Greedo

If I'm not mistaken, I think this piece and an accompanying piece are currently inside the main entrance at the Public Museum, just past the admissions desk.

There is definitely opportunity to rebuild all of the overpasses with an understanding of pedestrian and cyclists needs, but there also opportunity to have some fun with it. It would be great to have the Coit overpass be more fun. Like the Dan Ryan overpass at 32nd Street in Chicago.

"funicular" heh heh. that's a silly word.

Monstrous unwalkable hills make the urbanism of Grand Rapids difficult for humane habitat. Let's start flattening the hills. Bulldoze GR they way they did Manhattan. San Francisco is awesome except for the hills, and the only people seen walking up them are the idiot tourists who want to see the "Worlds Crookedest Street" or don't know how to get a bus pass. And as one of those idiots, I speak from first hand experience. Otherwise, everyone who lives on those hills drives. Oh yeah, and SF doesn't get freezing rain in sheets like we do. Michigan Ave in January is a deathtrap.

Gotta be honest, I really don't see many pedestrians on Michigan Hill ever. It's a steep, pedestrian unfriendly grade, so I don't see why they should make a building pedestrian friendly when there aren't any to appease. If they really wanted to be wise, they could make a dedicated area for city busses to pick up and drop off Spectrum employees.

Very modern. I'm not sure if it's art, but I like it. If that is the final design of the hospital building, I would agree that it serves as a blank slate meant to direct the viewer's attention, to the bridge, and upwards to higher altitudes, as if reaching for the sky. Perhaps it represents hope for the unfortunate experiences for the children inside the hospital. Whatever it means, it definitely diminishes the imposing cliff-like feeling that a 14-story building on top of a hill creates. Plus, it looks like a piece of chalk preparing to write on a blackboard. As far as I'm concerned, if they're going to build a skywalk (and schmobvs, you know they will), do it with some panache. I quote Dr. Emmit Brown, "Marty, the way I see it, if you're going to build a time machine, why not do it with some style." Imagine this poking up from the Plymouth neighborhood. Awesome.

Celebrity architects and artists have a knack for going over-budget, especially with large, challenging projects and most especially the ones that require new engineering methods. And everybody complains--public officials, taxpayers, armchair city planners--that is, until the finished product brings in millions of tourists and all of their money. I'm just saying, you hire a name for a reason.

I wouldn't replace the Gillette Bridge. It a classic. Combined with Bridge St./Pearl/Fulton, it's a very repetitive image that looks really cool at night. But Calatrava... I heard he's booked 5 years out. But we can certainly dream.

Like most cities, wasn't the Grand still filled with untreated wastewater and runoff? If you consider it was primarily used as basically an sewer, understandable why the city would turn its back to it. I'd turn my back if I was next to something that smelled like poo.

Agreed. The area North of the Fish Ladder is some of the best areas of redevelopment. The dam there makes the river more like a big pond--calm and serene. But it's not narrow like the rivers in Chicago, San Antonio or Providence. The Grand is a MAJOR river, a glacial tributary, so it's W I D E in some spots causing the banks to be pretty isolated from each other, especially north of 196. I think there is great opportunity to build at least two great neighborhoods up there, more shops, bars, parks, and tying the banks together with more fun/interesting pedestrian access and crossings. Maybe a bridge with a platform in the center for people to gather? I would still like to see a Calatrava bridge somewhere in that area.

Someone needs to ask that question at least once every month. It's just funny now.

What about tunneling parallel, underneath Michigan Hill? Just a short distance, mind you. It would reduce the grade and connect with the new pedestrian tunnel.

Nice cut/paste! Honestly, what did people do for fun before photoshop?

Meijer has one direction, the same direction it has always had, to offer the best deal on absolutely everything. It's the model that Fred created and is the envy of every big-box retailer. Additionally, Meijer is squeezing better profit margins out of revenues than both Target and Wal-Mart. Fred's influence on the company is everpresent. I hear he still keeps office hours daily, and his understanding of the retail industry is revered nationwide, but the responsibilities of day-to-day company mangement (real estate purchase, store design, product lines) belongs to Hank and Doug, the Pres and the EVP's.

I've seen construction like this done before (the bolted steel), but I can't remember where. Maybe when I was at WMU. It seems to be an inexpensive way to build 3-4 story buildings.

Just to compare, I wish I had pics of the Clear Channel bldg, that was some scary stuff. Rooms with no lights, flickering flourescents, dripping taps--like something out of Silent Hill.

Gotta imagine that goes back to the fight for dominance between Louis Campau and Lucius Lyon (BTW: best name ever).

If you think Meijer's strategy is to work for failure, you are completely insane. In the competitive landscape of big-box retail, with razor-thin margins, you don't try to fail, you try to squeeze as much cash out of each store as possible. You only replace stores when it starts affecting sales, or the profits allow it. I just think the company is very expansion-minded, which makes them slower to refurbish current stores.

It's the same produce. It's the presentation that sucks. Put some good lights, some clean signage and clean, wide aisles and it makes a HUGE difference in how the products look. Point-of-purchase marketing people! It the final leg in affecting consumer behavior.

I was at the Alpine Meijer last summer and have to say it is a dump. Quickly approaching scary, as in 28th/Kalamazoo scary. I really enjoy the new building layouts--faux parquet floors, bright lighting, pharmacy near the front, lobby retail--it's smart and makes a better buying experience. I hope they reinvest in that store, it's so close to the Corporate HQ, it seems you would want to showcase the goods as well as possible. Plus go tet-a-tet with the enemy.

I've heard rumor of a hotel connected with Spectrum for several months. That location would make sense.

Grand Rapids will be the home of MSU's college of human medicine--significantly more awesome than a satellite campus.

I hate that too!!! Kerning people... KERNING!

Cook-DeVos is ok. A bit of a snoozer though. And I don't understand what the deal is with the parking lot between the building and the freeway. Seems pretty wasteful and flat out poor use of space.

they're rethinking the fountain part of the sculpture and cleaning it up. since the big issues is water flowing into the River (can't really understand that, but whatevs), the city will build a cistern at the bottom of the sculpture, and the water will be recycled back into the piece. I heard the goal was to have this working for the Otterness exhibition Meijer Gardens is putting on, but I'm not sure it'll be done. There's a lot of engineering that will be needed to convert it into a water-recycling fountain. It's really not that impressive just sitting there dry, but I imagine with the water cascading down the layers looks pretty awesome.