changingskyline

I agree, Brent. Pickard Chilton is a master of the glass curtain wall. Jon Pickard worked in Cesar Pelli's office in the 1990s and I think that's where the influence of this refinement developed. I believe some of the curves on their towers are an attempt to provide multiple corner offices, or to democratize the workspace. This will really brighten up the skyline. It's still a modernist aesthetic, but it provides relief from the skyline's currant boxiness.

Is there any chance we would end up with a related but slightly different "sister" tower rather than a shorter identical twin? Something akin to One and Two Liberty Place in Philadelphia? It seems like that might be better aesthetically. On the other hand, something like Calgary's Eight Ave. Place (another Pickard Chilton design) would work: http://www.pickardchilton.com/work/eighth-avenue-place Regarding the street retail, thank you for posting those pics. That does look promising.

I know the "tower on a plaza" modernism has been discredited, but aesthetically I can't help but like the current James River Plaza. The materials and proportions are beautiful. The verticality of the lines and small windows make the building feel taller than it actually is, something the replacement building won't do. Pickard Chilton has a great track record for contributing to the street, so I hope Dominion lives up to the imagination and commitment of their past clients in that regard. Here are some pictures of the current plaza. Unused, but not entirely unattractive. And we should remember that this podium is covering a parking garage. https://tclf.org/landscapes/one-james-river-plaza The front view of the new Dominion tower will undoubtedly address the street well, but what about the north side of the block on Cary Street? Will that be a dead zone with a parking structure? If so, we would be better off with a plaza like this.

The current building forms a bridge over the canal. The canal walk runs right under the building along the canal. Click through this picture thread and you'll see what it looks like now: http://www.richmond.com/business/local/story-hyatt-place-hotel-planned-for-canal-walk-in-downtown/article_0115b4dc-06ef-510d-9524-e1b20e2afa0b.html

The last sentences of this video hit the nail on the head. Amtrak does not receive any investment. This is exactly the same scam they've engineered to steal our tax dollars for "for-profit" charter schools: starve public schools of investment and then claim they don't work and need to be privatized. Something like 6 trillion dollars of our money has been wasted on never-ending wars in the Middle East. For that money we could probably have real high speed rail (China has a similar land mass) and a lot of other things. Too bad this country has been hijacked by traitors.

Forget about monopolistic "private companies" that are only interested in stealing our tax dollars and holding us hostage. Why shouldn't the government just build this kind of state of the art public transportation network like they do in China, Japan, Europe, and so many other places? Why do we as Americans have to wait year after year for these kinds of innovations while the rest of the world builds them? Have you ever noticed that when it comes to never-ending wars in the Middle East, the military-industrial complex, the private insurance industry, and big oil there's always more than enough money, but when it comes time to actually do something that benefits society at large (rather than the 1%) funding is always scarce? It's interesting how it always seems to work out that way. When it comes to a public investment like a rail system we have to live by "profit motives" and "the market" but when it comes to bailing out to-big-to-fail (jail) banks the profit system goes by the wayside.

Yesterday the Pickard Chilton-designed Northwestern Mutual tower opened in Milwaukee. Look at the design and you'll see how closely that building is the taller sibling of our tower. I hope Dominion's building turns out this well: http://urbanmilwaukee.com/2017/05/31/in-public-our-first-great-glassy-skyscraper/ http://www.pickardchilton.com/work/northwestern-mutual-tower-and-commons By the way, I just noticed that the Dominion building is now being called "Canal Place" on Pickard Chilton's website. Is that the new official name and if so, why would Dominion not want its name on its own building?

Does the foundation of this building go into bedrock or something more shallow?

Will this ever lead to light rail lines or do you think it will remain buses? Houston has a light rail line that is being expanded throughout the city. The downtown area there, which has traditionally been limited to office buildings and dead after hours, is really coming alive with condos and apartments.

I would love to see a big company and a big tower but I would be worried about a health insurance company. I think a Single Payer "Medicare for all" system is on the horizon and that will surely spell the end of the kind of outrageous, inefficient monopoly these companies now enjoy. 56% of the country (including something like 42% of Republicans) now support Single Payer and in time I think the demands of the public will be overwhelming. If they do land here, I will enjoy watching a major headquarters tower go up as much as the next person on this forum.

Hopefully that doesn't mean they've scaled it back to 10-15 stories. (Just kidding, I'm sure we don't have to worry). I still don't understand why they wouldn't want to consolidate all of their workers in one building rather than continuing to scatter them around in 6 different buildings.

Some interesting additional pictures and details on the architect's website. What do you make of the phrase "if approved" referring to the second tower (phase two)? http://www.pickardchilton.com/work/dominion

But they could have done an above ground parking garage like the one next to Devon Energy Tower in Oklahoma City. I don't understand why they chose not to consolidate in one slightly taller building.

When it comes to scale, the narrow windows and vertical lines of the current Dominion tower give a nice perception of height. In fact, I think the current Dominion building would appear taller than the replacement tower II. The current building sets up a nice dialogue with the Federal Reserve and breaks up what might otherwise turn into a sea of glass curtain walls if they tear it down and replace it. I like the crisp geometry of the current building. It's a good representation of its era of mid-century Modernism. Does anyone know why Dominion didn't just build one taller tower? It seems like consolidating everything in one building would make the most sense. Is there a big jump in cost when you go above 20 stories that makes it economically less viable?

It says it will be "the tallest building in Richmond." Is that because the land is higher than under James Monroe or has the height been increased?

I predict that the ICA will end up being one of Richmond's most significant landmarks. Check out the final renderings and you'll see how spectacular it will be. Steven Holl is one of the greatest living architects and his interior spaces are known to be masterpieces of light and scale. VCU should be careful to shape the area around it in a respectful way.

I agree with the article. Dominion's plans are incredibly unimaginative. Contrast this with Devon Energy's commitment to the improvement of downtown Oklahoma City (same architect of Pickard Chilton): There seems to be a great deal of potential in the dead zone that is currently Kanawha Plaza and the incredibly wide, vacant 9th Street. Not that long ago, I was on 9th Street near the entrance to the bridge, standing between the Federal Reserve Tower and the Riverfront Towers. It was not hard to imagine a grand civic square fed by light rail lines and surrounded by shops and condos. It could be a truly beautiful, vibrant space similar to Oklahoma City's Myriad Gardens with Devon's glass atrium. OK, maybe it would still be an "urban park." The Devon project is certainly more isolated than a tower in New York or San Francisco. It could even be called "suburban," with all those trees, fountains and open lawns. But at least make it a monumentally beautiful urban park…something that would be spectacular enough to attract condo dwellers in the future. With the right kind of vision, the park-like appeal of the canal walk could move right into the spine of downtown. It seems that Devon invested in downtown Oklahoma City with the philosophy that young people will not want to locate to/stay in an unattractive city. Richmond has so much going for it, but civic leaders could really move more in this direction. We should ask ourselves, why do people want to live in places like Portland? It's quality of life and character. Really too bad these local companies lack imagination or civil involvement.

In some of these cases I wonder how much of the media "buzz" is actually covert advertising on the part of the company involved. Additionally, I wonder how many tax breaks are given to these companies to "attract" them to a given region. I wonder what the tax deal was for IKEA to locate there? In the case of Walmart, Home Depot, Bass Pro, and others, companies are given enormous tax breaks to build in a community. They end up killing off small locally owned business owners who are forced to pay taxes to support their own demise. Then everyone shakes their head and says, "But that's the free market at work." No, it's not a "free" market. It's socialism for corporations while less powerful players are forced to "compete."

Thank you for making this rendering. After seeing this I REALLY hope they only build one building. With the Riverfront Towers I think two Dominion near twins would be too much repetition.

If you look through Pickard Chilton's work you'll see how closely the Dominion design comes out of their recent buildings in Houston, Milwaukee and other cities: http://www.pickardchilton.com/work Many of these buildings offer public amenities like parks. Hopefully we'll be getting something similar. It seems like there would also be interest in a highly upgraded Kanawha Plaza, considering that this building is going up across the street. https://rvanews.com/news/new-and-improved-kanawha-plaza-hopefully-coming-this-summer/121406

To put this in perspective, the new building, at 413 ft. will be around the height of the SunTrust tower (400 ft). The Federal Reserve is 394. This will be the new second tallest building. I think it's the aspect ratio that makes this look shorter because of the huge floor plates. But it will have a big presence. Not sure how others feel, but I kind of hope they run out of money and DON'T tear down the current James River Plaza. I like the sleekness of that building and the way it's boxiness relates to the Federal Reserve. And I think one of these buildings would have a more powerful presence then twin, or almost twin towers. I think this is a classy design and a good addition that will freshen up the skyline.

Sounds like it may be similar to Pickard Chilton's new building in Milwaukee: http://www.pickardchilton.com/work/northwestern-mutual-tower-and-commons

I agree that Devon is beautiful. Considering that Pickard Chilton is involved, it's almost a guarantee that this will be a glass curtain wall tower. The rendering above shows a taller version of Devon than what was actually built.

It looks like they have a long relationship working with design architects Pickard Chilton (Calgary 8th Ave. Place, Devon, 1180 Peachtree). And there are also the Pelli buildings that the Pickard Chilton principals also worked on at that firm (Society Center in Cleveland, Norwest in Minneapolis.

What I meant was how we perceive the building as a "skyscraper." You can read the Central National Bank tower as a "skyscraper" because of the aspect ratio you mentioned above in a way that you can't with his building, because of its bulk. Does anyone know if Pickard Chilton is still involved with this project? I believe their process is to always collaborate with an "architect of record" on projects. I would love to see a public aspect to this, like the Devon rotunda/winter garden. It would become a new anchor for that area, which now seems to be mostly parking garages.