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

[teohwp85]

Originally Posted by bhawk66

Those are all very complementary shots. Well done!

Thanks!

[Skyguy_7]

Originally Posted by teohwp85

Skillful shot. Three sweet supertalls.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Those shots make me think they should use stainless steel on the grill over the blow through.

[BonoboZill4]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Those shots make me think they should use stainless steel on the grill over the blow through.

Agreed... but either way, she's drop dead gorgeous!!!

The more glass the prettier the unfinished product has looked. Like Harry said earlier though, I'll miss the skeletal look we got during the Winter

[jc5680]

Originally Posted by teohwp85

This looks… bad

What even is the rationale for the louvre placement on half of two frustum near the top?

It’s also another bad attempt at hiding unsightly details on the ‘back’ of a building, but the ‘back’ might be just as visible as the front.

[cozy]

Originally Posted by jc5680

This looks… bad

What even is the rationale for the louvre placement on half of two frustum near the top?

It’s also another bad attempt at hiding unsightly details on the ‘back’ of a building, but the ‘back’ might be just as visible as the front.

A question for the engineers, no doubt.

Too bad you don't like it, hopefully you don't live in Chicago because we are keeping it

Keep in mind our river boat tour from shoreline was the most popular tour in the world on tripadvisor in 2017. chicagoans love that river.. this building absolutely has a front and a back. i don't care what people have to stare at while they wait in traffic on LSD, or what the affluent residents of LSE have to gaze upon. however i am kind of upset that the planetarium view will include the black strips of mechanics

[jc5680]

Originally Posted by cozy

A question for the engineers, no doubt.

Too bad you don't like it, hopefully you don't live in Chicago because we are keeping it

Keep in mind our river boat tour from shoreline was the most popular tour in the world on tripadvisor in 2017. chicagoans love that river.. this building absolutely has a front and a back. i don't care what people have to stare at while they wait in traffic on LSD, or what the affluent residents of LSE have to gaze upon. however i am kind of upset that the planetarium view will include the black strips of mechanics

It isn't a question for the engineers. It is a design problem. If there was an oversight or if new requirements come from engineering, design should work to find a solution with some coherence.

At its absolute simplest, the black color works against the way the color gradation of the curtain wall is used to reinforce the frustum shape. Light colors on the peaks with dark in the valleys is a clever way to create more contrast. Throwing a full black stripe across both peaks and valleys flattens out the form. Stretching that across the the whole floor also flattens the transition points laterally. It is a hard problem they took on trying keep the geometry readable on a building of such scale. The glass color and the slight N/S offset of each stack is all in service of that objective. The louvres aren’t.

I don't even know what you are trying to get at with your riverboat rambling. The point is that a more considered design doesn't need such a visual cop out. Look at how trump tower handles it, the transitions between segments actually contribute positively to the design. That looks intentful, this looks like a bandaid.

[cozy]

Originally Posted by jc5680

It isn't a question for the engineers. It is a design problem. If there was an oversight or if new requirements come from engineering, design should work to find a solution with some coherence.

At its absolute simplest, the black color works against the way the color gradation of the curtain wall is used to reinforce the frustum shape. Light colors on the peaks with dark in the valleys is a clever way to create more contrast. Throwing a full black stripe across both peaks and valleys flattens out the form. Stretching that across the the whole floor also flattens the transition points laterally. It is a hard problem they took on trying keep the geometry readable on a building of such scale. The glass color and the slight N/S offset of each stack is all in service of that objective. The louvres don't.

I don't even know what you are trying to get at with your riverboat rambling. The point is that a more considered design doesn't need such a visual cop out. Look at how trump tower handles it, the transitions between segments actually contribute positively to the design. That looks intentful, this looks like a bandaid.

Hahah my riverboat rambling.. take everything I post here with a grain of salt

It's so true I don't know why the designers couldn't have put more thought into this. Simply expected better.

[chris08876]

I think this tower is a beauty, but one that shines from certain angle, as depicted in #6331 via Skyguy_7's quote of teohwp85 pic.

At certain angles, this tower really shines and complements the proxy towers near Aon.

From a far, you'd think it was a complex of 3 towers.

IMO, this looks better from its sides versus looking directly at it where it looks like a staircase, but one which requires a very large step for the 1st step (if you can see where I'm coming from. See post #6334. This angle, is eh... but the one in post #6331 really shines.

I think its unique in how it reflects light too. Lighting conditions really bring this tower to life. One of those cases, again, IMO, as an outsider, where the time of day, how sun light is reflected will dictate the awe factor of this tower.

I do feel the location is not prime for it, from an aesthetics standpoint. In an alternative world, I would of loved to see this on East Roosevelt Road, at the end of Grant Park if I'm getting the location right.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by jc5680

This looks… bad

What even is the rationale for the louvre placement on half of two frustum near the top?

It’s also another bad attempt at hiding unsightly details on the ‘back’ of a building, but the ‘back’ might be just as visible as the front.

It looks like the louvers near the top are centered and you just can't see it yet because theres still plywood for the lift where the glass on the East side will be.

Also I sincerely doubt this is an attempt to "hide unsightly details on the back" and has a lot more to do with keeping as much saleable space facing the river as possible...

[Zerton]

The mechanical louvers look like afterthoughts. They really didn't anticipate them to be so dark?

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by Zerton

The mechanical louvers look like afterthoughts. They really didn't anticipate them to be so dark?

You don't think they expected it? It looks like black anodized aluminum... How could you expect that not to be black?

No, they chose what they chose. I personally like the black louvers, I just think silver would complete the rainbow of the top frustrum set.

[Zerton]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

You don't think they expected it? It looks like black anodized aluminum... How could you expect that not to be black?

No, they chose what they chose. I personally like the black louvers, I just think silver would complete the rainbow of the top frustrum set.

I mean, they didn't even have the blow thru floor planned properly when construction had already began. And the glass detailing and shading has changed substantially after construction began also. After a lot of issues.
So no, I don't really think these things really were thought through properly. Look at how badly the dark louvers clash. That isn't portrayed in any of the renderings. It wasn't intentional, at least originally.

Imo the black louvers are also ugly, but you're right we all have different taste and standards.

[bhawk66]

Originally Posted by Zerton

I mean, they didn't even have the blow thru floor planned properly when construction had already began. And the glass detailing and shading has changed substantially after construction began also. After a lot of issues.

I recall they didn't have blow-thru planned AT ALL when construction began, let alone properly. They were forced to add one because it didn't wind test well AFTER construction already started. Now that's a major fuck-up. But I digress.

If anything I've learned from following progress of buildings on this forum, it is to hold off final judgement until it's finished. My opinion has changed several times already on Vista and I think when that top frustum gets glazed and tidied up, along with the blow-thru, it will impress and the louvers will become less of an issue and perhaps even made to seemingly make more sense. Here's hoping.

Agree with location issues. Some of Vista's neighboring buildings really deter from it's beautiful shape. Especially the one directly east in the seemingly same color glass. Uck.

[cozy]

Originally Posted by bhawk66

I recall they didn't have blow-thru planned AT ALL when construction began

Yup

https://chicago.curbed.com/2017/7/17...-design-update

[cozy]

^ Was expecting them to be light blue or something, grey, just not pitch black. What if the entire screen for the blow through floor is black

[Zerton]

^ Yeah hopefully they go with a light brushed aluminum or something for the blow thru.

[GoldenDuskPhotograph]

[IMG]Golden Dusk Photography - Vista Tower Chicago by Golden Dusk Photography, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Golden Dusk Photography - Vista Tower Chicago by Golden Dusk Photography, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Golden Dusk Photography - Vista Tower Chicago by Golden Dusk Photography, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Golden Dusk Photography - Vista Tower Chicago by Golden Dusk Photography, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Donnie77]

I wish I knew who took those last pics cuz I can't seem to see any trademark......

[cozy]

Hahahahaa. Sorry golden dusk. Not only are those photos pretty much the same photos we get here on the daily, but the drop shadow on that © look ridiculous. Chill with that.