I've put the full packet of renderings up
here (3.3 MB PDF).
The playfields aren't on top of the school because they're so small. You'd have to have padded fences to keep the kids from running over the sides.
I think the problem with the steps is that both architect and developer think of the rooftop landscaping as a space approached from the shopping center. That's, of course, where they start any site tour. They have at least a subconscious image that shoppers arrive by car or at least from Roosevelt Road. So the original Grand Staircase seemed bizarre to the new owners, and proposing a switchback fire-escape stair, or now a 72-step 9-foot-wide stair, doesn't bother them. After all, there's an elevator hiding somewhere in the bowels of the parking garage. Why would anyone complain?
I had a little huddle with architect, planner, and alderman after Tuesday night's meeting, suggesting that if some of the school's bulk could be transferred to the site north of 9th, a more terraced arrangement could be created. I'll do a drawing later today, but the idea is that a quarter of that green space north of 9th would have a one-story building with steps up two sides and a terrace (perhaps playground) on top. Then steps would lead to an adjacent two-story bulk, which brings pedestrians up to +20. A 30-foot-wide bridge would cross 9th, pretty much at the level of the Metra tracks. There'd be plenty of room for vehicles underneath because the 9th Street underpass will descend to -12. South of Ninth, a portion of the school building would be at +20/two stories, with further terracing up to the +36 rooftop, same level as the Roosevelt Collection shops.
I'm not sure the developer and CDOT will go for it, and I'm starting to wonder if such a compromise is selling out the neighborhood. After all, that part of the South Loop is legally entitled to an actual two-acre ground-level park. But I find myself pondering what parks actually mean these days to people other than dogwalkers and parents of young kids . Perhaps the connectivity is more important in the long run than yet another two-acre patch of grass where you never see anyone except dogwalkers.