I think I've asked this before, but just in case :
Does anyone have any decent signage contractor references, that work in the city???? I have worked only with ASI so far and have been really disappointed with them. I'm looking for an alternate to get some super quick pricing on a monument sign ASAP.
A pretty good piece on Aqua in the tribune. It looks great from those photographs (and from the ground when I've been near it).
One pet peave (with Kamin's article, not Aqua) he calls the building a "defiantly non-Euclidian high-rise,". Apparently Kamin doesn't have spell check and he also doesn't know the meaning of Euclidean geometry and obviously not non-Euclidean. In case anyone is keeping score (other than myself) Euclidean geometry doesn't mean "only straight lines and boring boxes"
One pet peeve I have for Kamin is that he never stops bashing 2 things: Lowenberg and Soldier Field. Lowenberg may be a big Real Estate Developer and builder of some plain buildings in River North in the 90s but He also started the boom - his building at Dearborn and Ohio in 1996 kicked off this wave of speculation. He was first in the pool and for that he should be comended. It was a big risk to take.
That pre-dates my time in Chicago, but I'll take your word for it. Sometimes architects bite the hand that feeds them when it comes to discussing developers, on the otherhand, it is a little bit of the nature of the relationship, don't you think? Many architects carry high aspirations for the impact of their projects and sometimes(often) the developer ends up playing the role of the bad guy for not letting them complete their masterpieces.
Any architect earning a $million or more fee should be focusing on the client and not their personal masterpiece. As the article points out Aqua is the successful coupling of both parties' interests.
Kamin belongs on the Real Estate page. He superficially comments on Architecture but Real Estate and Public Policy are what he writes about. There's very little about Architecture in his columns or blog.
Well in his defense, his blog does purport to be about buildings and urban spaces that "affect our lives". I would say real estate and public policy, such as the Burnam Plan, fall within that general umbrella (or are atleast close enought that I won't take offense over it).
I think your compaint is one that can be lobbied against most of the sections of the newspaper. If you read the science sections of paperrs, you don't find pear reviewed research papers on particle physics. What you find are usually superficial articles that discuss generic concepts that fall into the publics understanding of what science is. I believe it is the nature of the medium to focus more on scope than depth. Books on architecture are certainly a better option for depth.
Rumor - Oprah may be leaving Chicago. Rumor has it ABC and Oprah arent on goo terms and Oprah has a partnership with Discovery for her own cable channel of which the show will be the centerpiece. Article reports the big O would move production to CA.
shit, jack, how did I miss that buss accident? Horrifying.
I took a fun bus ride today, with a group of CPS students that had just gotten out of school. Damn my timing... they refused to move to the back. The driver was trying to force me off since I was left stranded in the door "zone" so I had to just shove my way through the student mess. One of them had the balls to talk shit about me under her breath... I made an example out of her to the rest of the bus. Fuck that shit. I can't stand bad bus behaviour. We did not, however, find ourselves deposited in someone's living room. For that, I am thankful. Also I didn't get shot. You never know, on the good old CTA bus system...
well, i've had enough. i'm leaving. seriously, what the hell is up with chicago? why so many second-rate architects who have such a high degree of narcissism? you know, before i started working for you, i had never even heard of you. quit treating me like you are famous. you are not famous, you're just an asshole. why the hell does everyone bitch about the cta all the time? hey, you are lucky to even have a cta. $2.50 is, i'm sorry, not that expensive, especially considering how cheap chicago is. in fact, it's the same price as the bus in ann arbor. and what the hell is up with all my friends being to busy to come to my welcoming party, my birthday party, or my going away party? like, you really have something that interesting to do? what, sit at home with your girlfriend while she reads a book and you play x-box? why should i have to make plans two weeks in advance to see you? the last time i was in new york, people came out that i barely knew, at a moments notice. quit acting like you're too busy. almost all of you work 40 hours a week! right now, most of you don't work at all! you are always on facebook but you never have time to hang out! why are there so many paper architects in chicago? how come no one actually knows how to MAKE anything? did they not teach you that in school? what the hell is wrong with the olympics? what is so special about the bland, corporate firms you all work in? what, you want to design hospitals? ha! why do you all still love barack obama so much? good bye, chicago. i tried.
That famous but your not line sounds like you work for Triggerman Mccurry
As for your friends not having time to hang with you, it probably is that they actually don’t like you and don’t tell you because they don’t want to deal with your emotional meltdown.
So go back to New York and have a lovely career turning empty warehouses into galleries that close a year latter while you redesign the WTC yet again. Leave the real city with real people and real needs to those who can handle it.
You probably will be tired of New York too. Sounds like you have a unique talent at finding every dark cloud on a sunny day.
le bossman, last time i was in chic ago i think you (sort of) dissed me. i was trying to look you up but you never called back because you took a nap or something like that. but then you used to skip my old 'office hours' too so maybe i should have expected it. of course, considering the weather in chicago, i don't blame you for not wanting to go out that day, it was something like 45 deg F with snow flurries (in june!) and i'm kind of surprised that i even made it past the lobby bar myself considering that my footwear consisted of nothing more that overpriced brazilian rubber thongs.
glad to hear you are headed to montana. that sounds cool. i'm sure i've said it before, but it's worth repeating: chicago sucks
I've only seen the pictures Jack, it looks great. A lot of times when I look at old images of buildings I get biased by the black and white images and sort of forget how colorful things were. It is great to have a nice reminder!
i went past it on the orange line a month or so ago, it really is shocking how dirty that building was... it looks absolutely amazing now... i hope it becomes a template for those kinds of projects, there are several other buildings in the loop alone that could use at scrub...
i think i was in mississippi for reviews or something. i remember that; i think i wasn't around or something. or your phone didn't work. how's the caribbean btw?
i was the only one who ever went to office hours...
Aqua's tower is a dumb one-note design concept sketch (rippling water theme - get it?) married to a cheap-looking curtain-wall, serving as "dressing" for a standard builder-special condo tower. How can this tower be considered good design, even for relatively provincial developer-driven Chicago?
Magellan/Loewenberg need to find another designerly architect to spark about their Lake Shore East development. Plenty stronger talent left on Chicago's bench.
I have not been to Chicago since 07 so I cant comment on the Aqua Tower first hand, but from what I can see of it online it's stunning and original. I think it may be one of the best conceptual tower designs in the last 20 years.
Bossman, great news. I would love to do something like that, I've been dying for some country time & mountain time (2 things you never get in this town) and have wanted to visit montana my whole life. I agree with you on some aspects of Chicago life -- the CTA is great (notwithstanding the occasional rude highschoolers as mentioned above), the city is cheap, & the current architecture is primarily dull & certainly over-trumpeted, but I don't know why you couldn't get people to come to parties & stuff, unless you live in the burbs or something -- this city is the first I've lived in of many in which people actually COME to parties! Totally opposite to west coast, where they RSVP and sound super enthusiastic but just simply don't show, and to east coast where they won't ever commit in the first place & then don't show. I love how people just love to get together out here, and how open they are to making new friends & meeting new people. Totally awesome, and makes up for the dull corporate architecture for me.
Hey guys... anyone hear about these interesting pieces of news in Kamins blog yet???
[url=http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2009/11/roosevelt-university-to-construct-32story-building-school-says-it-will-be-2ndtallest-in-us-behind-un.html#more]Roosevelt University to construct 32-story building; school says it will be 2nd-tallest in U.S. behind University of Pittsburgh's tower[/ulr]
and it looks like the AFL-CIO is really going to follow through on the talk of getting the spire back underway...
I've only heard what is contained in those articles. The fact that Santiago Calatrava says he is owed 11.3 million for the project really makes me scratch my head a little. How far along did he take the project? Is he doing all of the record work? I thought he was just the designer. Also, did he not get payed along the way at all?
seems like thats really what hes owed... thats only .5% of the reported 2$billion construction budget... and id imagine his cut of construction budget is much higher than that....
seems like a pretty good deal for the unions... they'll get the jobs on the site, plus they would get the property if the project fails... im sure theyd rather the thing gets built, but with such a valuable piece of land as a fall back, it seem like a very realistic on its surface.
if anyone sees any more news on this please post it here
How will the unions insure their investment? $2billion is a lot of cash, I dont know if it's legal for a pension to invest directly in speculative real estate. I'd like to know more on the particulars.
from that article im assuming that should kelleherr default on his repayment, the afl-cio would get the land.
also from the article, it looks like the total loan is 170$million. Also, according to that article, the AFL-CIO's Building Investment Trust, which is an arm of their pension fund has developed at least 2 other residential tower in the city of chicago.
This deal makes a lot of sense to me from the unions point of view. They loan kelleher the money and are repaid with interest. At the same time, they members are promised jobs. Obviously, those working members pay their union dues, and are grateful to union leadership for the opportunity. Worst case scenario is that kelleher defaults on the loan, the AFL-CIO is out whatever is left for repayment, but takes control of one of the most valuable, if not THE most valuable open plot in the city...
I went to Kamin's blog not the article. So it's the trust, not the pension fund and it's for the $170million not the cost of the building. What it does it is secure the land. I bet Kehlers' ass feels like the hole in the picture.
hahaha... yes jack... im sure it does... oh well, im sure at this point he just needs to get this thing going again... if only to restore the prospect of profit in the future. Seems like a super sweet deal for the unions and the city in general. Lets hope it works out
With so many of us out of work, and our work brethren struggling to keep busy at the office, some here in Chicago have taken upon themselves to do whatever to bring in commissions. Even designing the 21st century version of a Christmas tradition: introducing das gingerbread haus...
Jack, I checked out your google link of the odd tiny town. What an interesting story; Thanks for the diversion!
For those who haven't checked it out, its a factory town called Marktown in East Chicago, Indiana. They have a historic preservation website with lots of goodies.
Here's the opening paragraph from the site:
Welcome to Marktown
This unique neighborhood was designed by Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw in 1917 for industrialist Clayton Mark.
It has been referred to as "the Brigadoon of Industrial Housing,
rising out of the mists of industry every few years."
Yes I found that after I posted. It rang a bell somewhere. Its one of those places you hear about and then forget. Truely an interesting spot. Im about an hour from there, it would make a nice trip to go get som pictures.
bah... well, a few weeks late on this piece of news... but the AFL CIO pension funds have decided to pass on loaning money to get the Chicago Spire construction back up and running... there is anarticle about it here...
I never liked that spire deal, from when I first read about it. It seems like the one thing we should have learned from this whole financial crisis is that housing real estate is not guaranteed to gain value. I could very easily seem them getting the deal together, constructing the building, selling the units for market price and coming out as a loser. They might not have completely lost their shirts, but its very easy to see them losing 10% to 20% on their investment, and much, much greater loses certainly aren’t out of the question. Anyhow, If I were in that union, I wouldn’t want them wagering their benefits package savings on high risk investments like this.
Even if things completely fell through and they wound up owning that site, it would be a pretty damn illiqued asset. They would be better off having their original investment funds in hand.
Aggregate Chicago
I think I've asked this before, but just in case :
Does anyone have any decent signage contractor references, that work in the city???? I have worked only with ASI so far and have been really disappointed with them. I'm looking for an alternate to get some super quick pricing on a monument sign ASAP.
Any names would be much appreciated!
A pretty good piece on Aqua in the tribune. It looks great from those photographs (and from the ground when I've been near it).
One pet peave (with Kamin's article, not Aqua) he calls the building a "defiantly non-Euclidian high-rise,". Apparently Kamin doesn't have spell check and he also doesn't know the meaning of Euclidean geometry and obviously not non-Euclidean. In case anyone is keeping score (other than myself) Euclidean geometry doesn't mean "only straight lines and boring boxes"
One pet peeve I have for Kamin is that he never stops bashing 2 things: Lowenberg and Soldier Field. Lowenberg may be a big Real Estate Developer and builder of some plain buildings in River North in the 90s but He also started the boom - his building at Dearborn and Ohio in 1996 kicked off this wave of speculation. He was first in the pool and for that he should be comended. It was a big risk to take.
That pre-dates my time in Chicago, but I'll take your word for it. Sometimes architects bite the hand that feeds them when it comes to discussing developers, on the otherhand, it is a little bit of the nature of the relationship, don't you think? Many architects carry high aspirations for the impact of their projects and sometimes(often) the developer ends up playing the role of the bad guy for not letting them complete their masterpieces.
Any architect earning a $million or more fee should be focusing on the client and not their personal masterpiece. As the article points out Aqua is the successful coupling of both parties' interests.
Kamin belongs on the Real Estate page. He superficially comments on Architecture but Real Estate and Public Policy are what he writes about. There's very little about Architecture in his columns or blog.
Well in his defense, his blog does purport to be about buildings and urban spaces that "affect our lives". I would say real estate and public policy, such as the Burnam Plan, fall within that general umbrella (or are atleast close enought that I won't take offense over it).
I think your compaint is one that can be lobbied against most of the sections of the newspaper. If you read the science sections of paperrs, you don't find pear reviewed research papers on particle physics. What you find are usually superficial articles that discuss generic concepts that fall into the publics understanding of what science is. I believe it is the nature of the medium to focus more on scope than depth. Books on architecture are certainly a better option for depth.
Rumor - Oprah may be leaving Chicago. Rumor has it ABC and Oprah arent on goo terms and Oprah has a partnership with Discovery for her own cable channel of which the show will be the centerpiece. Article reports the big O would move production to CA.
link
From the Trib site. Pretty much says a thousand words.
make -- on another thread, you mentioned that there are some changes coming to the self-cert process. can you give any more info? I'm curious!
shit, jack, how did I miss that buss accident? Horrifying.
I took a fun bus ride today, with a group of CPS students that had just gotten out of school. Damn my timing... they refused to move to the back. The driver was trying to force me off since I was left stranded in the door "zone" so I had to just shove my way through the student mess. One of them had the balls to talk shit about me under her breath... I made an example out of her to the rest of the bus. Fuck that shit. I can't stand bad bus behaviour. We did not, however, find ourselves deposited in someone's living room. For that, I am thankful. Also I didn't get shot. You never know, on the good old CTA bus system...
well, i've had enough. i'm leaving. seriously, what the hell is up with chicago? why so many second-rate architects who have such a high degree of narcissism? you know, before i started working for you, i had never even heard of you. quit treating me like you are famous. you are not famous, you're just an asshole. why the hell does everyone bitch about the cta all the time? hey, you are lucky to even have a cta. $2.50 is, i'm sorry, not that expensive, especially considering how cheap chicago is. in fact, it's the same price as the bus in ann arbor. and what the hell is up with all my friends being to busy to come to my welcoming party, my birthday party, or my going away party? like, you really have something that interesting to do? what, sit at home with your girlfriend while she reads a book and you play x-box? why should i have to make plans two weeks in advance to see you? the last time i was in new york, people came out that i barely knew, at a moments notice. quit acting like you're too busy. almost all of you work 40 hours a week! right now, most of you don't work at all! you are always on facebook but you never have time to hang out! why are there so many paper architects in chicago? how come no one actually knows how to MAKE anything? did they not teach you that in school? what the hell is wrong with the olympics? what is so special about the bland, corporate firms you all work in? what, you want to design hospitals? ha! why do you all still love barack obama so much? good bye, chicago. i tried.
Berwyn is nice, try there?
That famous but your not line sounds like you work for Triggerman Mccurry
As for your friends not having time to hang with you, it probably is that they actually don’t like you and don’t tell you because they don’t want to deal with your emotional meltdown.
So go back to New York and have a lovely career turning empty warehouses into galleries that close a year latter while you redesign the WTC yet again. Leave the real city with real people and real needs to those who can handle it.
You probably will be tired of New York too. Sounds like you have a unique talent at finding every dark cloud on a sunny day.
So you found an architecture job? That should be GOOD NEWS
but it's actually really cloudy today..
...and no need to start a culture war here pjn... different strokes yo.
le bossman, how come I wasn't invited to any of your shindigs?
is another 'nect meetup in order? holiday style?
who ever said anything about new york? i'm moving to MONTANA
i'm working for a ski resort. i might be back in the spring, but i'm tired of looking for jobs and scrounging every nickel together to survive.
le bossman, last time i was in chic ago i think you (sort of) dissed me. i was trying to look you up but you never called back because you took a nap or something like that. but then you used to skip my old 'office hours' too so maybe i should have expected it. of course, considering the weather in chicago, i don't blame you for not wanting to go out that day, it was something like 45 deg F with snow flurries (in june!) and i'm kind of surprised that i even made it past the lobby bar myself considering that my footwear consisted of nothing more that overpriced brazilian rubber thongs.
glad to hear you are headed to montana. that sounds cool. i'm sure i've said it before, but it's worth repeating: chicago sucks
Has everyone been down by the Old Colony building recently? The cleaning is unbelievable. I cant believe what was under the 100 years of soot. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OvonoKii_ds/Swi4mi8di-I/AAAAAAAAE3M/vbNP3lM2fRg/s1600/oldcolonyarcade.jpg
also on lynn becker's blog
http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/
I've only seen the pictures Jack, it looks great. A lot of times when I look at old images of buildings I get biased by the black and white images and sort of forget how colorful things were. It is great to have a nice reminder!
i went past it on the orange line a month or so ago, it really is shocking how dirty that building was... it looks absolutely amazing now... i hope it becomes a template for those kinds of projects, there are several other buildings in the loop alone that could use at scrub...
dude
i think i was in mississippi for reviews or something. i remember that; i think i wasn't around or something. or your phone didn't work. how's the caribbean btw?
i was the only one who ever went to office hours...
Aqua?
Aqua's tower is a dumb one-note design concept sketch (rippling water theme - get it?) married to a cheap-looking curtain-wall, serving as "dressing" for a standard builder-special condo tower. How can this tower be considered good design, even for relatively provincial developer-driven Chicago?
Magellan/Loewenberg need to find another designerly architect to spark about their Lake Shore East development. Plenty stronger talent left on Chicago's bench.
I have not been to Chicago since 07 so I cant comment on the Aqua Tower first hand, but from what I can see of it online it's stunning and original. I think it may be one of the best conceptual tower designs in the last 20 years.
Bossman, great news. I would love to do something like that, I've been dying for some country time & mountain time (2 things you never get in this town) and have wanted to visit montana my whole life. I agree with you on some aspects of Chicago life -- the CTA is great (notwithstanding the occasional rude highschoolers as mentioned above), the city is cheap, & the current architecture is primarily dull & certainly over-trumpeted, but I don't know why you couldn't get people to come to parties & stuff, unless you live in the burbs or something -- this city is the first I've lived in of many in which people actually COME to parties! Totally opposite to west coast, where they RSVP and sound super enthusiastic but just simply don't show, and to east coast where they won't ever commit in the first place & then don't show. I love how people just love to get together out here, and how open they are to making new friends & meeting new people. Totally awesome, and makes up for the dull corporate architecture for me.
Some of us went to Paul Kahan's new place last Saturday evening.
We could do it again on Friday?
Old Colony... There's an interesting story there...
The French Market at the Northwestern Metra Station is finally open. $42,000,000 and 8 years it took.
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/multiMedia.pl?mmId=956
Take a look at this little town on Google Maps. Now zoom out. Is this crazy or what? Who lives here?
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=chicago,+il&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=44.658568,113.818359&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Chicago,+Cook,+Illinois&ll=41.659267,-87.467254&spn=0.002585,0.008991&t=h&z=18
Hey guys... anyone hear about these interesting pieces of news in Kamins blog yet???
[url=http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2009/11/roosevelt-university-to-construct-32story-building-school-says-it-will-be-2ndtallest-in-us-behind-un.html#more]Roosevelt University to construct 32-story building; school says it will be 2nd-tallest in U.S. behind University of Pittsburgh's tower[/ulr]
and it looks like the AFL-CIO is really going to follow through on the talk of getting the spire back underway...
Here is the story from the trib
bah!... try again
Roosevelt University to construct 32-story building; school says it will be 2nd-tallest in U.S. behind University of Pittsburgh's tower
I've only heard what is contained in those articles. The fact that Santiago Calatrava says he is owed 11.3 million for the project really makes me scratch my head a little. How far along did he take the project? Is he doing all of the record work? I thought he was just the designer. Also, did he not get payed along the way at all?
I would love to be in the room when the AFL-CIO guys unseal the bids
perhaps Calatrava has to pay the consultants of which the architect of record may be among them
seems like thats really what hes owed... thats only .5% of the reported 2$billion construction budget... and id imagine his cut of construction budget is much higher than that....
seems like a pretty good deal for the unions... they'll get the jobs on the site, plus they would get the property if the project fails... im sure theyd rather the thing gets built, but with such a valuable piece of land as a fall back, it seem like a very realistic on its surface.
if anyone sees any more news on this please post it here
How will the unions insure their investment? $2billion is a lot of cash, I dont know if it's legal for a pension to invest directly in speculative real estate. I'd like to know more on the particulars.
from that article im assuming that should kelleherr default on his repayment, the afl-cio would get the land.
also from the article, it looks like the total loan is 170$million. Also, according to that article, the AFL-CIO's Building Investment Trust, which is an arm of their pension fund has developed at least 2 other residential tower in the city of chicago.
This deal makes a lot of sense to me from the unions point of view. They loan kelleher the money and are repaid with interest. At the same time, they members are promised jobs. Obviously, those working members pay their union dues, and are grateful to union leadership for the opportunity. Worst case scenario is that kelleher defaults on the loan, the AFL-CIO is out whatever is left for repayment, but takes control of one of the most valuable, if not THE most valuable open plot in the city...
I went to Kamin's blog not the article. So it's the trust, not the pension fund and it's for the $170million not the cost of the building. What it does it is secure the land. I bet Kehlers' ass feels like the hole in the picture.
hahaha... yes jack... im sure it does... oh well, im sure at this point he just needs to get this thing going again... if only to restore the prospect of profit in the future. Seems like a super sweet deal for the unions and the city in general. Lets hope it works out
Heres a nice picture of the Loop looking east from the West Side Ashland Stop of the Green Line
http://www.flickr.com/photos/imaginaryjonathan/4151629109/in/photostream/
Who's going to the I-Go party tonite?
With so many of us out of work, and our work brethren struggling to keep busy at the office, some here in Chicago have taken upon themselves to do whatever to bring in commissions. Even designing the 21st century version of a Christmas tradition: introducing das gingerbread haus...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/chi-gingerbread-architects-htmlstory,0,7268224.htmlstory
Anybody ever go on the Chicago Architecture Foundation tours? Any suggestions?
Jack, I checked out your google link of the odd tiny town. What an interesting story; Thanks for the diversion!
For those who haven't checked it out, its a factory town called Marktown in East Chicago, Indiana. They have a historic preservation website with lots of goodies.
Here's the opening paragraph from the site:
Welcome to Marktown
This unique neighborhood was designed by Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw in 1917 for industrialist Clayton Mark.
It has been referred to as "the Brigadoon of Industrial Housing,
rising out of the mists of industry every few years."
Very cool Logo, too.
Here’s the link:
http://www.marktown.org/
Yes I found that after I posted. It rang a bell somewhere. Its one of those places you hear about and then forget. Truely an interesting spot. Im about an hour from there, it would make a nice trip to go get som pictures.
bah... well, a few weeks late on this piece of news... but the AFL CIO pension funds have decided to pass on loaning money to get the Chicago Spire construction back up and running... there is anarticle about it here...
The union would probably double the cost of the project. It's ironic that they cannot make a go at it based upon their inflated wages....
Rod Blagojevich says he's blacker than Obama... (see today's Daily Show)
oh man. When will this man go AWAY?
I never liked that spire deal, from when I first read about it. It seems like the one thing we should have learned from this whole financial crisis is that housing real estate is not guaranteed to gain value. I could very easily seem them getting the deal together, constructing the building, selling the units for market price and coming out as a loser. They might not have completely lost their shirts, but its very easy to see them losing 10% to 20% on their investment, and much, much greater loses certainly aren’t out of the question. Anyhow, If I were in that union, I wouldn’t want them wagering their benefits package savings on high risk investments like this.
Even if things completely fell through and they wound up owning that site, it would be a pretty damn illiqued asset. They would be better off having their original investment funds in hand.
illiquid. Hmm I wonder if Archinect can get a spellchecker to help us out?
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