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

[chris08876]

Call me crazy, but I kinda like the blow-thru floor. Seems to add some character to the tower.

Also the base of Vista is growing with me. At first, I kept having the notion that its the weakest aesthetic portion of the tower, but more I look at it, the more I like it.

This tower does have character. A few years ago, when this was first revealed, I must admit, I thought it was garbage, but now that its almost complete, I realize the genius behind it. What I admire most about it is how its a completely different tower depending on the angle. It has many faces, and many personalities depending on where you view it from. Its quite a trippy experience.

Also how light plays with it. The luminosity of the day adds even further to the design. A game of refraction and reflection, which it excels in. Like the ever changing reflection of the river, this too shares those attributes, and the time of day with respect to the suns angle, and suns luminosity (seasonal) makes this tower have a fresh new face every day, and different character throughout the year (IMO, as winter tends to have washed out sun light, and summer a more prominent, magnitude to it).

[bhawk66]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Call me crazy, but I kinda like the blow-thru floor. Seems to add some character to the tower.

Also the base of Vista is growing with me. At first, I kept having the notion that its the weakest aesthetic portion of the tower, but more I look at it, the more I like it.

This tower does have character. A few years ago, when this was first revealed, I must admit, I thought it was garbage, but now that its almost complete, I realize the genius behind it. What I admire most about it is how its a completely different tower depending on the angle. It has many faces, and many personalities depending on where you view it from. Its quite a trippy experience.

Also how light plays with it. The luminosity of the day adds even further to the design. A game of refraction and reflection, which it excels in. Like the ever changing reflection of the river, this too shares those attributes, and the time of day with respect to the suns angle, and suns luminosity (seasonal) makes this tower have a fresh new face every day, and different character throughout the year (IMO, as winter tends to have washed out sun light, and summer a more prominent, magnitude to it).

Agree that the bump out section is looking much more appealing than in any of the renders. The glass color is great and very reflective. I'm interested to see how they knock out the rest of the lower half. From the renders it looked as if the glass would follow the angled concrete columns to the base, but those reddish steel columns they added at the corners, which are fairly hefty, makes me think they might be going straight down. The window installation having stopped at that particular juncture seems perhaps they will follow the angle after all, however.

[harryc]

March 23



March 30

[Darude_Sandstorm]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Call me crazy, but I kinda like the blow-thru floor. Seems to add some character to the tower.

Also the base of Vista is growing with me. At first, I kept having the notion that its the weakest aesthetic portion of the tower, but more I look at it, the more I like it.

This tower does have character. A few years ago, when this was first revealed, I must admit, I thought it was garbage, but now that its almost complete, I realize the genius behind it. What I admire most about it is how its a completely different tower depending on the angle. It has many faces, and many personalities depending on where you view it from. Its quite a trippy experience.

Also how light plays with it. The luminosity of the day adds even further to the design. A game of refraction and reflection, which it excels in. Like the ever changing reflection of the river, this too shares those attributes, and the time of day with respect to the suns angle, and suns luminosity (seasonal) makes this tower have a fresh new face every day, and different character throughout the year (IMO, as winter tends to have washed out sun light, and summer a more prominent, magnitude to it).

You don't have any thoughts on the black ventilation or whatever it is?

[Bill_Ding]

Originally Posted by Darude_Sandstorm

You don't have any thoughts on the black ventilation or whatever it is?

The black screens that everyone is complaining about are mechanical louvers. They are NOT temporary. They are also NOT screens. They are louvers required for the building mechanical systems to work properly.

[chris08876]

You guys have a good tower regardless. At the end of the day, IMO, a win-win!

We all knit-pick at certain things, but when folks take in the overall summation of all the elements of Vista, its a hell of an addition.

Now you guys just have to get that Tribune Tower rising. That one is really nice!

I think this tower (Vista) will age well with the skyline. Just another addition to the architectural lexicon that makes up the Chicago skyline. One that spans 3 centuries!

[Darude_Sandstorm]

Originally Posted by Bill_Ding

The black screens that everyone is complaining about are mechanical louvers. They are NOT temporary. They are also NOT screens. They are louvers required for the building mechanical systems to work properly.

I know they're not temporary. And I don't care what they are. I could say that the blue stuff is glass, it is required for the building to work. That doesn't remove it from the conversation lol. I don't think this was how the south face of the building was originally going to look. It amazes me that only a couple of people are talking about this when there are so many Chicago posters that seem sensitive to aesthetics whenever any building rendering comes out.

[2PRUROCKS!]

I agree especially since there are relatively easy and inexpensive ways to make the ventilation blend in better with the rest of the building.

[donnie]

Wow, nice set Chris

[BrinChi]

^ Amazing. Thank you!

[gebs]

Man, just when you think you've seen every possible angle, you get one where Vista's setbacks somehow line up with NEMA's. Unbelievable timing, and excellent shots. Thanks so much for sharing them.

Hope everyone's doing well.

[Darude_Sandstorm]

Thank you. The middle louvers are really what drive me crazy. If it just spanned the length of that middle tower it would at least seem to be following the rules of the form.

[Donnie77]

^^^said picture above was originally supposed to have the tallest tower to the east so in retrospect this pic is still looking at it from the north side

[gandalf612]

Honest question: What would you want them to do instead? The mechanicals need louvers to function properly. The way I see it black is the best possible color when you consider the fact that they can't match them to the color of the glass since that changes every day depending on lighting and weather. Painted metal wouldn't be able to match the shifting, so I'd personally much rather have consistent black louvers than blue louvers that are only matching the glass once a year.

[ChiTownWonder]

^ Gang should have designed the building with the mechanical floors and louvers in mind, so no one would have to argue what the best way to tack them on would be. At this point it is what it is which is why I'm not trying to be too negative about it.

[ChiTownWonder]

Like these any better?

[pilsenarch]

Originally Posted by ChiTownWonder

^ Gang should have designed the building with the mechanical floors and louvers in mind, so no one would have to argue what the best way to tack them on would be. At this point it is what it is which is why I'm not trying to be too negative about it.

^Well, this is exactly the point. No one should (and no one probably has until now) start any architectural project, much less a skyscraper, without a concept not just for the form, but the structure, the MEP (mech/elec/plumbing), and the program functioning in all of this. As far as I can tell, this project fails all of the above except for arguably achieving the 'form' goal...

We can argue endlessly about what would have been a better solution for the louvers or the blow-through, but it's a straw man that was created when all of these other design issues were ignored...

As far as the rendering of the south view of the tower, that indeed was/is the south view. The re-positioning of the tallest tower to the west occurred way before the latest iteration of the window wall vocabulary. That rendering just underscores a willful ignorance occurring in the architect's office with regard to the unpleasant or aesthetically awkward needs of the project...

[Skyguy_7]

^LOL

Originally Posted by gandalf612

Honest question: What would you want them to do instead? The mechanicals need louvers to function properly. The way I see it black is the best possible color when you consider the fact that they can't match them to the color of the glass since that changes every day depending on lighting and weather. Painted metal wouldn't be able to match the shifting, so I'd personally much rather have consistent black louvers than blue louvers that are only matching the glass once a year.

^ A shade of blue or green would have been far better than black. Hell, they could have used 7 separate tones of blue/green and it would have looked 10x better than the black!

[SIGSEGV]

[SIGSEGV]

From today:


Why doesn't the middle black area extend all the way across?