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Meanwhile, check this out: The satellite view of the University of Chicago and Hyde Park has just been updated in Google Earth. See here: https://earth.google.com/web/search/...pAId8GRBhWp0rA You'll also see at the link that an intrepid pedestrian captured new street level photos of the campus in March for Google Street View. He covered all the quads and offers a first view (for me, at least) of the newly built multiuse facility on Kimbark across the Midway. (I think it looks very good.) Spend some time with it! |
Almost forgot to update that the crane just was put up for Harper Court Phase II.
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Cancer Center Officially Approved
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Not sure how I feel about that podium cladding... What's the opposite of "good?"
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website:
https://hydeparklabs.com and brochure: https://cbre.ent.box.com/s/p4mqo04es...1vgunm6zwm5jjt |
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The project looks great, and it's wonderful seeing how Chicago is basically the center of the quantum computing science world. So many companies, incubators, labs, etc. |
More Cancer Hospital Pics
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The new University of Chicago Medicine Cancer Center in Hyde Park has broken ground:
https://chicago.urbanize.city/post/u...-breaks-ground |
Passed by Hyde Park Labs and it looks like it topped out
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From last week
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a0abf602_b.jpg |
New Photo of New Science and Engineering Building
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Good find. Thanks much!!
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It's replacing accelerator, so presumably something like 5620 S Ellis Ave. (I work in 5640 S Ellis, so I'll probably have some nice updates on this once they finally knock down accelerator... They were supposed to a while ago). |
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Fun story: The last A/E firm I worked at was partnered with Payette, as one of the finalists for the design of the NESB. I was not part of that design team/project, but was aware of the collaboration in the office and saw the development of the competition design over the course of 4-5 months. I have to say, it was far more compelling and unique a design than this is. U of C chose the safest and sadly, blandest design for what is planned as a major, literal corner of the University. My old firm's design had 9 floors + two below grade. It was L-shaped, hugging the corner of 57th and Ellis Ave...but the really cool parts where 1.) the facade design and 2.) the negative spaces sculpted out of the building, which were spherical. The SW-facing inside area facing the Engineering quad almost appeared as if was sculpted out of a large sphere's negative space, with the canopy extending out into the quad and then curving up along the building facade to the top floor. That entire curved facade wall was composed of solar panels, to take advantage of that optimal angle for solar gain. There were also smaller curved "cut-outs", along the corner of 57th and Ellis, and further south along Ellis, which acted as multi-floor tall meeting areas, or student gathering spaces. I may have some renders somewhere, or I can sketch it from memory, if I remember to do so. The biggest roadblock was the school's vice-provost, who is an....incredibly challenging person, and had their own ideas of what the building needed to be. For a relatively design-forward organization, I think U of C missed a big opportunity by not moving forward with that design, because it wasn't just unique, but also provided high functionality with lots of future flex space built-in, as well as unique overhead connections to the Eckhardt science building to the south. Oh well. |
^ even this concept design looks much cooler than what we're getting for the final product
https://www.hdrinc.com/sites/default...l-d700-397.jpg https://www.hdrinc.com/portfolio/uni...ience-building |
It appears to mostly be a continuation of the Eckhardt Research Center. Keeping the blue glass facade. It at least references its surroundings in that regard. And the castlelike tower thing seems to reference some of the Gothic towers on campus. I do like it better than the accelerator building, and it should be nice to have a gateway to North Science Quad through the building. But I'm not saying it's the most amazing building ever. Sort of like the cancer center. I suppose it's OK. Would be interesting to see the competing designs.
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Good stuff. Unless I'm missing something, the design above looks quite a bit different from the earlier design we've saw, which included a plaza at the corner of Ellis and 56th:
https://www.hdrinc.com/sites/default...l-d700-397.jpg |
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I'm pretty confident this is what transpired: the Vice-Provost, specifically the individual who oversees the budget for all capital, facilities and infrastructure, saw the preliminary DD budget estimate for the design in the image above, and shut it down, concerned about escalating construction material costs and borrowing costs (although, admittedly, not sure how private university capital projects funding works). As a knee-jerk reaction, the individual decided 'No way!' and asked the selected design team of HDR and Allison Williams to 'tone it down', which lead to the watered down design, that as WestsideLA mentioned, really looks like a continuation of the Eckhardt building to the south. And again, is it a bad design? Not at all. Is it boring, uninspiring, safe and a major missed opportunity? Yeah. |
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They keep announcing new belt-tightening measures to try to cut down operating budgets (e.g. they announced no meals without visitors, requiring booking flights through university travel agency, etc., even though that is typically external money being used in our case, and the University actually makes money off of it due to overhead)... and are in the midst of a financial "modernization." I didn't go to the last budget town hall, but my understanding based on reading e-mails from the provost is basically that the University spent a bunch of money trying to build out new programs (mostly IME, I guess) and operated at a deficit to do that, and now wants to get back on track. While I imagine capital budgets are separate, I guess they might be worried about both cost and schedule overruns. Recent projects (e.g. the High Bay Research building) have certainly not been on schedule, but that was definitely pandemic-related to some extent. But the capital budget and operating budget are separate. |
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That's unfortunate, 9 stories above ground here would be great (even though it would ruin the view from the Hubble Lounge even more, probably...) and probably help more with the space crunch in ERC... |
I've had a chance now to digest these renderings, and my verdict is that they're fine. I think I was expecting a "game changer"--a unique standalone gateway structure that would re-define the north campus. But instead it looks like they're opting for a more modest extension of Eckhardt that will create a continuous facade along Ellis with an overhanging tower feature that evokes the highly successful David Rubinstein Forum in Campus South. I'm guessing the project was down-scoped due to costs, but I'd be surprised if that has anything to do with the University tightening its operating budget.
Fortunately, the one design element I was hoping to see is there: Today, access from Ellis to the North Science Quad is through a narrow path between Eckhard and Accelerator. The new building will have a generous opening to Ellis that appears to create clear sightlines from the quad to the iconic Nuclear Energy statue. And it looks like that section of the building will be just four stories high, which will make sure that critical stretch of Ellis isn't in shadows half for half the day, lying under a hulking mass. All and all, I think this design does no harm. Definitely an improvement over Accelerator, obviously a huge new asset to the science and engineering programs, and a solid addition to the campus design. Could be worse. |
Are they tearing down High Energy too? That's a shame, it's a really elegant building. I love the way it, well, seems to defy gravity.
I assume Michelson is safe, since it's practically brand new. And what happens to TAAC - I thought the trailers were supposed to be removed already? |
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I've been studying this rendering more closely, and it looks like the plan includes some upgrades to the area east of Ellis fronting the Nuclear Energy statue. The rendering shows that the sidewalk in front of the statue and plinth has been widened south to the Mansueto Library and is replaced with smaller pavers (the same kind, I think, that would be used across the way in the new building's entrance walkway into the North Science Quad). This maybe is imagined as the terminus of a mid-block pedestrian corridor that would stretch to Maryland Ave. If that's the idea, I approve! |
Cancer Center Groundbreaking Vid
This vid about the cancer center groundbreaking seems to show at least one new rendering (:31) that I hadn't seen before from the new park:
https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/for...groundbreaking |
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Helping to Pay for UChicago Medicine Expansion
The following will help pay for UChicago Medicine's expansion, including new buildings:
According Fitch, UChicago paid $250 million for Advent Health's 4 hospitals in the western suburbs and expects to receive an additional $1 billion in revenue annually in return. " UChicago Medicine's total operating revenue measured nearly $3 billion in audited fiscal 2022 (June 30 FYE). The planned acquisition of AdventHealth's Chicagoland assets will add nearly $1 billion in operating revenue to the system." "The acquisition of AdventHealth's Chicagoland assets includes a purchase price of approximately $250 million." https://www.fitchratings.com/researc...ble-17-11-2022 |
UChicago has posted milestone dates and other information regarding the New Engineering and Science Building project. No renderings of design plans, but it does include an interesting Site Plan. Looks like they're planning to attach the NESB to the Michelson Center to the west and will feature a pedestrian passageway to the east that centers the Fermi Memorial Sculpture.
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Milestone Dates Schematic Design - Completion: ~ August 2024 Design Development - Completion: ~ March 2025 Demolition of Existing Buildings - October 2024 to January 14th 2025 Start of Construction - June 2025 NESB Completion - September 2028 |
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