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  #5621  
Old Posted Nov 25, 2022, 5:14 PM
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Photo from yesterday.
Untitled by PittsburghMarbles, on Flickr
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  #5622  
Old Posted Nov 25, 2022, 6:42 PM
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Wow! What a pic! The buildings look so impressive.
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  #5623  
Old Posted Nov 25, 2022, 9:28 PM
eschaton eschaton is offline
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Originally Posted by BrianTH View Post
I don't know how satisfying this is, but Brutalism was considered at the time a modern twist on classic civic architecture. That whole complex in and around the location of the former Forbes Field, including Hillman, Lawrence Hall, Posvar Hall, and the School of Law, was intentionally laid out as a Brutalist showpiece. And I believe the specific intention was for Hillman to represent a modern twist on the Beaux-Arts Carnegie Library across Schenley Plaza.

Of course none of this was ever considering best practices in urban design as we know it today. The point of "civic architecture" like this was to impress, even intimidate. The designs of the spaces and buildings are supposed to evoke solidity, permanence, wealth--and power, elitism, dominance . . . . And I guess "civic pride" too, but of a rather top-down and oppressive kind.

In direct opposition, modern principles of urban design are all about things like being people-centric, human-scaled, inclusionary, diverse, welcoming . . . . The idea is to make a wide range of people feel comfortable in urban spaces, which is fundamentally incompatible with feeling intimidated.

Brutalism was therefore a rather pure, and indeed relatively honest, version of civic architecture. It obviously is not particularly popular today. But I do think it is at least historically interesting, albeit again a basically intentional violation of modern best practices in urban design.

And part of me is actually a bit bummed they are going to undermine the Brutalist purity of Hillman. I get it--University campuses are not living museums, they need to work for their academic community and such, and this is trying to make Hillman at least a little more community-friendly in a modern sense. Still, necessarily that means muddling what is currently a very good example of a very intentional sort of civic design (misguided as it may have been).
I understand what you and others are saying. There is something almost reminiscent of a temple or a pyramid base in terms of its sidewalk-level feel. It's just that the context of Oakland is a startlingly bad place to put it - though it's something of a classic architectural foible to only consider buildings in isolation and largely ignore the wider context (the practice has been getting better, but there's still something of an idea that the highest designed buildings should sit off on their own set back from any surrounding buildings, just as exhibits in an art museum should be spaced as sparsely as possible).

So I simultaneously appreciate the work that went into it, and also realize that there were much, much better places to put a large brutalist structure than in the heart of Oakland.
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  #5624  
Old Posted Nov 29, 2022, 7:03 AM
SouthernSlopes15 SouthernSlopes15 is offline
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Troy Hill

Long time reader, first time poster. I really appreciate the information shared on this forum as it’s mostly always insightful staying in touch with the developments around the city and feeding a long-term hobby of mine. Especially within the last few years as things in Oakland/Strip/East End have picked up!

I was visiting the lovely restaurant called Scratch in Troy Hill the other day and noticed at the top of Troy Hill Rd (catty-corner to old North Catholic) what looks to be a decent sized footprint for something new. I’ve always thought of the view from Troy hill to be an undervalued vantage point of the city. That space would make for something grand!.. However, the pessimism in me expects it to be another storage facility much like the one they sneakily put on Madison Ave running along Veterans bridge.

I’m really hoping to see some of the Strip success cross the 16th street bridge.. even in small doses!

Does anyone have insight on what that will be?
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  #5625  
Old Posted Nov 29, 2022, 2:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SouthernSlopes15 View Post
Long time reader, first time poster. I really appreciate the information shared on this forum as it’s mostly always insightful staying in touch with the developments around the city and feeding a long-term hobby of mine. Especially within the last few years as things in Oakland/Strip/East End have picked up!

I was visiting the lovely restaurant called Scratch in Troy Hill the other day and noticed at the top of Troy Hill Rd (catty-corner to old North Catholic) what looks to be a decent sized footprint for something new. I’ve always thought of the view from Troy hill to be an undervalued vantage point of the city. That space would make for something grand!.. However, the pessimism in me expects it to be another storage facility much like the one they sneakily put on Madison Ave running along Veterans bridge.

I’m really hoping to see some of the Strip success cross the 16th street bridge.. even in small doses!

Does anyone have insight on what that will be?
This is the location I take it? Looking through the city building permits, I can find this:

Quote:
INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR ALTERATIONS TO CONSTRUCT TWO STORY VERTICAL ADDITION TO CREATE THREE STORY APARTMENT BUILDING WITH PARKING AT FIRST STORY AT EXISTING ONE STORY COMMERCIAL STRUCTURE STRUCTURE
It looks like they indeed did retain some of the old structure. I guess the brick surface was just a tile set, and it was concrete block.

I've personally been curious regarding this project in Allegheny Center, because I've seen no coverage anywhere in ZBA or the Planning Commission. Looks like it's a three-story community center attached to the adjacent church.

I really wish AgencyCounter was as useful as buildingeye used to be when it came to tracking these, but there's no way to filter projects by new construction only, which means unless you know a precise address you can't really find them easily.
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  #5626  
Old Posted Nov 30, 2022, 5:24 AM
SouthernSlopes15 SouthernSlopes15 is offline
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[QUOTE=eschaton;9801546]This is the location I take it? Looking through the city building permits, I can find this:

Yep, that’s the spot! Whoever is doing what has two 3-4 story stairwells built and the space furthest to the hillside looks like potential parking pads? Tough to make out but this project appears further along than when google maps came through. However not by much.
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  #5627  
Old Posted Nov 30, 2022, 2:51 PM
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I saw on Pittsburgh Business Times that the city finally has an organized YIMBY group forming!
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  #5628  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2022, 2:38 AM
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Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
I saw on Pittsburgh Business Times that the city finally has an organized YIMBY group forming!
They are apparently a new local chapter of YIMBY Action, which has a pretty interesting national website, including this list of policy principles:

https://yimbyaction.org/2021/solutions/
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  #5629  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2022, 2:30 PM
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Early on, but a new 375-unit apartment project has been announced for the South Side. The site (2329 Wharton Street) was of interest to a former developer four years ago (Edwards) though the new project is larger than the 323-unit building proposed at that time.

Sounds like the plan will be formally unveiled some time early next year, with plans to begin construction before the end of 2023.
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  #5630  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2022, 5:28 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianTH View Post
They are apparently a new local chapter of YIMBY Action, which has a pretty interesting national website, including this list of policy principles:

https://yimbyaction.org/2021/solutions/
I want to be a Yimby...
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  #5631  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2022, 7:27 PM
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I want to be a Yimby...
They apparently had a meetup at Bakery Square last month.

Shame I didn't know anything about it.
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  #5632  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2022, 8:17 PM
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Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
They apparently had a meetup at Bakery Square last month.

Shame I didn't know anything about it.
Maybe the Biz Times article will spark interest in another meeting.
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  #5633  
Old Posted Dec 7, 2022, 7:01 PM
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After a long ganja break, the city has updated the commission materials online again. In the nick of time, considering the HRC is meeting...right now, and the HRC materials just seem to have landed. New Planning Commission as well.

Anyway, regarding the HRC, there are two projects worth discussing:

1. A new two-unit building in Central North Side. Kinda an odd setup, with a two-car garage taking up the entire first story (where one tenant would be parked in some of the time), a one-bedroom unit on the second story, and a tiny studio with a deck on the third. I have to wonder if it's being built with an accessory unit by the prospective owner, not as a rental. Regardless, the building is not particularly historically styled, and it has a ground-floor garage facing the street, which I am not a fan of, but this is an alley house, so few would see it. I'm never sure what the exact rules are for new build reviews in the MWS expansion district, so we will see if it's shot down.

2. Final review of the planned Arch/North redevelopment, which has been percolating along for years now. Overall pretty similar to what we've seen before when it comes to site plan - seven new construction townhouses, plus rehab of three historic buildings, all of which save one will have parking access via the rear. The design seems fine - harkening back to historic vernacular, but not trying to pass itself off as 150-year old homes.

Secondly, the December 13 Planning Commission presentations have landed. It's a very busy agenda after months of skimpy ones, with five new items:

1. Review of final sign design for Acrisure Stadium. No real comment here, other than the two signs in question are very inconspicuous.

2. Scattered-site infill in the Lower Hill (Crawford Square area). This seems to include four units - two standalone houses and one semi-detached two unit. The home styles are bland semi-suburban, but they match closely what's already on the block, and Crawford Square is basically a lost cause as an urban area already.

3. 26 new townhouses fronting on Grandview! This is a Laurel Communities project, and very similar to the successful townhouse projects at Bakery Square and in the Strip District. It also takes up the largest sections of Grandview which have been left vacant for years due to land banking. Design wise, I think these are fine...they maximize the views wit lots of front-facing windows, but do it in a smart way that still gives the houses a sense of solidity. I particularly like the detailing on the corner unit facades. Parking is also in the rear, which is great. But I continue to lament that the zoning area which is literally called "Grandview Public Realm" is slowly being converted over into single-family homes for rich people.

4. The new Lower Hill developer is asking for modifications to the PLDP. There's a lot here. First, they want to end Wylie a block earlier than under the 2014 plan, converting the former ROW into additional park space. They also want to reconfigure park space a bit further, eliminating space along Centre and creating a new long/narrow park space along Wylie. Overall open space goes from 4.48 to 6.76 acres. Street frontages are tweaked a bit as well. Overall, it's not awful stuff, but each iteration makes the eventual built-out area less like an urban neighborhood, and more like a corporate campus.

5. Related to the above, the plans for the next major Lower Hill project - the 4,500-person music venue with 900-stall garage - are now being reviewed. This will take up all of "Block E." In addition to the primary purposes, 1,200 square feet along Wylie Avenue will be set aside as a rent-free commercial incubator space, there will be a built-in public-safety facility at the corner of Bedford and Fullerton, and two additional storefront commercial spaces along Logan Street with 6,400 and 2,430 square feet respectively. The detailing is fine, but it can't hide that this is a blocky four-story building pasted onto a six-story garage. Just looking at it as part of their wider context makes it clear how completely out of context it seems compared to the eventual surrounding buildings. I do hope that the apartment buildings further up the hill get constructed some time within the next ten years however.
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  #5634  
Old Posted Dec 9, 2022, 5:43 PM
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I don't know if this was posted by anyone here, but this post on reddit was interesting...


https://www.reddit.com/r/pittsburgh/..._in_shadyside/

as is the top comment... peak NIMBYism called out....

Quote:
This woman is literally a landlord. She is opposed because she doesn't want 117 new units competing for tenants and pushing down her rents.
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  #5635  
Old Posted Dec 9, 2022, 7:31 PM
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Pittsburgh City Council voted unanimously to streamline residential conversion of buildings downtown.

As a reminder, the main things this bill did was severely cut down the number of projects in Downtown that require review/approval of the Planning Commission, and eliminate the antiquated "minimum square feet of lot per per unit" requirement that necessitated complex formulas trading theoretical units between buildings in order to greenlight development.
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  #5636  
Old Posted Dec 12, 2022, 3:55 PM
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January 5 ZBA is now online. The item of greatest interest is a fairly substantial infill project on a block in Fineview, involving thee sets of semi-detached buildings and two standalone SFH (so eight units in all). After some digging, it's this block, and seems to involve the demolition of three frame houses as well as infill of vacant lots. I believe this is affordable housing, though that's just supposition (it seems to be through the City of Bridges Community Land Trust).
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  #5637  
Old Posted Dec 12, 2022, 4:45 PM
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  #5638  
Old Posted Dec 12, 2022, 8:10 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
January 5 ZBA is now online. The item of greatest interest is a fairly substantial infill project on a block in Fineview, involving thee sets of semi-detached buildings and two standalone SFH (so eight units in all). After some digging, it's this block, and seems to involve the demolition of three frame houses as well as infill of vacant lots. I believe this is affordable housing, though that's just supposition (it seems to be through the City of Bridges Community Land Trust).
Nice! I would love to see Fineview continue to clean up and fill out. It's the Northsides version of the Southside Slopes but doesn't really have as much going on. I wouldn't mind ending up there in a nice renovated townhouse someday if it worked out that way. (I like being on the North side of the city with easy traffic patterns for me to get to work in Wexford and shopping on McKnight if needed)
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  #5639  
Old Posted Dec 12, 2022, 8:14 PM
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Upton is finally filling out. Long overdue. I don't think vacant, overgrown lots are doing any favors for the existing residents or the city in general.
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  #5640  
Old Posted Dec 14, 2022, 7:49 PM
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How about we just say that, like all things designed by Desmone, the thing is an absolute turd.


Commission questions design of proposed music venue and garage at former Civic Arena site

https://www.post-gazette.com/busines...s/202212130120

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