Fort Norfolk Plaza Progress

[vdogg]

It looks even better with my eyes closed.

[spiker3]

Here's a slightly more flattering angle.

So if we lay on our backs in the EVMS parking lot, we'll learn to live with it? Or all drive Mini Coopers

[Marco757]

I know you guys are going to hate me, but I kind of like it....well at least the top half and the side with the blue glass and gray tower. It reminds me somewhat of the buildings already on the EVMS campus. I think that part looks modern. I travel a lot and it reminds me of some of the new architure that I've seen in large cities. I do hate the bottom half of the building, first because it's beige and second because they don't hide the fact that it's a parking garage...will this side face the street? I'm not clear on location and building placement.

[Sky06]

I don't see why they couldn't have just put the whole thing on one small footprint. Why waist all that valuable land? Also, I could have come up with a better design than that!

I would hope that the city realizes that there's a premium on space, especially waterfront space, and would build vertically. They've been talking about that; now it's time to produce.

I know you guys are going to hate me, but I kind of like it....well at least the top half and the side with the blue glass and gray tower. It reminds me somewhat of the buildings already on the EVMS campus. I think that part looks modern. I travel a lot and it reminds me of some of the new architure that I've seen in large cities. I do hate the bottom half of the building, first because it's beige and second because they don't hide the fact that it's a parking garage...will this side face the street? I'm not clear on location and building placement.

I too like the blue glass (and hate the parking lot). Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems the parking lot will face Brambleton. Good for people on the back side since they'll have a view of the water. Bad in terms of what travellers will see when they drive by this mess.

[Padman]

It looks like an extension of the worst of EVMS/Sentara. I understand the original designs had to be scaled back because of the rising cost of stool.

[vdogg]

Haha. Type in Fort Norfolk Plaza in google and this thread pops up first. They've gotta love that publicity.

[PeninsulaKiddo]

Haha. Type in Fort Norfolk Plaza in google and this thread pops up first. They've gotta love that publicity.

Hopefully it'll send them a freakin' signal! FIX the ugliness!

[Former Resident of HR]

Wow, I am very interested in what this will look like now. The newer rendering is very postmodern. At first I thought it looked like puke, but I kind of like the way it looks on that Project Close-Up thing. If they could stick with a two-toned color scheme instead of three, it would be a little more cohesive. The parking garage part is very obvious, so intergarting this into the top part would also be a bonus.

I don't think this is that awful and I am happy to see that it is not brick/colonial.

[RJWGMU]

Wow, I am very interested in what this will look like now. The newer rendering is very postmodern. At first I thought it looked like puke, but I kind of like the way it looks on that Project Close-Up thing. If they could stick with a two-toned color scheme instead of three, it would be a little more cohesive. The parking garage part is very obvious, so intergarting this into the top part would also be a bonus.

I don't think this is that awful and I am happy to see that it is not brick/colonial.

I agree for the most part... I wonder how the building would look if the garages was wrapped in a blue glass...

[vdogg]

I agree for the most part... I wonder how the building would look if the garages was wrapped in a blue glass...

Actually, the original plan was for them to wrap the office tower in blue glass. Why they abandonded that and went to precast concrete I don't know. To put this thing in glass and do something to hide that garage could really save this project.

[urbanlife]

I have been trying to put my finger on it where I had seen this building design before and today I just figured it out. The model looks like something straight out of an old Godzilla movie.....maybe the developer is foreseeing into the future of a possible giant lizard attack on the city (or terrorist) and the city wants to provide something for him to fall on.

[Padman]

I really want to think of a way to improve this thing, but it's a complex project (fitting three functions on a narrow strip). Don't look at the last view by itself, it's very misleading. Look at the perspective from above, then ignore the upper floors so that you can see the chief problem area. I'm sure there's a way to unify and improve the garage and hotel components. Take some motifs from the tower section, apply some variations of them to the lower section and see what happens. Also, the curve on the one garage side with the curved posts looks promising. Maybe that could be applied elsewhere. Try expanding the glassy sections too, that might help to improve things. There's hope folks.

[mistermetaj]

All they have to do is separate the building into three different sections(office, hospital, extended stay hotel). That way it could maintain the conventional grid of a downtown and have roads leading to the piers off the side. I hate that Norfolk creates big walls on the ocean front like the sheraton and now this.

[Sky06]

All they have to do is separate the building into three different sections(office, hospital, extended stay hotel). That way it could maintain the conventional grid of a downtown and have roads leading to the piers off the side. I hate that Norfolk creates big walls on the ocean front like the sheraton and now this.

Or bury the parking under ground.

[vdogg]

Or bury the parking under ground.

Impossible in Norfolk, the water table is too high to make that feasible. The parking will still be a prominent part of the project, but they can mask that or at least give the structure a more uniform appearance, anything to keep this building from looking like Darth Vaders headquarters.

[Sky06]

Impossible in Norfolk, the water table is too high to make that feasible. The parking will still be a prominent part of the project, but they can mask that or at least give the structure a more uniform appearance, anything to keep this building from looking like Darth Vaders headquarters.

May the Farce be with you.

[urbanfan]

Impossible in Norfolk, the water table is too high to make that feasible. The parking will still be a prominent part of the project, but they can mask that or at least give the structure a more uniform appearance, anything to keep this building from looking like Darth Vaders headquarters.

Not impossible. Just expensive. It would require shoring up the walls of the excavation, waterproofing those walls and then providing large pumps for water evacuation should flooding occur. Not to mention the liability for damaged cars when they occur. But it is not impossible here. In fact I have a client right now looking at building a submerged garage in Ocean View on a condo project, not yet mentioned.

[lammius]

If they can build underwater robotic parking in Holland, we can do it here!

[metalman]

May the Farce be with you.

Have you seen Hardware Wars too?

[spiker3]

In this months Insidue Business, there's a full page ad from Clark Nexsen with pictures of the rendering for Fort Norfolk Plaza, the different vantage point, but also a nighttime shot. I'm at work so i can't scan it till later, if someone could beat me to it. It really looks alot better at night light up, the blue really shines. I realize i've opened that one up with 'looks alot better at night' but it's true, lol.

[vdogg]

In this months Insidue Business, there's a full page ad from Clark Nexsen with pictures of the rendering for Fort Norfolk Plaza, the different vantage point, but also a nighttime shot. I'm at work so i can't scan it till later, if someone could beat me to it. It really looks alot better at night light up, the blue really shines. I realize i've opened that one up with 'looks alot better at night' but it's true, lol.

You sure did. I can thing of a lot of things that look better in the dark, doesn't mean they aren't ugly.

[mistermetaj]

Can someone explain to me why a hospital needs waterfront property instead of saving it for residential condos or appartments? This building belongs inland next to EVMS.

[Sky06]

Can someone explain to me why a hospital needs waterfront property instead of saving it for residential condos or appartments? This building belongs inland next to EVMS.

The project originally called for residential, so I assume the developer still wants to keep the land. Am I correct in assuming the condos were scrapped?

[spiker3]

The project originally called for residential, so I assume the developer still wants to keep the land. Am I correct in assuming the condos were scrapped?

Correct, with the market downturn, condos were not feasible.

[vdogg]

Correct, with the market downturn, condos were not feasible.

So...um...how about that pic?