Geoff Manaugh’s BLDGBLOG isn’t always about homes, or even buildings, but it’s one of the coolest sites on the web. That picture above should be reason enough, but do check it out for some creative thinking about how humans inhabit the spaces we build and the environment we share.
The New York Times has a feature today on two highly-anticipated developments in Chicago, the Fordham Spire and 600 North Fairbanks, designed by “starchitects” who are continuing the city’s tradition of ambitous design.
Yesterday, city aldermen approved project plans for the Fordham Spire, a 2,000-foot residential and hotel tower designed by architect Santiago Calatrava that will become the country’s tallest building. Although originally met with skepticism, the project, which will be built at 420 E. North Water Street in Streeterville, sailed through the city council on a unanimous vote. It seems that they were taken with the building’s twisting design, even cold-hearted old Ald. Burt Natarus, who asked to keep the sketches. The building will feature 300 condos in the $1 million to $2 million price range, and could be completed by 2010.
The first sprouts of the new Trump Tower have emerged from the construction site, and the Tribune’s architecture critic Blair Kamin says that while the thought of a new skyscraper is exciting, it’s also a little scary:
The first structural columns for the 92-story hotel-condo tower have popped above Wabash Avenue and, all of a sudden, the project seems very real and, truth be told, a little terrifying.
You look at those round, gray concrete columns and you imagine them stacked endlessly in the sky. Patches of blue will disappear. So will cherished views, like the one from the Michigan Avenue Bridge of the elegant black slab of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s IBM Building.
Yet the heart beats faster at the prospect of Chicago reaching into the sky. Busting into the clouds is in the city’s blood. Nothing like this has happened since the boxy, black mass of the 1,450-foot Sears Tower, once the world’s tallest building and still the nation’s tallest, soared above the gritty Loop in 1974.
The construction is scheduled to take almost 4 1/2 years, finishing in 2008.
Has this been a bad year for architecture in the Chicago area? Chicagoist thinks so, and a number of recent examples support that conclusion. Last week the famous Pilgrim Baptist Church burned to the ground, the Frank Lloyd Wright Wynant House in Gary was gutted by fired, the beautiful though neglected Artful Dodger building in Wicker Park is in danger of being torn down, and a number of historical buildings are threatened. For a city that prides itself on its beautiful buildings, that’s not an encouraging trend.
Mayor Daley’s plan for a riverwalk along Wacker Drive–envisioned as a $40-50 million dollar project featuring over 35,000 square feet of restaurants, retail, and dock space–is progressing a little more slowly. The city hasn’t been able to secure all that funding, nor has it found a single developer to do the job as it had hoped. Instead, the riverwalk project will proceed in small steps, starting first with a market on the lower level near the new Vietnam War Memorial, and continued sprucing up of the area’s lighting, fencing, and stairs.
Rogers Park Manor on the North Side has been added to the bungalow districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places, making it the fourth such neighborhood in Chicago. Homeowners in the neighborhood benefit from added prestige, and can also now apply for an 8-year property tax freeze if they are completing major home renovations. You can find out more about historic bungalow neighborhoods at the Historic Chicago Bungalow Association.
A couple who planned to convert a 76-year old schoolhouse in Hoffman Estates into a residence has run out of patience. The village had awarded them the schoolhouse under the condition that they preserve its exterior, but they blame bureaucracy and red tape for holding up the project. No renovations were ever started, and the couple is now moving to New Hampshire to take a new job.
Sun-Times architecture critic Kevin Nance takes a look at the new Kohl Children’s Museum of Greater Chicago, located in Glenview. The museum’s angular, playful, and modern exterior stands out amidst a conformist planned urban development, defying the rest of the area’s artificial New Urbanism.
Faced with the challenge of basically rebuilding a city from scratch, New Orleans city planners must decide how to do it. Do they try to create a contrived postcard image of the nostalgic Big Easy before Katrina, or build fast, putting up conformist buildings that run the risk of becoming this century’s housing projects?
The mayor may or may not be moving there, but the Heritage at Millenium Park still commands attention from its location on Michigan Avenue across from its namesake park. Although Mayor Daley hasn’t disputed reports that he and his wife are moving there, the condo building’s management is staying mum.
The Chicago Tribune’s architecture critic Blair Kamin finds that while the residential tower makes a solid impression, it leaves some elegance to be desired next to its more stately brethren on the Michigan Avenue skyline.
