GRLaker
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Posts posted by GRLaker
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Just curious...Is the parking ramp under this building public or for commercial and residential use only?
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On 6/9/2016 at 4:48 PM, joeDowntown said:
I've generally been pro Arena Place, but I think they have a serious problem. Got out of my car at 7:15am and the light was hitting it perfectly. I think the photo does an ok job of showing it, but IRL, the whole apartment portion has a major siding (warping and buckling issue). Maybe it was the light, but it looked REALLY bad (like, sue the contractor or manufacturer bad). Photo evidence:
Unfortunately, shot with a phone camera but the rippling is NOT a texture or design feature.
Joe
Yikes...That looks awful. I hope something is done to fix that.
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1 hour ago, GR8scott said:
After another look, I think the larger picture I was looking at thinking it was downsized, is of just the square section of building and for some reason doesn't include the tower at all, while the two smaller ones below do
The tower is phase II. The first finished product will be the square section.
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On 7/15/2016 at 2:28 PM, GRDadof3 said:
There's a request coming up before the Planning Commission later this month to demolish 11 homes on the West Side, on 1st, 2nd and Alabama street/aves. There are no plans to replace them at this time. This is that block that was planned for townhomes many years ago, and sits next to 616/Rockford's Alabama Ave apartment project.
Seems like there's a large number of homes being demolished near downtown, but are they really that good of housing stock?
This location would be perfect for a 12-14 story mixed-use tower. Perfect size land, right behind all of the west side development, and right down the road from GVSU, MSU, and Spectrum Health. Make it happen, Rockford.
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Based on the location and the fact that I've yet to meet anyone that actually likes the concept of it, I get the feeling that it won't take long for this thing to go down hill - much like any other Land owned property. I hope I'm wrong.
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42 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:
20 Fulton had a t-shape at one time?
Also, I don't think we've ever seen the redesign. I looked everywhere and could find any renderings (just construction drawings)
Upon looking again, it was more of a slight L. The overhang on the top made it look like it stuck out on the street side, which made me think it was T-shaped.
2 minutes ago, WMrapids said:
Maybe more like an L?
Yep - there it is. It's no masterpiece, but I like it more than the most up-to-date design (assuming that is going to be the look).
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18 hours ago, GR_Urbanist said:
I guess I'm not exactly sure how those buildings you cited are remotely considered masterpieces. Maybe short of the JW, they are all standard boxes with a little "flourish". Almost all of them have a dead street presence, or are set back from the street. This building already out does them on that alone.
Fancy architecture costs fancy money. The insane buildings you see in an Architect magazine are nowhere near the norm when it comes to standard grade in-fill structures that are working with tight numbers and not starchitects.
What you see is the normal current style in buildings to fulfill a purpose, and not to be landmarks. Here is an example in Rotterdam where you would expect something far more fancy:
Looks like a Holiday Inn, but it's just a standard apartment building
I don't mean to say that those buildings are products of architectural genius by any means. However, they at least have some shape to them beyond looking like a lego block. The Amway has the angled roof along with the stair-like look on the north side. River House at least has some curvature with the cut-in at the top to give it some shape. It really doesn't take much to make a blah building a little less blah. We may be an architectural backwater - like x99 stated - but honestly, these buildings take zero creativity. Straight lines up and longer straight lines across. Building designed.
For this project, I just honestly think they had a better design the first time around. Sure, it was still boxy, but it at least had a T shape, an overhang at the top, and balconies. It was far less blah than the final product.
19 hours ago, x99 said:What are you, my long lost twin brother? But yeah. It would seem we have learned nothing since the Ransom Towers. It's like someone issued a challenge on how to make Icon on Bond look like a model of good urban design. If there's anything 90% of the recent construction proves, it's that Grand Rapids is an architectural backwater, at best.
On the bright side, at least this hasn't happened:
Oh my...I completely forgot about Ransom Towers. That thing is a scourge to our skyline. Also, at this rate, we might be approaching that picture's status soon.
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I'm obviously way behind on this project, as the last rendering I had seen for this was the one in MLive.
Big disappointment in my book. I'm honestly over these elongated rectangles with zero character that are now dominating the GR landscape. How have we gone from buildings like the Amway Grand, River House, DeVos Center, and the JW to nothing but lego blocks? I was drawing buildings like this in 7th grade when I had dreams of becoming an architect. Now we have actual professionals drawing up this crap.
It beats an empty lot...But this was a big swing and miss, IMHO.
New projects on the West Side
in Grand Rapids
Posted · Edited by GRLaker
It doesn't get uglier than Michigan and Eastern. Honestly...What makes these latest buildings throughout the city so ugly (IMHO at least) is that they're entire block-long narrow rectangles. I can somewhat handle a ridiculously plain look if they maybe broke it up a little bit with maybe a two tower look connected on the bottom floor or a two tower look with a courtyard in the middle. SOMETHING besides a flat wall spanning an entire block with cheap building materials and ugly colors. I get that these developers are just trying to get rooms filled to meet demand as quickly as possible, but eventually you risk losing city appeal with a skyline full of giant duds for housing.