CHICAGO | General Developments

[george]

I like the 1958 curtain wall. It's a classic retro 50's touch to the Avenue similar to Borg Warner. Lose that and it's gone. Or bring back the original design, what would most likely never happen, cost factors & all glass facades rule.

Topshop Sept 2011, coming soon.

[i_am_hydrogen]

Article on what may happen to the old Jones Prep site:
http://chicagojournal.com/News/08-10...s_College_Prep

[Mr Downtown]

^Infuriates me. All the community organizations begged the city to straighten out Harrison when they were selling the parking lot to University Center. Couldn't be done, they said. Though an 18-story building was fine, parents would never allow their kids to live in a 20-story building.

Now they want to tear down a perfectly good school and build yet another pointless little dog poop park in a terrible location. Why? So they can straighten out Harrison. Something about this smells funny.

[ardecila]

What's fishy? Haithcock obviously didn't care about straightening Harrison, but didn't want to ruffle any feathers by making demands of the University Center developer. Fioretti sees the straightening as more of a priority, and he feels more comfortable exercising leverage over CPS.

The design of the new segment of Harrison could be problematic. What's to become of the little triangles of land to the north and south of the new alignment? I can only hope the city doesn't try to cram parking spaces there. In New York or Tokyo, those would become developable parcels, but that's way too much to hope for in Chicago...

I'm also disappointed in the park usage. The site isn't big enough for a soccer field or football field. These greenspaces usually fail utterly. The only successful one I can think of is in Battery Park City, where careful attention was paid to the edge condition, which maintained the urban feeling of the street while allowing the sports field to become secure (and protect against fly balls).

[Mr Downtown]

^Neither Haithcock nor Fioretti have been part of any of these discussions. Fioretti is opposed to demolishing the current Jones HS.

The corner of State and Harrison is no place for a park, especially a stupid little leftover parcel type of park. There should be buildings holding those corners and signaling to motorists that they're in downtown, dammit.

[ardecila]

I don't like the park any more than you do. But if it's a done deal, we might as well push for design that doesn't completely ruin the coherent urban streetscape of Printers' Row.6

[denizen467]

Huh? Mr Downtown aren't you the one (or was it Viva) who told us a year or two ago that some memorial or some similar small specifically themed use like that was supposed to go on the post-rerouted NW corner of Harrison & State - which is why there is already an oddly large unbuilt space on that NW corner today.

[Mr Downtown]

The city wanted the Burger King gone, so they came up with the idea of a veterans memorial at the SWC Congress & State. Some of us thought that was a terrible idea, because Congress should have buildings squeezing in on it to cue motorists that they're not on the expressway any more. Eventually someone at DPD engineered a land swap so Library Tower could be on the corner at Congress and the little park moved south to the NWC Harrison & State. The condo treated it as a private dog run for a few months, but now it's locked open. The idea that it's a memorial seems to have disappeared along the way.

PIMSY (Park in My Side Yard) campaigns are just as injurious to the city as NIMBY campaigns. No one will ever speak out against a park, of course (except Edgewater condo owners). But parks should be large enough to be more than dog toilets, should have good mid-day sun exposure, and should be properly fronted by buildings and streets. Things like Pritzker Park or even Printers Row Park make me mad. Where a city's parks go should not be determined by who previously rented the building on that lot. Instead, resell those sites as development parcels and purchase the land that would actually make a good park (such as the parking lot at SEC Harrison & Dearborn).

[pilsenarch]

Hey Mr. D.

I gotta say this is one of the few times I agree with you. Having said that, I don't think the SW corner of Harrison and State is a good location of a park either. Yes, it would function better then the 'dog poop' park (hehe) at Harrison and State but Printer's Row deserves a dense mid-rise residential project at that site to match the historic neighbors, IMO

[Mr Downtown]

If you'd been in control in 1977 where would you have put a park to serve Printers Row?

The reason I like the ParkOne lot is that it's properly lined by streets and fronted by buildings, has sun nearly all day, and is big enough to function as a real town plaza. I would elevate it four feet from street level and put two levels of parking underneath.

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

The corner of State and Harrison is no place for a park, especially a stupid little leftover parcel type of park. There should be buildings holding those corners and signaling to motorists that they're in downtown, dammit.

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

PIMSY (Park in My Side Yard) campaigns are just as injurious to the city as NIMBY campaigns.

+1. Couldn't possibly agree more.

[harryc]

[denizen467]

Originally Posted by harryc

I assume these are for ivy or some other covering? Because otherwise they will get grimy pretty soon and power washing them (if aerial power washing even exists) will not get at the numerous nooks and crannies - to say nothing of all the excellent pigeon perches.

[Nowhereman1280]

How is a pigeon going to perch on that? They like ledges, not vertical metal mesh walls. I don't think the fat pigeons downtown could even land on that if they wanted to. The only birds you'll see on that (if you ever even see it) are sparrows and chick-a-dees or maybe a nuthatch if one even gets lost and makes it downtown without death ramming a window... I'm more worried about the inevitable dents and bent wires that will occur in the mesh, especially considering the stuff is already deforming at the top left of the lower section pictured above.

Anyhow, we've certainly been getting our fair share of buildings with metal mesh facade treatments lately haven't we?

[Rizzo]

I was going to comment on the wire panels a week or two ago after walking by them a few times.

I don't like them. They look ok from far away. But up close they look awful. They are going to stain and get bent.....just like the other wire and extruded metal panel walls in the city. I'll be sure to snap some photos of these places. This is why I am very concerned about the poetry foundation building, which lacks a protective base. Glazing, wood, stone, brick and concrete are far more forgiving to stuff being rammed or scraped against them. In this case, it's up high so all we really have to be concerned about is staining and sagging.

The rest of the building looks very nice though.

[denizen467]

Originally Posted by Nowhereman1280

How is a pigeon going to perch on that?

I was referring to the ledge parts. I can't tell what kind of bird could fit on them, but there is a little more room on the ends if the critter stands sideways. Also presumably on the topmost ledge where there is no mesh in the way.

^ Hayward, are you talking about rust or some other kind of staining? Is it the case that you can avoid rusting by using stainless steel for most components, but that with bolts and nuts (or other significant load-bearing tiny parts) you're stuck with something that will rust?

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by denizen467

I was referring to the ledge parts. I can't tell what kind of bird could fit on them, but there is a little more room on the ends if the critter stands sideways. Also presumably on the topmost ledge where there is no mesh in the way.

^ Hayward, are you talking about rust or some other kind of staining? Is it the case that you can avoid rusting by using stainless steel for most components, but that with bolts and nuts (or other significant load-bearing tiny parts) you're stuck with something that will rust?

It won't rust, rather I was referring to grime staining up the surface. Think of it like fingerprints on a stainless steel fridge. The grease and dust collect and give a brown stain.

[EarlyBuyer]

Thanks for the detailed update shots of the Broadcast Museum harry. What a (long overdue) improvement to what sat there for years.

[spyguy]

http://www.archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=5573

ROOM TO OPERATE
McCaffery & Antunovich reimagine Children's Hospital site in Lincoln Park.
Tom Stoelker 08.16.2011

...The architect said that the hospital’s 800 parking spaces would likely remain, though neighbors can hope for a spruced up version of the garage with street level retail. The modern white brick buildings will probably be torn down to make way for residential properties, more retail, and “special gathering places.” The heights of the new buildings are not expected to exceed those there now.

...Meanwhile, the architects have been pouring over historic photos of lost detailing on the older red-brick buildings on the site. Antunovich said restoring those elements was a way to reach out to the community almost immediately.

[george]

Love that last water tower/ robot shot, harry.^