New Condos and Skyscrapers

[Whomp]

Nice building Abbadon.

Thanks Masq. It's the new Trump International Hotel & Tower. I question it's design. It's not as great as a 1400 ft building should be. They're saying the silvery color of the stainless steel facade will form a transition between the brilliant white terra cotta of the Wrigley Building to the east and the black 330 North Wabash to the west.

Frakking awesome view!

Thanks I've got an amazing view especially at night. The only downside is that building will block the Aon building which is a cool building.

 

[Irish Caesar]

What do you guys think of this?

Not bad, looks like it draws from the Sears in design. It's glass, but it has character, and seems to me that it would fit in Chicago. Which is good.

Here is some picture some guy drew up of what downtown might look like by 2011 (Ha! Take that Edmonton)

Y'all are gonna have a space needle?

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

Y'all are gonna have a space needle?

We have had that since the 60s. Actually, the bulk of the downtown is already in place. The view I showed is from the south, where most of the new development will occur.

I don't know a whole lot about Calgary, though, so I can't comment on what architecture was and what it may become. But I wish for its sake that it develops its own skyline character instead of just being another glittering show of economic plenty without its own personality (which is what I thought of the Liverpool design, but enough about that).

I missed this one.

Ya, Calgary lacks a certain level of history. One thing I like is the greater use of brick and sandstone in new architecture, which does have a strong local tradition (we have lots of sandstone around here). I understand your sentiment, as I really don't like hanging around the business district part of downtown Calgary. Just exclusive towers of glass, and really busy roadways (with cars, not people). That is why I am excited about the new focus on developing a streetlife, and integrating housing into the downtown (which is why I focus on the condos). That has traditionally been Calgary's problem. Towers of commerce that empty out at 6pm, leaving the downtown barren.

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

Oh wow, here is a goodun of what the city looks like today (complete opposite side of downtown as that rendition of future downtown):

 

[JonnyB]

Here is some picture some guy drew up of what downtown might look like by 2011 (Ha! Take that Edmonton)

You can keep it. I'd rather see the sky than a skyline.

Spoiler :

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

Oh wow, here is a goodun of what the city looks like today (complete opposite side of downtown as that rendition of future downtown):

Taken from the SAIT campus!

 

[Lotus49]

Why must so many new buildings be so ugly?

I was going to post a reply to this thread saying, "man, I'm sorry, but these buildings look like total crap! I'm terribly disappointed in 'modern architecture'".

-But, I figured that might be outrageous, out of place, uncalled for, and inappropriate. But hey, you opened the door. Thanks!

They're not all terrible... but a lot of them are trying "too hard" to be unique, or eccentric, 'post-modern' -- with the end result being an overall eyesore.

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

I would rather have them be unique than just look like the stale ones we have so far.

You people have to keep in mind. Calgary is a brand new city (basically), so it makes sense to build brand new looking buildings. It would be FAR more contrived to make something that looked old fashioned or dated.

For instance, making Manhattan style buildings would be more ridiculous; or making a fake medieval European town.

 

[Whomp]

Sobieski I hope I'm not threadjacking but Chicago has such great architecture.

Anyhow, it's difficult to build great buildings because of cost. It's why you see so many windows on new buildings.

The Trump building was very controversial and took a long time to be approved. Mr. Trump didn't want the spire added because of large added cost. The city insisted and Mayor Daley, unlike other city mayors, is very hands on with how buildings go up.

Here's a few other buildings going up in Chicago.

The Elysian. I really like this in the old classic Chicago "Chair style".

The Aqua building. Very unusual. I'm not sure what to think yet.

Mandarin Oriental Tower. Too much glass.

300 N. La Salle. Kind of cool. This will be a very prominent view from my house. The building across the street to the left is the historic Merchandise Mart.

Water View Tower. This will be residential.

The building next door, 77 West Wacker (1992), is one of my favorite new buildings. It's clad in Portuguese white granite pilasters with silver reflective glass and stainless steel mullions. At night, 540 lamps light the building and its surroundings. Allegely, the metal roof was painted green because they didn't want to wait for the copper to patina naturally.

77 West Wacker

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

I really like the Agua and the Waterview Tower.

 

[Xenocrates]

There are openings for 'condo testers' advertised on the BBC:


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6507611.stm

I haven't read the article; it could be a hard job but I'm sure that you guys are up for it.

 

[Urederra]

Thanks Masq. It's the new Trump International Hotel & Tower. I question it's design. It's not as great as a 1400 ft building should be. They're saying the silvery color of the stainless steel facade will form a transition between the brilliant white terra cotta of the Wrigley Building to the east and the black 330 North Wabash to the west.

Thanks I've got an amazing view especially at night. The only downside is that building will block the Aon building which is a cool building.

What is the name of the one with a rhombic like roof? I haven's seen it in your photographs.

 

[Whomp]

Not bad, looks like it draws from the Sears in design. It's glass, but it has character, and seems to me that it would fit in Chicago. Which is good.

Funny story I was told by a docent from Chicago Architectural Society about the Sear Tower. It turns out the engineer and the architect were smoking and drinking discussing the design. They smoked a lot so imagine a building with 9 cigarettes sticking out. The tower is 1,454 feet tall, and constructed like nine square tubes.

 

[Whomp]

What is the name of the one with a rhombic like roof? I haven's seen it in your photographs.

Urederra this one? It's the one with the blue light in the dome.

35 East Wacker Drive, the Beaux Arts Jewelers Building, built in 1926 and is capped by the domed rotunda. It's also the building that housed Al Capone's favorite speakeasy (in the dome). The building used to have car elevators right to the floor the jewelers needed to go to for security purposes.

 

[Urederra]

nope... The second one in this picture, the smallest one.

BTW, I love that Beaux Arts Jewelers building, maybe because of the french part. I see a building similar to that one from my office, although smaller.

The top:

Some Facts:

The first two stories are of limestone, with the upper ones of brick with terra cotta trim. The tower holds a 23-bell carillon with bells cast in England, which is played at the end of each day. When opened in 1929, this building was considered one of the most modern and efficient hospitals in the world.
- The building is named for Dr. Henry Plummer, widely-regarded as the Architect of the Mayo Group Practice. He joined the Mayo in 1901 and designed many of the systems that gave rise to the group practice concept that has become so successful.
- The main library reading room on the 12th floor is called Mayo Hall. Dr. Plummer selected sixty prominent physicians and scientists to be memorialized with their names engraved in the room's ceiling beams.
- The Plummer Building was the tallest building in Rochester from 1929 until completion of the Gonda Building in 2001.
- It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.

 

[skadistic]

No building can have to much glass!!!!!


(poster is biased and would like stay finacialy sound)

 

[Whomp]

The Smurfit-Stone Building.

From Chicago Architecture info.
What makes the Smurfit-Stone building special is the orientation of the slant. The architects didn't merely take a square and cut a wedge out of it like a children's block. They cut it on an angle, using a simple subtractive motion to create a diamond shape in the sky. Closer examination reveals that it isn't even a simple diamond, but rather two nearly identical triangles, but that is a detail lost on most observers

I think this is a lot of people's favorite building in Chicago (not architecturally but because of its location) because where the river forks north and south and it's greenish blueness reflects off the Chicago River, the sun, clouds and the buildings.
The building I work in is 225 W. Wacker in the left of the picture.
333 W. Wacker Bigger image

Spoiler :

 

[Sophie 378]

Birmingham is getting a new superhospital; I have wonderful views over both construction sites from my ninth-floor (10th floor to US) flat. I've been taking lots of photos, and I'll post them here pretty soon. These buildings are going to whopping great enormous monsters when tehy're finished - twelve stories and the sort of size that it takes you ten minutes to walk past them.

 

[Urederra]

Birmingham is getting a new superhospital; I have wonderful views over both construction sites from my ninth-floor (10th floor to US) flat. I've been taking lots of photos, and I'll post them here pretty soon. These buildings are going to whopping great enormous monsters when tehy're finished - twelve stories and the sort of size that it takes you ten minutes to walk past them.

I spent 18 months in Birmingham and the first two weeks I lived in the top floor of this building on the right side of the photograph. Do you know where exactly is?

Spoiler :

Look at the link LOL

 

[Urederra]

I love that smilie.

No answers to my question?