CHICAGO | General Developments

[Rizzo]

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Chicago would totally build something like that downtown. It would be made of precast, fiberglas, and foam

[Loopy]

...

[wrab]

[Nowhereman1280]

^^^ When that site is cleared I will go and dance on its grave. Completing the destruction of the last highrise project is a major positive event in the history of the city.

I just was talking with someone last night who was trying to give me the whole "but the residents had a sense of community" line about Cabrini and RTH. She was legitimately trying to convince me that the projects were somehow a good thing and that it was wrong to destroy them. She even went as far as to suggest that there was very little or no homelessness in Chicago before their destruction. I am just outright amazed by the fact that anyone (except some of the residents who I can understand don't like being displaced) can lament the loss of these inhumane atrocities.

[tintinex]

Originally Posted by Nowhereman1280

^^^ When that site is cleared I will go and dance on its grave.

you better hurry before Target comes in and paves the whole area for a huge parking lot

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by Nowhereman1280

I am just outright amazed by the fact that anyone (except some of the residents who I can understand don't like being displaced) can lament the loss of these inhumane atrocities.

If you lived in a formerly stable middle class neighborhood that became the new home to gang turf wars and drivebys, you might feel differently. You can demolish the buildings, but it's not like the social problems disappeared in any meaningful sense, they just got shifted elsewhere.

[aic4ever]

Originally Posted by Hayward

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Chicago would totally build something like that downtown. It would be made of precast, fiberglas, and foam

We can't be having uncredited images floating about the intertubes, after all.

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by Nowhereman1280

^^^ When that site is cleared I will go and dance on its grave. Completing the destruction of the last highrise project is a major positive event in the history of the city.

I just was talking with someone last night who was trying to give me the whole "but the residents had a sense of community" line about Cabrini and RTH. She was legitimately trying to convince me that the projects were somehow a good thing and that it was wrong to destroy them. She even went as far as to suggest that there was very little or no homelessness in Chicago before their destruction. I am just outright amazed by the fact that anyone (except some of the residents who I can understand don't like being displaced) can lament the loss of these inhumane atrocities.

She obviously heard the squeaky wheel. With the exception of a few residents, most were ready and willing to pick and move somewhere better. What is wrong is the fact that there is a history of the poor being pushed around and relocated to what is believed to be a better solution....then the forces at work let conditions go to hell. Whether dispersing CHA residents to new digs throughout the city is a good idea is yet to be determined decades down the road.

[Beta_Magellan]

Originally Posted by aic4ever

We can't be having uncredited images floating about the intertubes, after all.

My fault: drowsy posting=forgetting to cite images (which are likely in the public domain but who knows)—we were referring to the never-completed Palace of the Soviets (from muar.ru, drawn by Boris Iofan desperately hoping Stalin would appreciate it):

Originally Posted by Loopy

^Well, weirdly, after Gropius, Le Corbusier and Mendelsohn proposed timely designs, the Comintern chose this Neo-Classical concept.

Perhaps, the new Bankster Land Barons will choose a Neo-classical design for the Chicago Spire site after rejecting Calatravas design as counter-revolutionary. I recommend Daniel P. Coffey or Antunovich for this important task.

The official line was actually that the Communists were liberating past historical styles from their oppressive contexts, just as they had liberated the masses from their oppressive social conditions. (Of course, the real reason is that radical politics ≠ radical style, and even if it did the likes of Stalin were pretty regressive anyway).

It is really weird how they anticipated postmodernism—never thought of socialist realism that way before…

[djlx2]

Originally Posted by Beta_Magellan

What about pulling what Moscow did after construction stalled on their gargantuan Palace of the Soviets—turning the foundations into a giant swimming pool :

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a swimming pool sounds way more fun than the original design of the palace of soviets, how do we do that

[Remy_Bork]

The swimming pool sounds like more fun that the church, too.

[ChicagoHiRiser]

Originally Posted by wrab

Looks like this one is coming down at breakneck speed:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gabriel...el/5598228671/

I wonder why the others took so much longer?

Credit to GXM for capturing the linked photo.

[ChiPsy]

Quote: I wonder why the others took so much longer?

If it follows the pattern of the other ones, they'll sit on it at this half-demolished stage for 5 or 6 weeks, leisurely sifting through piles of detritus for recyclables, then maybe eventually get around to closing the street to the north before wrapping up the final freestanding piece around, I don't know, maybe June or July?

I wonder how many people looking forward to dancing on the grave of this thing when they started demo's 10 (?) years ago will have gone to their own graves before the CHA finally wraps it up? ~1/5th of the adult population dies within any 10 year-period, after all!

[i_am_hydrogen]

Jones Prep is now under construction

http://www.sloopin.com/2011/04/const...new-jones.html

[ardecila]

Awesome. The most conspicuous lot on State Street bites the dust.

[J_M_Tungsten]

That will really change the Balbo/State street intersection, in a really good way. We just need some of the other parking lots to start filling up as well now.

[BWChicago]

Originally Posted by lawfin

It comes in around 160 ft if I remember...down from around 190 via nimbys. I think this is it.

New renderings:
http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2...e-released.php

The high-rises are arguably better but the streetwall is absolutely worse.

[Baronvonellis]

I think the new hi-rise looks pretty ugly too. The brick part looks just like Wilson Yard. Really really lame and unimaginative design. It would be better if it was all glass. At least the base looked pretty good in the old design. Now all of it looks bad.

[VivaLFuego]

^ I dunno... it looks worse in the rendering, but from experience in places like Vancouver (where 1-story retail street frontage, with towers set well back from the street is the norm), it could actually still work out well at street level depending on the choice of retail tenants and so on. A 2-3 story streetwall would be a mixed blessing: it would provide more visual continuity with other parts of Wells Street, but those floors would undoubtedly be filled with parking stalls anyway, and this design means no parking is visible from the street. When was the last time we could say that about a large residential project?

[emathias]

Originally Posted by BWChicago

New renderings:
http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2...e-released.php

The high-rises are arguably better but the streetwall is absolutely worse.

I tend to agree. I'd actually prefer a better streetfront over a better tower, since the pedestrian experience is very important to Wells already, and will likely only become more important over the coming decade or two.