urbanSTL

JivecitySTL wrote:I can only hope that as the vacant land in the city is slowly but surely built upon, that the designs of the projects that grace them will improve over time.

Agreed! Unless someone else wants to build something new, there is not much point belittling the few new buildings that happen to go up.



Rome wasn't built overnight...and St. Louis won't be built over a decade...or several. There are at best patchy areas in the city with buildings over a few stories, so until demand is there for density it is unrealistic to insist that it be built.



Just my take today.

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:

Ihnen wrote:Anyone have a more recent rendering to help us with the color?

OK, I'll take that. It's a nice looking building. I like the red!

That "red", would be the brick veneer you were just bemoaning...

^ I don't think there will be any brick veneer - I believe that it's all some sort of metal skin.

jlblues wrote:

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:

Ihnen wrote:Anyone have a more recent rendering to help us with the color?

OK, I'll take that. It's a nice looking building. I like the red!

That "red", would be the brick veneer you were just bemoaning...

Well, if is really that color of red, then I'm fine with brick.

And it really is brick, per



http://researchbuilding.slu.edu/



(in the "View the Plans" section)

Hmm... I thought it was all pretty clear what the final building would look like, but maybe it's because I was finishing my master's at SLU when it was proposed, so i was paying more attention.



The brick will be the newer official SLU architectural color -- you know the dark orange/red like Laclede garage, new Busch Student Center, etc. (Not the classier dark red brick/pink granite of DuBourg/Verhaeggen.) I think the aluminum and glass part of the building will end up with a slight green tint (to match the pointy roofs, of course), but it should be fairly subtle--maybe moreso than the rendering.

Well, I'll be! I don't mind the brick color, I just hope it doesn't look anything like the large brick panels on Busch - where you can see when a pre-fab panel starts and ends.

A red-and-green building. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Ihnen wrote:Well, I'll be! I don't mind the brick color, I just hope it doesn't look anything like the large brick panels on Busch - where you can see when a pre-fab panel starts and ends.

From a quick glance on my drive-by yesterday, I dare say you shall be dissappointed then. It seemed to have many quite obvious joints, but in truth I couldn't tell whether it is brick or precast panels and stay in my lane at the same time.

If built properly to today's standards, every masonry building will have expansion joints. This is to alleviate the cracking that occurs in brick structures due to the movement of the building.

Both the BSC and the new research building have hand laid brick. The only joints are the expansion joints that are standard in any new construction of that size.

You can look at the progress on the building through this live web cam:



http://www.clayco.oxblue.com/cam1/

wow, that is a cool website. the zoom function is cool. i was looking at the new casino queen project on that website and it's nice to see how competition (new downtown Pinnacle casino) forces others to up the ante (no pun intended).

this building is fine. but I'm upset about the sea of green space around the base. And another fountain? Can SLU not step up to the level of Wash U? Wash U really raises the bar for st. louis. SLU doesn't need to emulate Maryville or Lindenwood. Maybe the fountain will be another place for more dolphins...

^ I'm not sure that Wash U raises the bar, at least above 19-something faux World's Fair. The campus is nice, I very much like the library, but don't know what else stands out. For better or worse (so far for worse) SLU has abundant land. They haven't been forced to fill in anything or create density. If you want to see a university campus that is raising the bar visit the University of Cincinnati.

Maybe its raising the bar in today's respects but style does contract to make these more adventursome buildings out-of-date quickly. Looking back on the first Cinci building, it is very 70s modern and not urban or pedestrian scaled/friendly. The next two have helmets with no or razor thin horizontal windows. These are not raising the bar.



Washington University was built in collegiate gothic, not World's Fair which is Neo-Classical. Period architecture establishes an aura of longstanding history, wealth, and prestige. It really does not bother me that WashU builds as they do. I noticed along Forest Park Parkway their powerhouse has a gothic tower smokestack instead of a more typical St. Louis factory smokestack; that's intriguing. If they want to raise the bar it should be with mixing period architecture, urban and pedestrian friendly details and orientation with geometric shapes. It seems that the University will continue to build on their parking lot fronting Forest Park Parkway closer to the Skinker station.

I'm not sure that Wash U raises the bar, at least above 19-something faux World's Fair

are you joking? World's Fair... Yes, building only "modern" buildings is the only way to be "progressive"

i had a really bizarre dream the other night that this building exploded just before it was completed. it just completely shattered and blew everywhere...didn't really go up in flames but more like a blown out glass window.



it was incredibly bizarre...had something to do with an explosive based on a salt compound.



i've got to stop eating after midnight...

^Oh, I don't know...sounds entertaining!

The non blown up building is now taking the color it was originally advertised to have.

Grover wrote:...If you want to see a university campus that is raising the bar visit the University of Cincinnati.







...

What is this!? University of Picasso?

Sorry Grover -- I couldn't resist!



Joking aside, I have to agree with the others. A historic style conveys a completely different message than a modern one. Having gone to UMSL for undergrad (with its lovely early-1970s concrete "ice cube tray" ceilings), and then SLU for my Masters, my connection to the campus was completely different. SLU may not have an entirely uniform or attractive design; but walking through that campus, the feeling of belonging to something with such a tradition and legacy was striking.



Some of Wash U's newer buildings border on the gimmicky (aka "Welcome to Six Flags over Gothic University!"), but I think with age they will patina, and in 20 years or so they'll fit in as well as the old buildings.

Fair enough, but I'd then say that Wash U may be "holding down the fort" and not "raising the bar".

MattnSTL wrote:The non blown up building is now taking the color it was originally advertised to have.

Thank god! I was really starting to worry. I'll have to drive by and check it out.

The green monster is slowly disappearing!