CHICAGO | Coast at Lakeshore East / 345 E Wacker Drive | 464 FT / 141 M | 46 FLOORS - Page 29

george · #**561** Posted: **May 1, 2013, 1:18 PM**

No grand entrance, just minimal, functional doorways.

ardecila · #**562** Posted: **May 1, 2013, 11:12 PM**

^^ Thanks for the photos.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

Nobody's really taken any photos at the base of this thing... I really want to see how it meets the street. From what I've seen so far, it looks pretty cold and unwelcoming. I hope I am proved wrong.

Suspicions confirmed. Damn, this is impersonal. The turnaround is just a giant apron of concrete - no landscaping or anything.

There's nothing to mediate the transition between inside and outside, either - at least Mies built arcades. This just has a tacked-on canopy.

The metal siding on the rear bustle looks pretty sloppy, too.

Tom Servo · #**563** Posted: **May 2, 2013, 12:10 AM**

just awesome! no frills, just rare and beautiful! so chicago!

Baronvonellis · #**564** Posted: **May 2, 2013, 12:52 AM**

Boring and dull! Mies also had beautiful ground floors and entrances. Looks more like a entrance to a small bank.

J_M_Tungsten · #**565** Posted: **May 2, 2013, 1:22 AM**

It's an apartment building. How much more elaborate of an entrance would you prefer? Many residential highrises are built like this.

Here's a rendering with landscaping. Looks nice to me

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/...2/74413064.jpg

Limedaiquar · #**566** Posted: **May 2, 2013, 3:30 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by george

4-30

Coast meets the ground

It looks like those concrete rectangle things will have the trees in there from the rendering. But it looks fine to me

Baronvonellis · #**567** Posted: **May 3, 2013, 2:40 AM**

Something like this would be nice. Mies showed how to do it 50 years ago. http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll...11.33,,0,-4.17

The open columns, draw the eye inwards towards the building is warm and inviting, and make you want to go in. There isn't any warm inviting presence to this building. The building just comes down to the ground plainly. That exhaust vent thing to the left isn't very attractive, and all those extra doors to the left make it look clunky. I've seen better entrances on 3 flats.

the urban politician · #**568** Posted: **May 3, 2013, 12:15 PM**

Wait a minute, I thought minimalism was a sacred deity around here. Now the entrance isn't 'elaborate' enough? I think this building is a perfect, raw statement that brings us back to Chicago's roots, so to speak. My only issue is the glass balcony railings--they look nice from the street, but as a person who has lived in a highrise with a glass balcony, I have never been too fond of them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baronvonellis

Something like this would be nice. Mies showed how to do it 50 years ago. http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll...11.33,,0,-4.17

The open columns, draw the eye inwards towards the building is warm and inviting, and make you want to go in. There isn't any warm inviting presence to this building. The building just comes down to the ground plainly. That exhaust vent thing to the left isn't very attractive, and all those extra doors to the left make it look clunky. I've seen better entrances on 3 flats.

Looking at that link, I agree it's an awesome entrance, but one can't help but wonder if the presence of the beautiful lake in the background of that picture, as well as trees, has anything to do with that entrance 'drawing you in'.

Tom Servo · #**569** Posted: **May 3, 2013, 3:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by the urban politician

I think this building is a perfect

yep. me too. i honestly wish all new developments were more 'raw' like this.

ChiHi · #**570** Posted: **May 3, 2013, 4:14 PM**

I certainly do hate it but I think a lighter feeling glass curtain wall would have matched the materials a little better that were used in the rest of the building.

Hayward · #**571** Posted: **May 3, 2013, 8:51 PM**

^ I think we've gone down this discussion road before. Large expanses of glass without context reflection considerations look terrible. The poor rendition negates any sort of benefit that you'd get attempting a lighter base. I don't know why architects continue to make this mistake. But at coast you get this rich tactle facade you see above. The glass looks superb at oblique angles and the change from a vertical facade to one that's horizontal is very strong.