ComandanteCero wrote:
i'll explain the vague resemblance i see (which has nothing to do with materials, but much to do with the arrangement of lines and massing). Both act and look like large rectangular slabs. They both try to go for some neat facade tricks to avoid looking too monolithic, but can't hide the fact that they are these massive repetitious and continous surfaces (to be honest this new project does a much better job in that it tries to vary spacing and shapes, but in essence they are just lines that mean jack shit in terms of real texture or surface variation. That's just my gut impressions. Again, i said the resemblance was "vague".
I honestly don't see your point-- one could argue that pretty much any large building is a large rectangular slab that uses neat facade tricks. Most buildings are more repetitive, because their window pattern is an equally spaced grid. The P&L building uses a couple of setbacks as you go up, I could argue that is a "facade trick." We just like it better because of the art deco elements glued on to it-- the spire on the top is completely a trick, because it otherwise serves no actual function.
Here's a broadly similar situation in Paris (as elucidated on SSP by ablarc):
Again, i'm not saying this is the exact situation with the KC building, but it is a situation that is akin. Even taking it purely from a streetlevel point of view, how do you go from a richly decorated and textured P+L Building directly adjacent to the sidewalk, to this arcaded, bland, and recessed passage way?
First off, the Paris building is completely monolithic, smooth, no texture at all, not even any of the "facade tricks". The analysis of that building to its neighbors is correct, but there is no analogy. . . The Paris building has a continuous band of glass above a continuous band of metal. The rendering of the proposed building shows variations in material and plane changes. Oh, I forgot, those are just facade tricks. . . I guess I don't understand what you're looking for. Any variation in the facade is just a trick, but if there aren't any variations, it's bland. . . As a sidenote, it looks like those facade tricks are mostly balconies for the apartments. And who knows-- maybe the apartments behind the solid wall w/ punched openings are different (larger, smaller, etc.) than the apartments behind the continuous curtain wall. It could be a way of expressing that different things are happening within a single large building.
The building, doesn't directly engage the sidewalk, it pulls away from it. Not to mention, the facade as a whole takes up a huge chunk of visual real estate there. Walking around Chicago, you'll see plenty of street level retail that doesn't attract your eye as much as what's above purely because the streetlevel context of the windows is so monotonous and sterile (i.e 100 feet of continous repeating windows are much less interesting than distinct visual pauses and intervals between the windows, as created by different buildings' window sizes and shapes).
I see it pulling away from the sidewalk, but it has nothing to do with bland, repeating windows. It looks like the arcade on the east side ramps up and you have to access it from the corner of 13th and Baltimore, you can't just walk into a storefront halfway down the block. This is a legitimate concern. Back to your comparison-- again, the P&L building's windows are all the same size (or relatively close)-- big storefront windows on the lower levels, small windows above. And if you don't look up when you walk past P&L, I'd say you still aren't going to see much except BNIM's nifty window displays.
Anyway, I agree beggars can't be choosers, but they can certainly grumble. Like I said before, it's not horrible and the economic and real world benefits this project would bring to that block probably outweigh the aesthetic problems, but it's most definitely groan worthy in terms of aesthetics.
I think you're reaching-- you're looking way too critically at a rendering that doesn't even show materials and details, but you're ignoring how most of your concerns can be applied to just about any large building, including buildings that you like.