Last August
 

Wow, to think it's been a year since we hoped that Garrett Kelleher and Atlas would pay off the initial spire debt so that the plan would be back on. If Related is being as secretive as they are on the project, they better have a design that will stun us

What are the odds Kelleher ever tries to build again? I know hes a native and seemed to really have a passion for the spire/helping with the 2016 bid. Not saying any investors would take him on another 2000 ft project but nonetheless is he out of the game?

It's not his land, so there's n chance.

2WTC is commercial office; Spire going to be residential (maybe with a hotel?). Given his other residential/mixed-use towers in Canada & Miami, it would be safer to expect something twisty for this proposal.

I have a feeling this could be sls.

^^^^ Waldorf Astoria was a nice design but too safe for 2015. We need something new and exciting, something that breaks the mold, like Gang and Jahn's proposals.

Smith & Gill? Uh, no thanks. Adrian Smith was the head architect behind the tower of shit that is Trump Tower. Again, pass.

Herzog + De Meuron might be the greatest architecture firm in the world. One step at a time. But I like your thinking. :cheers:

Agreed on Richard Rogers too. He kicks ass. Puts BIG and their silly digram-heavy design gimmicks to shame.

That being said, I still really like pretty much everything coming out of the BIG office. And anything BIG [potentially] dreams up for this site would likely be visually stunning as their work tends to be better than great. They're like the world-class version of Studio Gang.

http://www.newcondosinvancouver.com/...ouverHouse.jpg
newcondosinvancouver.com
http://www.designboom.com/wp-content...ignboom-02.jpg
designboom.com
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/...4030940427.jpg
dailymail.co.uk
http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/201...s-by-BIG_1.jpg
http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/201...s-by-BIG_2.jpg
http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/201...s-by-BIG_3.jpg
dezeen.com
http://cdn3.greendiary.com/wp-conten...oVg8_11446.jpg
greendiary.com


...yeah, let's not forget how exceptionally good they are at designing tall buildings. :cheers:


Meh, it was awkwardly tall anyway. Whatever. Would've been nice because Calatrava and all, but the thing looked like a giant unicorn horn. Was never 100% sold on it to be honest.

Not speaking of the spire site, just as a developer in general.

thanks, tom, for that visual compilation of BIG's previous and current tower work. it looks like we can expect something interesting. it may be good, it may be shit, but at the very least i don't think BIG will give us boring at this supremely high profile site.




ever tries to build a 2,000' tall 2 billion dollar skyscraper? i'd say zero.

ever tries to build anything at all? who knows.



kelleher is not a native chicagoan, he's an immigrant from ireland.

Let's be fair, now. S&G is arguably a very talented firm that consistently delivers. Their buildings are high-quality and high-performance. And they know how to use materials beautifully.

I used to live in Granville Tower as a college student at Loyola back in the 90's. They weren't bad at all. Duplexes with balconies and great views.

Chicago could have had something like this had both the Spire and Waldorf been constructed.
http://du.gensler.com/vol6/shanghai-...8.jpg?55b10f80

Why not just build the Spire on the site? Seriously. It was a unique design, it was huge, and it would look really cool from dozens of miles away. There was nothing wrong with the plan, just the funding. If Related has the money for it, why not just build it?

buildings don't get built because they are unique, huge, or "look really cool from dozens of miles away". they get built to make money.

my guess is that related does not believe that they can get a positive ROI on this particular piece of property by building a 2+ billion dollar calatrava* mega tower.

they're probably right.



(*) calatrava projects are notorious for going WAY over budget. another strike.

Interesting. I mean, whatever they build here will be huge and will probably go well over $1B in budget. So they think they can get a good ROI anyway. And it's not like the Spire failed because it wouldn't have made money. It was because the original developer couldn't afford to try.

in a sense that's EXACTLY why it failed. no one was willing to loan kelleher the 2 billion dollars because every single lender who could have afforded to shell out that kind of dinero saw it as a bad investment.




but seriously. the old chicago spire project is dead.

dead.

DEAD.

DEAD.

DEAD.

DEAD.

DEAD.

DEAD.

DEAD.



it's not coming back. and this thread is not about the old chicago spire project anyway.

it's about what comes next. (and it won't be the spire because it's still very dead, in case you haven't heard)

if you want to continue discussing the very, very dead chicago spire project, you can do so here: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=153494

I get that it's dead. I was just curious why something very similar to that project wouldn't be done on this site.

because it was too expensive.

Related will build something with a more tenable budget.

now, enough of the spire talk.

Exactly. BIG evolved out of Rem Koolhaas/OMA - the really revolutionary aspect of their design practice is the way they add logical pieces to the program of the building so they become little microcosms of the city. This is a really great way to design civic and institutional projects - the buildings aren't intended to make money, and the fundraising often happens after the architect gets involved so there are opportunities to increase the budget accordingly. After the building opens, you wonder how your city functioned without it.

Unfortunately, this doesn't work so well for the private sector. Related no doubt has an exact dollar figure on this project, and they will push BIG so that they come in at that amount and not a cent higher. That reduces BIG to the role of "form-maker", which they're not so great at.

If I were King of Chicago, I would much rather have BIG design something for the Thompson Center site. They would knock it out of the park there.