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Originally Posted by BWChicago
The whole effect of the building looks like a chopped-off high rise
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The building is pretty clearly horizontally oriented, how could it possibly look like a "chopped off high rise"? If anything the new design looks like a chopped off version of one of the K-turd towers downtown.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BWChicago
The building is clearly seperated into two distinct, stacked units in the first proposal, which bear little visual relationship to each other. They don't share proportions - clunky - there's no continuous elements between the two.
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What is wrong with it being two separate stacked masses? Countless modern masterpieces consist of separate, but liked stacked masses. Heck just look at Frank Lloyd Wright's work, all he does is stack horizontally oriented masses on top of each other. His biggest childhood influence was building blocks which are quite literally stacking masses.
Also, of course they don't share proportions, they serve two different purposes. If they had the same proportions then what you would have is a box.
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Perhaps if the setback was from the front facade instead of the left side it would look better. If the first proposal had some division going down the facade to the street, it would work better. Since it's a theater, the floor heights are going to be taller on the base and shorter above. So clearly, no, it's not literally randomly sized. The staircase is a nice architectural touch that doesn't really make sense for what the building is - I don't see residents choosing that highly-public staircase to get to their residences. That's an element that works well in a public building. It would make me assume that those are offices above, not apartments.
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It would be awful if this building were set back off the corner. Part of the problem with new developments in Chicago is that they present weak corners and never belly up to the lot lines. If this were set back it would be nothing more than one of those nasty purple brick ye olde 6 flat's in Wrigleyville with retail in the bottom and then a 15 foot setback with balconies from the street.
What are you talking about with the staircase? You just said "its a theater" and then were like "but staircases like that only belong in public buildings". Isn't a theater a public space? I would assume that the staircase is meant to serve the theater and whatever is on the second and third floors, not the apartments.
The more I discuss this design with you the more I like it. The more I look at it the more I think this is a truly awesome design and am mad it was shot down.