ST. LOUIS & CLAYTON | Project Rundown - Page 118

Arch City · #**2341** Posted **Dec 5, 2020, 7:11 AM**

A new fly-through of the huge neuroscience building.

Source: St. Louis Business Journal

Washington University is planning to build a $616 million neuroscience research building in the Cortex district.

Construction is underway on the 11-story, 609,000-square-foot building, one of the largest neuroscience research buildings in the country, according to Wash U officials.

Located at 4370 Duncan Ave., the facility will bring together more than 100 research teams made up of 875 researchers that will study the body’s nervous system.

The first researchers are expected to move into the building in 2023.

#**2342** Posted **Dec 9, 2020, 1:07 AM**

4 townhouses proposed at Alamo Ave. and Rita St.

Image source: https://urbanstl.com/6602-alamo-4-to...es-t12020.html

Orlando · #**2343** Posted **Dec 9, 2020, 4:34 AM**

What an eyesore. Studio Gang does some good stuff, but this one sucks. Her Aqua tower in Chicago was mediocre, and nothing that shouts great skill or design. This one is just awful. What's the rhyme or reason to it? How does this concept respond to the city or context? It's an ugly object of a building.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Stritzel

[B][SIZE="4"]
Photos from around the City and up close.

#**2344** Posted **Dec 9, 2020, 4:46 AM**

so garrish:

https://image1.apartmentfinder.com/i...g-exterior.jpg

Arch City · #**2345** Posted **Dec 9, 2020, 6:04 AM**

^Your last post definitely shows the beauty of this high-rise.

While it's definitely not understated, it's certainly a modern classy structure. It is not a doppelganger nor does it have one yet. It is beautifully unique.

Oh well, you can't please everyone.

I just wish the panels had been LED loaded. Imagine the panels being lit in various hues for any special day/occasion or month - like Earth Day (green) or Breast cancer awareness month (pink).

Or Red or Blue for local sports teams - being seen for miles.

Arch City · #**2346** Posted **Dec 9, 2020, 6:28 AM**

I remember when the Manchester Strip (Grove Strip) was a struggling, desolate, crime-infested area. Now look at what 20 years of solid investment has done. And there's still more to come.

• Video Link

#**2347** Posted **Dec 9, 2020, 6:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orlando

What an eyesore. Studio Gang does some good stuff, but this one sucks. Her Aqua tower in Chicago was mediocre, and nothing that shouts great skill or design. This one is just awful. What's the rhyme or reason to it? How does this concept respond to the city or context? It's an ugly object of a building.

so it's not "garrish" anymore? you're welcome to your opinion, of course, but at least make an effort. what's the rhyme or reason? it's an apartment tower, and if you read about it on Gang's website they elaborate on the theory behind the design—it optimizes solar input. they also talk about how it responds to the context of Forest Park across the street and maximizes the number of units having sweeping city views. based on your amorphous complaints i feel like you probably hate a lot of modern buildings across the globe. and that's fine, but learn how to present your criticism as the subjective (and probably uneducated unless you're an experienced architect) opinion that it is.

Orlando · #**2348** Posted **Dec 10, 2020, 4:37 AM**

Okay, me saying something sucks is not the best objective criticism. I'll give you a better explanation. But, first, I am an experienced architect and I love contemporary architecture, but that can be very broad and subjective also. I am more impressed with contemporary architecture that draws upon the context, history, & scale of the area, but give it a fresh look. I do like some of Studio Gang's work. But her work, like Norman Foster's work, & even BIG's stuff, can be just blown up unsophisticated geometric monstrocities. Norman Foster's tower in Philly and his tower in Calgary are so stiff and lack dynamic expression. It's static geometry multiplied & multiplied. Jeann Gang's tower here is like that but more ugly. It looks like Medusa's head rising up over the skyline. It's jagged and loud and does not say anything about the neighborhood. So, it says that it responds to giving more light, etc. per unit, but that shouldn't override it's overrall aesthetic to the city. It says that it relates to the forest? Really?! What a load of crap! It's jarring, and this would never fly in a place like Seattle where we have to go through multiple design reviews to show how it's massing and materials related to the adjacent context and larger context.

Busy Bee · #**2349** Posted **Dec 10, 2020, 2:59 PM**

I'd recommend finding another hill to die on.

FrankLloydWrong · #**2350** Posted **Dec 10, 2020, 4:15 PM**

Quote:

and this would never fly in a place like Seattle

Ah yes, Seattle, when I think of contextual design, that's the city I think of. You know, the city whose most iconic building is a flying saucer sitting on some tuning forks.

#**2351** Posted **Dec 10, 2020, 8:33 PM**

Quote:

It looks like Medusa's head rising up over the skyline.

Ah, yes, completely objective comparison. The resemblance is undeniable.

Quote:

It says that it relates to the forest? Really?! What a load of crap!

The cross section is shaped like a fucking leaf. How should it properly relate to its surroundings? Nothing taller than its immediate ~10 story neighbor? Then nothing taller than ~10 stories ever gets built. Rectangles only? All brick skyscraper facade? Totally reasonable.

Quote:

It's jarring, and this would never fly in a place like Seattle where we have to go through multiple design reviews to show how it's massing and materials related to the adjacent context and larger context.

LOL. Yeah, no ugly or non-contextual buildings in Seattle. No siree. Well, I don't think anything else needs to be said. Again, you're welcome to your completely subjective opinion but nobody cares that you don't like it. (I think I'll refrain from popping into the Seattle thread to bitch endlessly and tactlessly about a building design that I don't like because why the fuck would anybody do that?)

#**2352** Posted **Dec 10, 2020, 10:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by FrankLloydWrong

Ah yes, Seattle, when I think of contextual design, that's the city I think of. You know, the city whose most iconic building is a flying saucer sitting on some tuning forks.

Also:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F..._of_EMPSFM.jpg

Sorry but I had to.

#**2353** Posted **Dec 11, 2020, 2:58 AM**

Quote:

Renderings featured are preliminary and will change.

Planned is a 7-story, 184-unit apartment building with 220 parking spaces in a garage.

Up to 7,375sf of retail and restaurant space is planned with some of that being on the 3rd floor with a terrace that offers views down Washington Avenue and 18th Street. HDA Architects is the architect on the project. King Realty Advisors is the developer. The project goes before the LCRA on December 15th.

Preliminary Renderings...

link to image source

Orlando · #**2354** Posted **Dec 11, 2020, 6:54 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by IWant2BeInSTL

Also:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F..._of_EMPSFM.jpg

Sorry but I had to.

The Space Needle & the EMP are in areas with very little density around it. They are stand-alone object buildings for the Seattle Center. More density is building around them now. But, I'll take these two over Medusa's head any day.

We have some starchitects doing work in Seattle too. They have joined up with local firms to help them get through the Design Review process. I worked at one firm that joined up with Kengo Kuma. See the link below, which shows a packet prepared for the Design Review Board to evaluate the early massing design and how it relates to the context:

https://www.seattleinprogress.com/pr...033067/page/22

#**2355** Posted **Dec 11, 2020, 4:07 PM**

^ k. thanks for stopping by.

p.s. i'm in awe of how "this concept respond[s] to the city or context." it's definitely not just a "blown up unsophisticated geometric monstrocit[y]."

p.p.s. you can really see in this image how the King County Administration Building—with its "static geometry multiplied and multiplied"—really synergizes with the 76-story obelisk that is the Columbia Center (a block away):

HomeInMyShoes · #**2356** Posted **Dec 11, 2020, 4:50 PM**

The Space Needle in Seatlle was built for a very future-looking World's Fair. In that context it makes sense, the EMP/SFM is a monstrous blob of stupidity. That whole architectural movement was a steaming pile of dog doodie for me. Sure, there are better examples, but many are just hideous.

What I like about the Studio Gang building in St. Louis is that while it is modern and glass it's form very much fits the art-deco art-nouveau-ish sort of era from which the original Park Plaza tower is. It's like the chandelier and decorative work from that era is now put outside the built structure.

It might be garish to some, but for me it is interesting and actually not completely out of context of the park, the Park Plaza and, historically, the World's Fair in St. Louis as well.

Quibble from me would be the parking treatment. Below grade would have been way better, but it isn't terribly done and not always economically feasible.

#**2357** Posted **Dec 11, 2020, 6:57 PM**

^ i agree with all of that. it's not that i have no qualms at all with 100 Above the Park, but overall i think it's an enchanting addition to the skyline. and for the record, i like the Space Needle, Seattle Central Library, and King County Admin building too. (i'm luke-warm about the Columbia Center—IMO it's a big black obelisk.) my issue is with Orlando coming in and applying all sorts of arbitrary criteria in an attempt to dogmatize something inherently subjective, and then insisting upon it and insisting upon it, and then further insisting that anything contrary to his arbitrary criteria "would never fly" in Seattle, which is just demonstrably false. it's ridiculous.

Shwayze1994 · #**2358** Posted **Dec 11, 2020, 11:57 PM**

100 is a gorgeous building, minus the mechanical stuff poking out on top. I really wish the would of added a crown. But what I love about it, is it gives St. Louis something new to be proud of. It’s a gorgeous piece of modern architecture with a touch of the past over looking our Central Park. Honestly every time I’m driving into the city and see the 100, it gives me hope to see the city come back to its former glory. It’s a great symbol of St Louis comeback.

#**2359** Posted **Dec 12, 2020, 12:09 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shwayze1994

100 is a gorgeous building, minus the mechanical stuff poking out on top. I really wish the would of added a crown. But what I love about it, is it gives St. Louis something new to be proud of. It’s a gorgeous piece of modern architecture with a touch of the past over looking our Central Park. Honestly every time I’m driving into the city and see the 100, it gives me hope to see the city come back to its former glory. It’s a great symbol of St Louis comeback.

yeah, the lack of crown/exposed rooftop equipment is my biggest complaint as well. the roof-line is just a little too abrupt.

futuresooner · #**2360** Posted **Dec 12, 2020, 3:36 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by IWant2BeInSTL

yeah, the lack of crown/exposed rooftop equipment is my biggest complaint as well. the roof-line is just a little too abrupt.

If they only would've designed a parapet that was reverse to the stacking of the building to cap it off.