Quote:
Originally Posted by Zerton
The park on the east side of the site is bad urban planning imo. It's raised from the street.
It will of course be nice when you're up there. But not a nice view for people walking down the street every day.
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As some background, the original programming for this site actually retained a considerable parking component to serve Amtrak, and what is today a public park was originally a rooftop amenity deck atop a multi-story garage along Clinton. Like with some other recent projects, it was the alderman who beat down the number of parking spaces and the incorporation of a public park. The trade off is that car rentals are no longer offered from Union Station.
But the need for parking, dock, and pedway entrances and a large level space for park programming combined with the slope across the site resulted in the raised platform. In addition as rivernorthlurker noted, it was desirable to provide a barrier between the bus station and the park both for noise and fumes.
That said, many efforts were made to make the park and podium as welcoming from the street as possible. Along Van Buren the park slopes down to grade, be visually open to the street, and include 3 paths to enter the park.The wall along Clinton is held as low as possible, including a section in the middle that will slope down close to the sidewalk with terraced greenery offering a glimpse into the park. There are landscaped entrances into the park at both corners and the wall will have the same folded design as the curtainwall to make for a more interesting pedestrian experience. I would compare it to walking outside Millennium Park along Monroe and Columbus at the SE corner.
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