excellence but some of the best plazas truly are just patches of pavement defined by the buildings around them and the human activity within. If we keep calling plazas "windswept" then we end up with a streetscape that just doesn't have public space, or we just get subtly hostile "green space" that looks pretty without being a space you can occupy or use. Maybe modernist plazas in the 60s became windswept when all the surrounding buildings were torn down for parking, or when elevated several stories in the air, but in an actual dense environment they make a lot of sense. And I'm not even getting to the twin fears of homelessness and protest/uprising that seem to underly all of our attitudes about public space...

I'm on the same page re windsweeping: they're only as activated as how well they're designed (and if that design scope is extended to be conscious of surrounding space and properties). I imagine that (Adjmi) one having a windswept feel not because of expanses of flat surfaces per se; I imagine it not attracting life the way something more humanly-scaled and humanly-detailed would (not something cavernous framed by overbearing structural pieces propping up a looming volume with no relief at the wall plane). FWIW, neither the Sao Paulo nor the Madrid examples look like something (from those photos alone) that I want to walk through... The Madrid one kinda sorta only because the kid in me sees a fun adventure walking through an abstracted cave with polygonal planes and what not. But I want to do so only to make it to the other side (not linger within).

My ideal of public (or quasi-public, perhaps more correctly) space integration into private developments are the canyon-like buildings I've seen (like the one in the new China Basin(?) development in SF). The building peels away from the ground-level user as their gaze goes upward, creating the feeling of opening -- enclosure without claustrophobia. That's what makes me like the GREC plan a touch more; it feels like a better version of permeability than the Adjmi form, if less architecturally interesting (from renderings only) to me. Something about the Adjmi arcaded space looks like "don't go here" to me vs. the more open GREC plan (and the terracing of the low-rise building could create an analogous effect to the canyon form).

[nomarandlee]

Originally Posted by Jibba

My ideal of public (or quasi-public, perhaps more correctly) space integration into private developments are the canyon-like buildings I've seen (like the one in the new China Basin(?) development in SF). The building peels away from the ground-level user as their gaze goes upward, creating the feeling of opening -- enclosure without claustrophobia..

You have me curious, do you have an address or a map link to see it?

[dewbs]

Originally Posted by nomarandlee

You have my curious, do you have an address or a map link to see it?

https://www.mvrdv.com/projects/423/the-canyon

[PittsburghPA]

Massive mobile crane on Grand near the river. Any idea? Looks like it would be for erecting a tower crane but I can't think of anything thats starting around there.

[SolarWind]

May 23, 2024

[SolarWind]

May 23, 2024