PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

It is an era of uninspired Henry Ford assembly line style, value engineered regurgitated architecture and it's not just happening in Pittsburgh. It seems like every city in the country is getting shat upon with this garbage.

In fairness, I'm not sure it's the fault of architects. Most want to do some bold, original work. The clients want design as cheaply as possible, however, and want to use the cheapest materials which will meet modern structural standards. And frankly, given that no matter the design the projects will meet capacity, in a strictly capitalistic sense ignoring design is understandable.

I am optimistic that new technologies will cause a bit of return to the classics however. It's becoming possible now, for example, to 3D print entire houses, or even small apartment blocks. Even if we don't see this taking off, custom printing of architectural elements will allow for a return to ornament and less standardized building designs.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by eschaton

In fairness, I'm not sure it's the fault of architects. Most want to do some bold, original work. The clients want design as cheaply as possible, however, and want to use the cheapest materials which will meet modern structural standards. And frankly, given that no matter the design the projects will meet capacity, in a strictly capitalistic sense ignoring design is understandable.

I am optimistic that new technologies will cause a bit of return to the classics however. It's becoming possible now, for example, to 3D print entire houses, or even small apartment blocks. Even if we don't see this taking off, custom printing of architectural elements will allow for a return to ornament and less standardized building designs.

I have never thought it was the architects fault. I completely understand the economics.
I don't know about 3D printing; It seems like the cost of the printing material would still be a price barrier but hey, I love your idea.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

I don't know about 3D printing; It seems like the cost of the printing material would still be a price barrier but hey, I love your idea.

Just a few years ago, only 3D printing of low-strength plastic was commercially viable. Now there are printers which can print structures out of metal powder, wood composite, and concrete as well. It will probably be quite awhile before we can print something which would be a good enough approximation of wood grain to carry a light stain, but I think we'll even get there eventually.

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by JVC

architecture in pittsburgh is dead - it's difficult to comprehend how the quality of design in this city has sunk so low so fast

JVC, please go away, you useless troll.

[Evergrey]

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...uilding-renovation-expected-to-cost.html

The Davis Cos. puts total investment in Union Trust Building at nine figures

Mar 19, 2015, 7:56am EDT

A few months after his company bought the Union Trust Building a year ago, Jonathan Davis gave a simple description of what it would take to restore the aging landmark to a top office address downtown.

"All you need is cash," Davis said then.

An announcement of a new contractor for the building's renovation gives a clear indication of just how much cash The Davis Cos. is talking about.

After buying the property for $14 million in March 2014, The Davis Cos. expects to invest about $100 million to restore and modernize the building, according to a statement. The figure includes the original purchase price.

Davis has chosen Mascaro Construction to help renovate the 500,000-square-foot building, a Flemish-gothic-style structure commissioned by Henry Clay Frick that ranks among downtown's most architecturally significant structures.

Mascaro joins a growing team working on the building that includes Elkus Manfredi Architects, PWWG Architects, Strada Architecture, AES Engineers, AHA Engineers and CJL Engineers.

Davis' renovation plans include adding a 190-space underground parking garage and a fitness center.

Those additions are planned along with modernizations of the building's office space. The goal is to reposition the first floor retail space and transform the property "into a modern, Class-A, LEED-certified building," according to the announcement.

...

[BrianTH]

The Ignore List function is working great for me.

[BrianTH]

That's a serious investment, but the building is well worth it. I'm actually interested to see what sort of retail tenants they are going for.

[Don't Be That Guy]

Originally Posted by eschaton

In fairness, I'm not sure it's the fault of architects. Most want to do some bold, original work. The clients want design as cheaply as possible, however, and want to use the cheapest materials which will meet modern structural standards. And frankly, given that no matter the design the projects will meet capacity, in a strictly capitalistic sense ignoring design is understandable.

I am optimistic that new technologies will cause a bit of return to the classics however. It's becoming possible now, for example, to 3D print entire houses, or even small apartment blocks. Even if we don't see this taking off, custom printing of architectural elements will allow for a return to ornament and less standardized building designs.

Architects still want to do bold design, but that is often impossible given the cost constraints of the structures and materials. Trying to recreate classical design elements just ends up looking cheap, and super contemporary is often not well executed by the designer.

You see these buildings because smaller markets cannot afford the rents needed to recoup the expense of high design and materials. I'm sure developers would love to build steel frame brick apartment buildings and offices with soaring curtain wall glass. But no one is going to pay New York and San Francisco rents to be in that kind of building in Pittsburgh, Denver or Phoenix.

Also, the type of office in demand here is not class A corporate office space. What's in demand in Pittsburgh is open floor plate offices that can easily be made into research and development/light manufacturing spaces. Every tech start-up and creative office in the city would be in an old Strip District or East Liberty warehouse building if Pittsburgh had enough of them. But since we don't, and no one can afford to build them new, you're going to see a lot of <6 story metal panel clad structures.

[BrianTH]

I understand that there is not enough of a market right now for a lot of really cutting-edge and/or highest-quality new buildings, aside perhaps from the occasional corporate HQ by a company actually doing well. Although I am intrigued by the rumors about the ALMONO plan.

Nonetheless, I still don't understand why the Three Crossings office buildings are so 🞵🞵🞵🞵 ugly. I'd settle for just bland.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Nonetheless, I still don't understand why the Three Crossings office buildings are so 🞵🞵🞵🞵 ugly. I'd settle for just bland.

At least the land use intensity of Three Crossings vastly exceeds that of the Point Park Playhouse... which is unequivocally the worst development in Pittsburgh.

[Private Dick]

What's with the 1990s-era red & gray color scheme on the office bldgs? Homage to the airport and science center?

Hopefully it won't be this bad in the flesh.

[TBone7281]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

The Ignore List function is working great for me.

Man, I totally forgot about that. Thanks, I'm much happier now.

Originally Posted by BrianTH

That's a serious investment, but the building is well worth it. I'm actually interested to see what sort of retail tenants they are going for.

Seriously... all of the Three Crossings project is budgeted at $130,000,000. Union Trust should be in great shape when all is said and done.

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Nonetheless, I still don't understand why the Three Crossings office buildings are so 🞵🞵🞵🞵 ugly. I'd settle for just bland.

I don't think the offices are going to be particularly interesting but I'm also not grasping all the hate on them. I haven't seen a great rendering that I can think of so I'll wait to pass judgement until I see how they turn out.

[TBone7281]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

Hopefully it won't be this bad in the flesh.

That's sort of what I'm thinking (hoping).

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by glowrock

JVC, please go away, you useless troll.

Don't feed the troll. Here is a walkthrough for ignoring trolls:

1.) Click the username of the person you want to block
2.) Click "View public profile"
3.) Click "User lists" drop down button
4.) Click "Add to ignore list"

Cheers!

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Don't Be That Guy

You see these buildings because smaller markets cannot afford the rents needed to recoup the expense of high design and materials. I'm sure developers would love to build steel frame brick apartment buildings and offices with soaring curtain wall glass. But no one is going to pay New York and San Francisco rents to be in that kind of building in Pittsburgh, Denver or Phoenix.

Yep

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...uilding-renovation-expected-to-cost.html

This is awesome news. That's a REAL investment that will bring one of the most gorgeous buildings in Pittsburgh up to date.
I am very confused how they plan to "...add a 190-space underground parking garage and a fitness center."

Is there already underground space for that?

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Don't Be That Guy

Architects still want to do bold design, but that is often impossible given the cost constraints of the structures and materials. Trying to recreate classical design elements just ends up looking cheap, and super contemporary is often not well executed by the designer.

I concur with your post overall, but my understanding is, for the most part, it's not about materials cost, it's about labor cost.

There are, of course, certain materials which are harder to come by these days - woods which have been over-harvested, and stone types which have been quarried out in particular. But look at something like bricks. They are no more expensive today than they were 100 years ago. But back then, bricklayers were often immigrants, and generally made a pittance, whereas today in many metros they're unionized, and even on non-union jobs make a fairly high rate.

You can see how much labor costs make a big difference in brickwork if you compare construction in the South to the North. In southern cities, bricklayers are paid much, much less. As a result, it's affordable even for mid-level housing options to clad an entire structure in brick, rather than simply do the front face and clad the rest in vinyl.

Unfortunately there's no way around this right now it seems. If you pay construction workers a living wage, building costs rise, and thus building materials fall in quality to compensate.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

At least the land use intensity of Three Crossings vastly exceeds that of the Point Park Playhouse... which is unequivocally the worst development in Pittsburgh.

Agreed all around (and as an aside, I am still stunned someone managed to beat North Shore Place for the worst title). For that part of the Strip, Three Crossings is a very nice mix of uses and scale. And I don't even mind The Yards (it isn't the greatest, but not offensive to my eye like the offices are).

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

Hopefully it won't be this bad in the flesh.

I'm clinging to that hope as well.

And it probably should be noted that this sort of industrial/warehouse-chic approach actually does make some sense in The Strip, unlike a lot of other places it has been used. I just wish it was better executed in this case.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by TBone7281

I don't think the offices are going to be particularly interesting but I'm also not grasping all the hate on them. I haven't seen a great rendering that I can think of so I'll wait to pass judgement until I see how they turn out.

That's reasonable, but here are some more renderings--I think the first two are possible variations on the same building, and the third is what they are building right now:





I just have a very negative reaction to those on aesthetic grounds, particularly the one they are actually doing now (third rendering above) and the second variation of the other building (second rendering above).

For contrast, here is the Oxford project in the PTC--it doesn't look more expensive to me and it isn't cutting edge design either, but I find it far less objectionable on a gut level: