Quote:
Originally Posted by hammersklavier
I disagree.
Here are a park and plaza right next to each other. You'll note that the plaza is a windswept monstrosity, barely if ever used, and that the park--despite its renown--is no great shakes, either. Another plaza just to the south is being rebuilt into a nicer park. Nearly everybody in the area agrees, however, that that f**king plaza has got to go.
Back to the topic of this proposal: Even a low retail shed, or park sculpting such that there is room for such a facility, on the Randolph Street side will reduce the proposal's tower-in-a-park tendency. That said, the fact that the site's south half was resold does imply placeholder status for the plaza, and hopefully another nice (but not overwhelming) proposal down the road.
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Completely anecdotal evidence. Are you suggesting that there is no way a park and plaza can exist side by side without the plaza being a "windswept monstrosity" or are you suggesting that hardscape plazas are always a failure? Either claim is pretty baseless.
Chicago has numerous successful hardscape plazas that are not, as you put it, "windswept monstrosities". Daley Plaza, for example, is almost featureless except for a piece of public art, a fountain, and an eternal flame with flagpoles, yet it is one of the most successful public spaces in the country, if not the world. Most plazas, like the one you pictured, that are stunted and useless are usually so due to failings in the design of the adjacent building or surrounding environment that discourage use by the public. In the case of Daley center, the building and the plaza function as a single unit and the plaza is therefore heavily used.
I imagine the same would be the case here since there are no real public open spaces along the river and the most direct route to all of the nearby commuter stations would be to the south through the plaza from this parkingless building. In other words, a properly designed plaza here would be plenty successful just from the traffic generated by the tenants of this building alone, not to mention pass-through traffic from River Point directly to the North headed to the train stations as well. In fact, this section of the river walk will probably be one of the most heavily traveled sections due to its location and might be a wholly inappropriate place for green space as a result. I can see the lawn getting tracked out by commuters taking the shortest route if the sidewalks are not laid out just right, for example. It won't be much of a "peaceful park" with thousands of commuters tromping through it all day long.