Um. Yes.

:slob::drooling::laugh::rock::banger::dissy::righton::boogy::asian::machinegun::handguns::thrasher:
:banana::awesome::dancing::cucumber::pepper::fruit::apple::tomato::dancinghotdog:
:banaride:

:yeahthat

I think I have a new favorite in LSE.

^. If this project passed the Tom Servo test, then even better

Sorry for ignorance but what does 'boh' stand for?

Funny you mention the Regency, that hotel just received a $168 Million renovation which I think turned out quite well. The building certainly can't be called "aging"anymore and is basically brand new at this point. I figure Tom might salivate at the way the formerly nasty 1980's style lobby turned out:

http://i.imgur.com/bysPtov.jpg

Obnoxiously large image here: http://www.bauerlatozastudio.com/wp-...303-1_0170.jpg

Big Bar is even better than it was before!

^. I had no idea. I definitely will have to pay a visit to check it out, post-renovation

"Back of House" is my guess, that's the terminology used at my sister's hotel. Areas not open to guests, like kitchen and mechanical.

This is correct. Back of house. The biggest pain in the ass part of planning a hotel. This is an easy site to find a home for the BOH, try doing it on a 12,500 SF triangular lot surrounded on three sides by active roadways. Lol.

Is there a forum for hotels? I feel like there should be separate website dedicated to people who are super nerdy about hospitality like some are about architecture, cities, urban planning, fashion, airplanes, whatever, etc. out there somewhere.

total yawn.

...

Tom Servo, why do you like this bldg so much?

^ I'm eager too to hear Tom Servo's explanation, as I'm sure we'd all like a better glimpse into the inner workings of his aesthetic rationale.....


In the meantime, if such a question were directed at me, I'd simply ask "what is not to like about this one?". I really think bKL has done pretty much everything right here.

bKL really does some refined work. If you think about it - the firm has only existed for what - about 3 years or so? Maybe 4 at the absolute most. And they have in this extraordinarily short time amassed such an impressive portfolio of work in Chicago (and elsewhere as well I understand). I think every completed, under construction and proposed local design of theirs has been very good to excellent.

Yeah, bKL has 2 major towers u/c right now (Wolf Point West, 200 N) with hojo starting soon, too. They really hit the ground running. I think that despite being a new firm, the experience and connections the principal had them operating like an established firm since day one.

I haven't really shared my thoughts on this one yet because I didn't really know what to make of it at first. But it's been growing on my quickly. The base is really refined and has and abstract blocky quality composed of various insets and cantilevers. That subtle detailing of the massing continues up into the tower with the subtle setback and cantilevers at the transition from hotel to residential. The same blocky mass is also repeated in the macro as the facade seems to have separate patterns for each different use. Each hotel is wrapped in it's own unique glass pattern (this appears to be fritted glass like the stuff used on the Coast balconies) and the residential has it's own pattern as well. The base has yet another type of skin (which looks a lot like the glass from the original renderings of the coast).

The stacking plan is really what let me understand the design. Without knowing the different uses the facade seems arbitrary and random. Once you see the stacking plan it all makes sense. I'm really liking this take on the long tradition of formal modernism in Chicago. You don't really have a lot of options on a lot of this shape anyone so something minimal and subtle is the best option.

Completely, totally, 100% agree. My heart soars every time I see that they've landed a project, which they seem to do at a rate similar to SCB a few years ago. Speaking of which, I wonder what kind of overlap exists between their clients and whether or not bKL has taken a chunk out of SCB's business. I hope so, and not just because bKL produces superior work, but also because it might push SCB to do better. They're definitely capable of more; it just sorta seems like they started phoning it in at the height of their popularity.

I don't know who bKL took business from, but they've kind of become the SOM for projects that could never afford SOM.

Well I think bKL has been taking work from people as much as there was a complete reset in the marketplace after the crash that wiped out a bunch of firms or forced them to lay people off. It seems bKL has just been beating everyone to the punch because their patron, Lowemburg, happened to toally kill it at land his projects all at the right time before the boom. He either got lucky or timed it perfectly depending who you ask, but Aqua's development cycle was right on time. He was closing out Aqua right at the peak and was able to pocket much of that money right as the bottom was falling out. He's been far more active downtown as a developer than most have during this boom. Both of those towers in River North are Magellan and they are also in on the Wolf Point Development.

Everyone wants to be in bed with Magellan because Lake Shore East is one of already one of the most impressive development feats in American history on par with the immense scale of the Rockefeller Plaza. And, like Rockefeller Plaza, both turned out to be immensely successful from an economics standpoint right through the middle of a massive recession. So really what we are seeing is not so much bKL stealing business from everyone as it is Magellan running ramshod over the North half of downtown.

Another interesting implication of all this is what Magellan's presence in the Wolf Point Project means. They are clearly there because they know how to do a massive phased, mixed use, development project in Chicago better than anyone else. This makes me think that we can expect a similarly aggressive, but methodical, patient approach at Wolf Point as we've seen in LSE. You won't see them build all three towers overnight, but you will see them build them in succession one after another.

Well, the principle of bKL did used to work for SOM.

Yeah, exactly. They took that SOM expertise with steel and glass at huge scale and offered it to a wider market. It seems like SOM is only interested in signature, world-class projects at this point, so bKL offers a very similar style and level of refinement to smaller (but still fairly large) projects.

Wait til bKL get lands its first 800 foot condo tower :slob: