CHICAGO | 375 East Wacker (Arquitectonica Tower) | 840 FT / 256 M | 76 FLOORS | PRO

[Chitown]

Originally Posted by kalmia

It isn't always a problem. Someone owning a condo and paying the monthly fee , locking the door and leaving town for a while wouldn't cause much of a problem, nor would the owner of a large rental developement who hired a property manager.

I mean 'landlord' literally; hopefully, foreigners aren't "investing" in land. If they want to invest in developments, well, more power to them.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by austex

All this hub-bub is such a short time. WOW. It must be the building of the century at the very center of the universe.

I understand the discussion. Perhaps, the powers that be put this "sketch" out in the press to create this activity. If so, they succeeded beyond measure.

well, this particular tower has been rumored about for months now around here, so there was A LOT of pent up anticipation. with the surprise release of the news blurb and rendering in yesterday's trib, there was a little bit of an "uncorking of the the champagne bottle" effect that went on as folks around here finally got their first glimpses of something we'd all been hearing about in hushed tones for so long.

[wrab]

Originally Posted by kalmia

This is a building of theirs in Lima, Peru

Tuntex Sky Tower, Kaosiung, Taiwan:

Edit - Tuntex is not an Arquitectonica building - I didn't realize that the buildings in Kalmia's post were (yikes!)until I went back for a second look - I was just posting an example of a building w/a keyhole in it

[AnotherPunter]

I know folks want the arch to be at the bottom... I guess it would create something of the effect of Rowe's Wharf in Boston...



But, two things. First, this building isn't right on the water... its on the random lonely stretch of upper Wacker. And, the only people who would really get that view through to the park would be standing on the edge of the river on the other side... maybe folks taking the river architecture tour. But thats about it.

Then I was driving up Lake Shore Drive from the South yesterday and I realized... that keyhole is going to face you straight on, framing the view to the North. The impact is much more dramatic IMHO and it also lets a lot more of the city in on the fun.



(sorry, lame picture--we can't all be STR).

[Steely Dan]

^ thanks for the quick sketch. regardless of what anyone thinks of the design overall. it's hard to deny that particular aspect will be pretty friggin' cool.

[nomarandlee]

I have to say that I am pretty stoked about this project from what we can see so far. The enthusiasm could get higher or lower as more details and a color render comes out but I generally like what I see. I would have liked an arch at the bottom but I can't fault it much for not being my preconceived notion of what was to be there in my mind and have to judge for what it is and I generally dig it. As long as they stay away from so an overbearing amount of pastel and put in some some quality glass I am optomistic.

That vision by Anotherpunter would make an awesome impression looking north. I am just not much seeing the ordinary, mundane, or unimaginative that some people are seeing in this building yet.

[Dr. Taco]

^^ very nice. I'm excited to see more renderings of this building, and I hope it approaches 1000' (magic number). Lets not poopoo the building too much so quickly. I mean, come on, the rendering makes it seem like its out of a 1940's newspaper, which doesnt seem like Arquitectonica's style. but maybe I'm wrong

[firstcranialnerve]

^ I just want to make sure... Tuntex wasn't designed by Arquitechtonica, as far as I know.

They did do the Westin Times Square, which seems to be a love/hate monger.

[wrab]

Originally Posted by firstcranialnerve

^ I just want to make sure... Tuntex wasn't designed by Arquitechtonica, as far as I know.....

No, it wasn't, but Kalmia's example was, and I didn't realize this when I made my post. I thought he was just posting pics of bad keyholed buildings & I added my own. Sorry for the confusion.

I Like some of Arquitectonica's stuff and am cautiously optimistic about the LSE tower; as others have noted, the devil is really in the details here. The Lima project, which I thought was an AQ ripoff, shows some perils of a Lowenberg-style cheap execution.

[honte]

Originally Posted by AnotherPunter

I know folks want the arch to be at the bottom... I guess it would create something of the effect of Rowe's Wharf in Boston...

Actually, yes, that's exactly what it was supposed to look like (same architect).

[denizen467]

^ Has anyone counted the floors in the rendering? If the slit is 20 floors, it's hard to believe that whole thing is 76 floors, even if you add the 'underground' floors between the park and Upper Wacker. Maybe they counted the floors using that weird abacus that Mandarin is using.

[Steely Dan]

^ i just counted 78 discernable floors in the rendering. it was a quick count so i could be off by a couple.

[denizen467]

Cool then.

[luvthebigbox]

Originally Posted by AnotherPunter

I know folks want the arch to be at the bottom... I guess it would create something of the effect of Rowe's Wharf in Boston...



But, two things. First, this building isn't right on the water... its on the random lonely stretch of upper Wacker. And, the only people who would really get that view through to the park would be standing on the edge of the river on the other side... maybe folks taking the river architecture tour. But thats about it.

Then I was driving up Lake Shore Drive from the South yesterday and I realized... that keyhole is going to face you straight on, framing the view to the North. The impact is much more dramatic IMHO and it also lets a lot more of the city in on the fun.



(sorry, lame picture--we can't all be STR).

If this is correct, that would make for a terrific drive. I wonder if sun rays will shine thru the hole making for interesting shadows to the north?

[Sir Isaac Newton]

[QUOTE=AnotherPunterThen I was driving up Lake Shore Drive from the South yesterday and I realized... that keyhole is going to face you straight on, framing the view to the North. The impact is much more dramatic IMHO and it also lets a lot more of the city in on the fun.)[/QUOTE]

So the keyhole wouldn't be blocked by 340 on the park or any other building in LSE?

[HK Chicago]

Originally Posted by alex1

I agree with everything you say but don't you think that nastiness of this tower makes it pretty damn "okay" though? It's too crude for it not to be intentional. The vertical flow is muffled at just about every chance. The horizontal flow is almost non-existant. It only exists to kill the verticality of the tower. Or so it seems.

Good point on it being intentional, because the base is OK as a collection of rectangular buildings, but only near the ground where the design doesn't have to serve the height of the tower. Then damn everything goes bad when looking up.

[STR]

Egads that's an ugly one. It has no flow either horizontally nor vertically, it's just a big box of bleh. It really seems incredibly crude, as if the design is being figured out but the massing hasn't been refined. I really, really hope that's the case. This one has potential to be a landmark, perhaps world famous. The keyhole screams iconic.

However, if it's screwed up (i.e. they keep the current massing), the waterfront will be blighted. Then again it's just one render, which may be completely wrong, so I'm not too worried.

[Nowhereman1280]

^^^ I agree with STR. I hope this is only a bad render or a early stage in the planning because, as he said, this thing has the potential to be extremely iconic, only adding to the aura of the CS. It would be an interesting transition from the box-like, plain (not in a bad way though) architecture of Aon Cluster, to the interesting detailed, kinda crazy architecture of the CS.

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ i just counted 78 discernable floors in the rendering. it was a quick count so i could be off by a couple.

I counted a square 80 when it first came out the other day, but didn't say anything because I figured those were floors below wacker and this was the south view, which was wrong, so yeah...

Originally Posted by luvthebigbox

If this is correct, that would make for a terrific drive. I wonder if sun rays will shine thru the hole making for interesting shadows to the north?

I could, maybe on the river, which might be sweet.

Originally Posted by Sir Isaac Newton

So the keyhole wouldn't be blocked by 340 on the park or any other building in LSE?

I won't the building will be clearly visible because the driveway/road entrance to LSE will preserve the view from down Columbus.

[tm30]

It's really quite difficult to register an opinion on this rendering without any color. I take one look at it, and I think, "It's the post office, only vertical".

[tm30]

Okay, I'm going to say it because it needs to be said. CS and Arquitectonica need to mate and have some skyscraper offspring.

Am I the only one who sees this...um... relationship between the two?