HomeDiagramsDatabaseMapsForum About
     

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Discussion Forums > Buildings & Architecture > Completed Project Threads Archive


 

 
Thread Tools Display Modes
     
     
  #221  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 3:13 PM
gebs's Avatar
gebs gebs is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: South Loop
Posts: 790
The good news is, this might be the first time I've seen this entire forum sharing the same opinion.
     
     
  #222  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 3:30 PM
the urban politician the urban politician is offline
The City
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Chicago region
Posts: 21,375
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Downtown View Post
Though—by European standards—Union Station would seem like a killer location for a hotel, it's too far from Michigan Avenue and McCormick Place, the traffic generators that really get Chicago hotels through the long winters.
Why does it always seem like you're stuck in the year 1996? Hotel construction (or conversion from office) has and is happening here and in the West Loop, because this is where a lot of jobs are. Mostly it's extended stay stuff, but it is there. The idea that downtown is all about "Mag Mile and McCormick Place" is a way outdated notion.

Quote:
TUP, where are you thinking there will be any stone?
I see a little bit of room for masonry in those renderings...
__________________
Supercar Adventures is my YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4W...lUKB1w8ED5bV2Q
     
     
  #223  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 4:07 PM
ardecila's Avatar
ardecila ardecila is offline
TL;DR
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: the city o'wind
Posts: 16,356
^ He was answering my question, which is why the developers are not considering a multi-hundred key hotel... bigger than the tourist boutique stuff or the extended-stay stuff in Fulton Market, with a stronger focus on events... more like the Marriott Mag Mile or Hyatt Regency.

To be fair, this proposal calls for 330 rooms which is indeed larger than anything we've seen in the West Loop to date. But designing a mixed-use building is challenging enough when you have a blank slate. I'm concerned the separate cores, lobbies, loading dock, and services could overwhelm the public spaces at ground level, which need to remain as-is. Should, for example, some of the many station entries and stairwells be taken over for a plush hotel lobby or apartment mailroom?

Also, I think a hotel is just more compatible with a transit hub than apartments are. Will apartment dwellers complain about the noise from taxis or train announcements? Certainly they will demand parking, and the 245 parking spaces planned to go beneath the Great Hall in an existing basement will only complicate any future efforts to improve the transit hub.
__________________
la forme d'une ville change plus vite, hélas! que le coeur d'un mortel...

Last edited by ardecila; Jun 26, 2018 at 4:25 PM.
     
     
  #224  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 4:08 PM
Kumdogmillionaire's Avatar
Kumdogmillionaire Kumdogmillionaire is offline
Development Shill
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: San Antonio
Posts: 1,136
Quote:
Originally Posted by left of center View Post
That would actually be an improvement over the proposed design.
Uhhhh, it's almost a carbon copy of half the stuff coming out of there though(that isn't brick faux-factory design garble). Don't defend the West Loop.

God... this design is making my eyes bleed. Do we have a doctor here?
__________________
For you - Bane
     
     
  #225  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 4:26 PM
left of center's Avatar
left of center left of center is offline
1st Ward
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: The Big Onion
Posts: 2,569
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kumdogmillionaire View Post
Uhhhh, it's almost a carbon copy of half the stuff coming out of there though(that isn't brick faux-factory design garble). Don't defend the West Loop.

God... this design is making my eyes bleed. Do we have a doctor here?
In this case, I'll defend the West Loop. While some (or most, depending on your opinion) of the West Loop midrises range from being either unremarkable to butt ugly, the use of brick as a cladding material at least makes them feel more authentic and help them blend in with their surroundings, which are also mostly existing brick construction.

The Union Station expansion is just... jarring. While theres nothing wrong with having a nice contrast of limestone and steel+glass, this is just done in a terrible manner. Instead of celebrating the differences of the two styles, one style somehow tries to ungracefully copy the other, and the end result is that it ends up shitting on the original building that it tried to compliment.

There are plenty of examples of having an expansion to a vintage building that plays off the contrasts between the materials and styles of each component. The Union Station rendering makes it seem that the addition is apologetically trying to hide itself from the viewer, as if it knows its inferior to the base it rests on.

SCB should take a cue from Foster + Partners on how to pull something like this off:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...rstowernyc.JPG
Source: Wikipedia.org

And as I've mentioned before, completing the original Graham, Anderson, Probst & White expansion plan would also be acceptable, and in my opinion, preferred. Assuming of course that they use the right materials.
__________________
"Eventually, I think Chicago will be the most beautiful great city left in the world." -Frank Lloyd Wright

Last edited by Tom In Chicago; Jun 26, 2018 at 9:46 PM.
     
     
  #226  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 5:00 PM
HomrQT's Avatar
HomrQT HomrQT is offline
All-American City Boy
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Hinsdale / Uptown, Chicago
Posts: 1,939
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mister Uptempo View Post
Larger image-

img src - crain's
Good lord that's terrible. What in the world were they thinking?
__________________
1. 9 DeKalb Ave - Brooklyn, NYC - SHoP Architects - Photo
2. American Radiator Building - New York City - Hood, Godley, and Fouilhoux - Photo
3. One Chicago Square - Chicago - HPA and Goettsch Partners - Photo
4. Chicago Board of Trade - Chicago - Holabird & Root - Photo
5. Cathedral of Learning - Pittsburgh - Charles Klauder - Photo
     
     
  #227  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 5:02 PM
10023's Avatar
10023 10023 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: London
Posts: 21,146
^ and it doesn’t need to be that tall, just interesting and contextual.
__________________
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." - Isaac Asimov
     
     
  #228  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 5:15 PM
Khantilever Khantilever is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Lincoln Square, Chicago
Posts: 314
I wonder why they don’t just do an addition with a very smooth, light glass curtainwall. Maybe even ultra-reflective Glass, which would automatically redirect your attention to the base and surroundings.
     
     
  #229  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 5:46 PM
k1052 k1052 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 2,235
Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila View Post
Also, I think a hotel is just more compatible with a transit hub than apartments are. Will apartment dwellers complain about the noise from taxis or train announcements? Certainly they will demand parking, and the 245 parking spaces planned to go beneath the Great Hall in an existing basement will only complicate any future efforts to improve the transit hub.
I can't really imagine what would go beneath the head house as far as transit improvements go. The high rise over the concourse is the real impediment.
     
     
  #230  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 6:04 PM
rgarri4's Avatar
rgarri4 rgarri4 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Chicago
Posts: 1,022
Lord have mercy that's bad! Why on earth does it cantilever out? It's like it want to pretend Union station isn't directly underneath it. Just leave it alone.
__________________
Renderings, Animations, VR
Youtube
     
     
  #231  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 6:05 PM
left of center's Avatar
left of center left of center is offline
1st Ward
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: The Big Onion
Posts: 2,569
Quote:
Originally Posted by rgarri4 View Post
Lord have mercy that's bad! Why on earth does it cantilever out? It's like it want to pretend Union station isn't directly underneath it. Just leave it alone.
Due to the preservation of the light well, the floor plates would be too small to efficiently house residential and hotel functions. The resulting cantilever is their ugly attempt to rectify the lack of space.
__________________
"Eventually, I think Chicago will be the most beautiful great city left in the world." -Frank Lloyd Wright
     
     
  #232  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 6:27 PM
rgarri4's Avatar
rgarri4 rgarri4 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Chicago
Posts: 1,022
At very very least lose the waist belt. It interrupts rhythm of facade super abruptly. Not that its much better but you could do something like this instead:


__________________
Renderings, Animations, VR
Youtube
     
     
  #233  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 6:52 PM
sentinel's Avatar
sentinel sentinel is offline
Plenary pleasures.
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Monterey CA
Posts: 4,204
Quote:
Originally Posted by gebs View Post
The good news is, this might be the first time I've seen this entire forum sharing the same opinion.
Try again...there is at least one person here who likes it (not me).

It's an abomination, pure and simple.
__________________
Don't be shy. Step into the light.
     
     
  #234  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 7:04 PM
k1052 k1052 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 2,235
Greg Hinz updated his story in Crain's. Looks like the developer DGAF that the design isn't loved, no major changes planned. They intend to start next year.

I'm happy to see the head house building much more intensely used though. Just hope the addition turns out better than the renderings.
     
     
  #235  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 7:28 PM
Rizzo Rizzo is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Chicago
Posts: 7,280
If one is to go the glass box route, at least set it back to acknowledge the tapering setbacks as originally intended. Perhaps even slope the glass enough to reflect only the sky and make the entire mass disappear. It’s the lightest possible addition vs not building at all.

The more I look at this, the more I don’t like it. Just seems really heavy handed. The contextual acknowledgements seem to be re-entrant corners of sorts and the bronze cladding matching the spandrels. It doesn’t do enough to be sensitive to the original building.
     
     
  #236  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 7:32 PM
nomarandlee's Avatar
nomarandlee nomarandlee is offline
My Mind Has Left My Body
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 3,334
Quote:
Originally Posted by rgarri4 View Post
At very very least lose the waist belt. It interrupts rhythm of facade super abruptly. Not that its much better but you could do something like this instead:


That is almost palatable. Would be interesting if one could take off the top floor as well as that breaks up the continuity of the rest of the facade.

Granted, taking away both the bottom and top we are just working here to get something not vomit inducing as opposed to something remotely interesting or attractive. The bar should be higher for one the city's historical icons.
     
     
  #237  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 7:32 PM
Rizzo Rizzo is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Chicago
Posts: 7,280
Quote:
Originally Posted by rgarri4 View Post
At very very least lose the waist belt. It interrupts rhythm of facade super abruptly. Not that its much better but you could do something like this instead:


Thanks for the mock-up. I agree, lose the waist belt. That’s a good way to put it lol. They don’t need to forcefully divorce the addition from the building with that gesture. The materials are enough to lend contrast.
     
     
  #238  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 7:46 PM
r18tdi's Avatar
r18tdi r18tdi is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Chicago
Posts: 2,421
Looks much better without the recessed belt, less top heavy.
I'd like something that steps back, but with the limited floor shape that would be impossible without compromising the light well.
     
     
  #239  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 7:50 PM
scalziand's Avatar
scalziand scalziand is offline
Mortaaaaaaaaar!
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Naugatuck, CT/Worcester,MA
Posts: 3,506
Any views from the courtyard?
     
     
  #240  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 8:26 PM
SpireGuy's Avatar
SpireGuy SpireGuy is offline
Making Chicago Memorable.
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 161
The proposed Union Station extension and Lynn Becker's twitter post exemplify the state of 'architecture' in Chicago right now. Worth a read!
union station 6.26 by Chicagooan, on Flickr
     
     
This discussion thread continues

Use the page links to the lower-right to go to the next page for additional posts
 
 
 

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Discussion Forums > Buildings & Architecture > Completed Project Threads Archive
Forum Jump


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 8:25 AM.

     
SkyscraperPage.com - Archive - Privacy Statement - Top

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.