How did we go from this,





to this?





I still like the ballpark that is going up but what a difference and I never heard a sole question these changes. If I remember correctly HOK told us to expect the best park they have yet to design. Well honestly it looks like the better design was left on the table. What a shame as I thought the fisrt rendering was beautiful with the green glass, the cornice work, and the red missouri granite at the base of the structure. I don't think the current design has any of these features although I could be mistaken.

This was made for two reasons, that I know of.



The first is to make it better resemble Cupples station.



The second is because the construction schedule was sped up greatly, they decided to forgo a few minor details.



Also, if you look at the designs, the newer one has a more contemporary look (hit me with your complaints, I know it is not the modern design like some of you wanted), while the old design is retro through and through.



Personally, I am undecided on which design I like better, I like both.



I will also use this post for a little shameless self promotion. Look at my sig.

I have my own cynical suspicion. Initial drawings are always made to look gorgeous, just to win the support of the financiers, be they public or private. Often they are simply the product of an artist's imagination about what a proposed project COULD look like. Think of the expansion to Wash U.'s med campus. I don't think the original design was ever seriously intended to be implemented, but rather was intended to drum up support for a controversial new ballpark.



At any rate, I neither trust the judgement nor like the desgins of HOK, as I've mentioned before. Their best shot? Doesn't say much in my book.

Honestly, I totally forgot that the first renderings looked that good.



I agree that the first shot is definately classier than the second one that is being built. If you look, the first is much more detailed and has a lot more character to it. What's worse now is not only was the second design chosen, the brick is being put together off-site, and now "assembled" in chunks at the site - due to lack of time. I hope this comes out looking ok - but I'm slightly concerned that this may take even more away from the building.

That's kind of disappointing. The first design is considerably better.

I'll post some pics here friday, or maybe today, but the brick really doesn't look that bad. could have been better obviously though.

I was going to take pics of the brick going up today, but I forgot to change the dead batteries in my camera after I came back from Washington, DC. I will get a close up of the brick tommorrow. There is some details in the brickwork, but nothing like the ornate (I think somewhat overly so) cornices.

I can understand the blending of the ballpark and Cupples. I think the brick should be a darker shade of red though. Not a complaint whatsoever, just pointing out the deep shade of red brick is rather indigenous to the area which is another reason I liked the red missouri granite in the first rendering.

If the intent was to make the ballpark blend in with Cupples, then why were the rounded windows removed?

I took this picture in July. The letter was only up a few days before they took it down again. Probably just checking the mounting brackets or something, neat to see though.

Everytime I see the new stadium I get a little giddy.

I get giddy when I think about Ballpark Village. If we can land an ESPN Zone I'll be very excited. The new stadium is much nicer than I first anticipated.

Still doesn't have sh*t on the old Busch. That's a relic, and I will miss it terribly. It's such an intrinsic part of the city's identity.

I never found the old one that great either, and I know people will generally forget about it quick. The new one could definately be better, but it will be nice. It definately relates to the urban environment better, and Ballpark Village will make the area special. I will have a tear in my eye when the wrecking ball takes the first swing, but it will only be momentary.

Really the current Busch is still a really nice stadium, esp after 1996 when the new owernship cleaned up the stadium. That was a major step forward.

However, the new stadium, with its development right next to the highway will go along way to help making the southern half of downtown have a comparable density to the area north of Market. It makes you wonder when the designs for the ballpark village roll off for people too see. Somehow, it would guess no later than the opening next april, if not sometime this January.

I guess I don't really care myself, the Cardinals can do what they want: take a loyal market, slash supply of seats, raising demand and prices.. sound investment as long as they don't alienate their real fans & pull a savvis center..



whatever, I just don't care for alot of the way they tried to "sell" it. even though the current stadium was a cookie cutter multipurpose POS from the seventies, its come a long way, and is absolutely unique today. Imagine it in 70 more years.. we deserve the prestige and history that the cubs & yankees & red sox have.



the new one will be the cookie cutter:



baltimore





sbc park





and its not quality, the brick facing is just red cement from giant forms, it looks cheap up close, ready to knock down in another 30 years.



and why the hell is it so close to the highway? I thought we were all afraid of terrorism, the next timothy mcveigh could take out half the stadium without even getting off the interstate.



and ballpark village can eat my grits, i'd rather have a nice huge place in IL with free parking where I can tailgate & not pay 10 bucks a beer.. man i hate mondays

^This is baseball, not football.

I just don't understand why people are negative about this new stadium. Busch is a dump. Okay? An absolute dump. Yes, they painted it nice, and put grass in, made it look presentable, but it was still a dump. The arches around the top were cool, but that doesn't change the fact that the building was a dump. It lent little or no connection to the surroundings of downtown, and anyone who complains about the Bottle District yet reveres the old Busch are being hypocritical.



The new stadium will interact much more so with the streetscape and bring about the same feel that people get when they go to wrigley. Being able to watch a game from places other than your TV set or at the Ballpark is a good idea.



Camden Yards and SBC Ballpark are brilliant designs and have done wonders for the Orioles and Giants. We should be so lucky to have the same sort of impact with the new stadium.



Plus, our kids will be talking about the house that Albert built, the way our grandparents talked about the house that Ruth built.

shinpickle @ 3K WY wrote:and ballpark village can eat my grits, i'd rather have a nice huge place in IL with free parking where I can tailgate & not pay 10 bucks a beer.. man i hate mondays

And this attitude is exactly what makes the rest of the country think St. Louis is a boring, podunk, flyover town. Look at Wrigly field-surronded by a neighborhood with hardly any parking, great Public Transit access, very dense with lots of bars and residential, and Chicagoans absolutely love it.



So what do these whiner St. Louisans want? A stadium in the middle of a boring corn field with an eight lane highway and plenty of room to drink their cheap beer in the back of a pick-up truck so they don't have to buy $2.50 beers at a bar.



I for one want a ballpark village with sports bars, restaurants, and shops. I want to be able to have a great time going downtown on game day-whether or not I have tickets. I want to be able to interact with fellow fans at bars, have a nice dinner out with friends, and even check out the view of the stadium from an apartment overlooking the park.



...Yeah, that's too bad they didn't do that corn field in Illinois thing. That would've been great



edit: no need for profanity!

While I don't find the new Busch stadium to be necessarily unique, it certainly blends in with the surrounding urban landscape better than the old Busch. Plus, the old Busch replaced a small Chinatown in St. Louis. The new Busch will be creating a neighborhood instead of destroying one.



The success of that neighborhood (Ballpark Village) remains to be seen and depends upon Cordish's implementation of their plans, I suppose. Still, the new Busch is closer to urban redevelopment than the Modernist, circular, grid-destroying old Busch. Yes, it has memories, but what sports stadium doesn't?



I do admit...it would have been neat to see Busch outlast all other cities' stadiums (besides Chicago and Boston, that is). It is a relic of modernist urban redevelopment in U.S. CBD's in a particularly bleak era (or at least the beginning of a dismal era).



However, I wonder if Busch could have even lasted 40, 50, 60 more years without significant improvements to its internal structure amounting to near the cost of a new stadium anyhow...