Archinect - News

A 50-story housing proposal is shaking up planning officials in San Francisco

2023-04-19T18:07:00-04:00

A proposed new high-rise development in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset district is standing out over its disputed manipulation of statewide density laws.

The LA Times is reporting on CH Planning‘s unlikely new proposal, which could add a Solomon Cordwell Buenz-designed 50-story tower to the neighborhood via provisions in California’s Density Bonus Law — a regulation they say allows for permitted deviations from local building restrictions to provide options for affordable housing.

“It simply defies logic that a building in a 100-foot height district seeking a 50% bonus could somehow rise to 560 feet,” Daniel Sider, chief of staff for San Francisco’s Planning Department said in a rebuke published by the newspaper. “While we agree that this site is ripe for housing, and we hope to work with the developer to achieve that, there is no provision in state or local law to permit the downtown-style building that’s been proposed.”

“The proposed project is flat out inconsistent with local zoni...

Construction begins for the first high-rise in LA's Arts District

2022-05-09T16:56:00-04:00

On the east side of Downtown Los Angeles, a pair of orange tower cranes have arrived at 520 Mateo Street, future site of a mixed-use development from Carmel Partners which is set to become the first high-rise building in the Arts District. The project, which only recent began showing signs of activity after two years of dormancy, will be named "Alloy," according to social media posts by the developer.

The one million square-foot development, designed by Works Progress Architecture and Solomon Cordwell Buenz, is composed of a 35-story residential tower with 475 apartments, a six-story, 105,000-square-foot office building, 20,000-square-feet of retail space, and a 748-car garage. Plans also call for repurposing a former section of rail into a public paseo between Sante Fe and Mateo Streets that will host retail, outdoor seating, and a performance stage.

Previously: How L.A. corruption kills affordable housing

As reported by Urbanize Los Angeles, Alloy's progress was jeopardized in 2020 following the disclosure that it was connected to a corruption scandal, in which former Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar accepted bribes from the project's developers Carmel Partners. The company has since paid a $1.2 million fine to resolve its involvement.

North America's tallest living wall could capture 1,600 pounds of pollution annually

2020-04-23T14:28:00-04:00

Rastegar Property Company has announced plans to develop the tallest living wall installation in North America within its 26-story, 270 residential condominium tower development located in Dallas, Texas. The wall would include over 40,000 plants that are estimated to capture over 1,600 pounds of carbon dioxide and produce 1,200 pounds of oxygen annually.

"We thought about how living walls can positively influence the city of Dallas," said Zach Smith, CEO of Zauben, a Chicago-based living wall company in a statement. "We wanted to help champion the sustainability goals of the city and create an example that other forward-thinking cities can follow."

The building was designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz, a Chicago-based architect. The tower's form is contoured and organic in essence and extrudes the full height of the structure. The balconies throughout the building are heavily landscaped, further promoting the living wall theme of the project.

Plan to add exterior glass elevator to Chicago's Aon Center is approved

2020-02-11T14:13:00-05:00

A plan created by architects Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB) and developer 601W Companies that aims to bring the tallest exterior glass elevator in North America to the Edward Durell Stone-designed Aon Center in Chicago has been approved by the city's Department of Planning and Development. The project was first announced in March of 2019.

Detail shot of the proposed exterior glass elevator. Image courtesy of the Chicago Department of Planning and Development.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the $185 million project will create the city's third sky-high observation platform, following those at the Willis Tower and John Hancock Center. The project aims to bring a 1,000-foot exterior elevator to the northwest corner of the tower that will ferry passengers from a new ground level pavilion up to the top of the tower.

View of the ground level entry pavilion that is being added to accommodate the new observation platform. Image courtesy of the Chicago Department of Planning and Development....

Chicago's Aon Center will have tallest exterior glass elevator in North America

2019-03-19T13:13:00-04:00

In the next few years, Chicago's iconic Aon Center will be getting a shiny, new glass-sheathed exterior elevator that is set to be the tallest of its kind in North America. Designed by locally based Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB), the elevator — which will be tucked into the northwest corner of the tower — is part of the upcoming “The Observatory at Aon Center”. Construction begins this spring.

Courtesy of Solomon Cordwell Buenz.

At street level, visitors will first go through the geometric entry pavilion, which will contain ticketing functions, retail, and entertainment. Visitors will then hop into a pair of glass-walled double-deck elevators, which will transport them 1,000 vertical feet up the 83-story building in just about 60 seconds. The glass shaft will be anchored at every fourth floor of the tower.

Courtesy of Solomon Cordwell Buenz.

Once visitors reach the public observatory at the top of the tower, they'll be greeted by a panoramic view of th...

'All the grandeur of a Holiday Inn': Blair Kamin on the latest Chicago Union Station expansion plans

2018-06-29T18:24:00-04:00

Daniel Burnham’s ghost and his much-quoted exhortation to “make no little plans” haunt the just-released, utterly underwhelming design for a vertical expansion of Chicago’s Union Station. To put things in Burnham-speak, these plans are little — very little. There’s nothing wrong with the idea of putting a 330-room hotel in the upper floors [...] The trouble is a planned apartment addition that would plunk a squat modernist box atop the existing structure’s neo-classical pedestal.

Tribune critic Blair Kamin comments on the latest expansion plans by Riverside Investment & Development for Chicago's iconic Union Station, which were unveiled Monday night. "The juxtaposition of past and present isn’t as violent as the spaceship-like seating bowl that’s plopped atop the classical colonnades of Soldier Field," writes Kamin. "It’s just banal, which Burnham buildings never are."