TCA Architects, Inc.’s Post

Per Tuesday's news, a blockbuster proposal for United Center-adjacent land represents a giant step toward "restoring the traditional neighborhood development pattern," in the words of Chicago planning commissioner Ciere Boatright. Fifty-five acres of surface parking lots that have long severed the Near West Side would be redeveloped with a mix of up to 5,000 housing units (20% affordable), a 6,000-seat music venue designed by Los Angeles architecture firm RIOS, and a hotel with 2.5 acres of elevated park space. Field Operations and Chicago-based site design group, ltd. and are other key members of the project design team, placing deserving emphasis on landscape and the pedestrian experience. United Center CEO Terry Savarise describes the approach as more neighborhood infill than entertainment district. It's a model one could imagine deploying for the Guaranteed Rate Field environs in Bridgeport. We agree with the Sun-Times Editorial Board that the project must be done carefully and with community participation and that it's encouraging that no public moneys are being sought initially. If tax dollars do come into the picture, we hope the primary use is for construction of a new CTA Pink Line station. The project, led by Michael Reinsdorf and Danny Wirtz, targets a 2025 start with the hotel & park component (including underground parking), and progresses through several phases toward a 2035 completion. #megadevelopment #LoopAsLab #stadiums #UnitedCenter #1901Project Link to Sun-Times column: https://lnkd.in/ghWVXcsW

Building the Future, Honoring the Past. At CIRCLE WEST ARCHITECTS, every building tells a story. With our talented design teams, we do not just design structures, we craft environments where history and innovation meet. Imagine walking through a space where every detail is a testament to thoughtful design, where the lines between past and future are expressed purposefully. This is the kind of magic we bring to every project, whether it is breathing new life into a historic building or shaping the skyline with modern marvels. Our architecture does not just fill space, it defines it. It speaks of care, precision, and an unwavering commitment to excellence. We believe every brick, every pane of glass, has a role in telling your story, one of vision, value, and enduring beauty. Trust CIRCLE WEST ARCHITECTS to turn your real estate into more than just a property. We will help you sustain a legacy that stands the test of time. Let's build something extraordinary together.

Jeff Speck shares 10 tactics to develop city walkability that improve pedestrian safety and can be implemented immediately - all while reviving city's center. For anyone interested in urban design and planning or community improvement, I highly recommend Jeff Speck's book : Walkable City Rules, 101 Steps to Making Better Places. It is an essential read that builds upon the fundamental concepts introduced in this article, offering a deeper understanding and a more comprehensive toolkit for creating flourishing cities.   Find the book here 👉 https://rb.gy/m7puus   Wireframe | Public Art agency #UrbanPlanning #WalkableCities #CommunityDevelopment #JeffSpeck  

This past project for Curry County included a program and space needs assessment along with architectural concept design scenarios for the facility and site. Stakeholders were engaged in order to get a sense of what the community would support in terms of a new recreation facility. Online surveys were made available to the community to give their input as well as a public meeting with a live survey component. Time was allowed for more specific input as well. A meeting to strategize resources available was held with Curry County, the City of Clovis, and the Clovis Public School District. Areas of cooperation were discussed and potential opportunities for sharing in managing facilities in the future were put forward. From this input, a conceptual program of spaces was developed, responding to the perceived needs, and potentially what funding could be available to make it happen. A process of site evaluation was undertaken based on input from the county and the community. Multiple sites were chosen as the most likely places the facility could go and the pros and cons of the sites were evaluated within the report. Conceptual building designs were developed using the programmatic information created. Images of these designs were included in the planning report. Opinion of probable costs based on the conceptual designs were used to develop budgetary information. A projected schedule for the development of the Sports Complex / Recreation Center was provided. #ThrowbackThursday #VA_Architects  #CurryCounty

Why do people buy a grapefruit from Borough Market rather than their local store? How do we craft joyful, authentic architecture that creates experiences and serves people, place and community?   In this episode of Building Insights, Trevor Morriss talks to James Parker about our approach to masterplanning large complex schemes and designing experiential spaces that inspire. He reflects on his involvement in transforming London districts, a city he describes as "the DNA of who I am as a person."   Trevor shares his insights on: - Community engagement: Lessons from the exemplary community consultation process at OlympiaUK and a recent planning meeting that brought into question the way the housing crisis is being tackled - Heritage: Adopting a conservation, rather than preservation, approach to give historic buildings a modern lease of life   - Improvement vs. gentrification: Understanding the nuances between enhancing an area and gentrifying it - Joyful yet measured design: The thoughtful integration of elements needed to ensure our building stock is not all ‘vanilla’, but also features ‘raspberry ripple’ moments   Don’t miss this insightful conversation on the transformative power of architecture with the right approach and community involvement!   Listen now: https://lnkd.in/eyqZ-EmK #SPPARC #spparchitecture

"Why stop at killing the Ontario Science Centre? Toronto is no city for old buildings..." - a comment by writer Shawn Micallef in a piece for the Toronto Star which was meant to be ironic, but hits close to home in Chatham-Kent. We have a decidedly mixed record here in CK when it comes to preserving historically and architecturally significant structures. A current proposal before Council includes "killing" several of our own historically and architecturally significant public buildings (Civic Centre, Chatham-Kent Public Library Chatham Branch, and Chatham-Kent Museum), even though the cost to repair and renovate them is significantly lower. Questionable (and in some cases, non-existent) financial arguments to move these publicly-owned buildings barely 2-3 blocks into a building that's almost the same vintage seems as ironic as it is perplexing. Despite being heralded as some kind of downtown saviour for several years now, we know almost nothing more about this building and this proposal than we did when it was first announced. Still too many questions, and too few answers. Will we look back at this moment as our "Harrison Hall 2024"; a loss that our community uses to this day as a tragic example of short-sighted demolition?* Or will we recognize the financial, environmental and historic benefit of fixing what we already own and ensuring these busy and active facilities can serve as hubs for our communities for many more decades to come? *(For those outside of CK, Harrison Hall was another historic civic building in Chatham lost to the wrecking ball. Irony abounds (again) because Harrison Hall was torn down so private developers could build a Sears department store...and it's the now-empty former Sears store that Chatham-Kent taxpayers are now being asked to buy from a private developer...for the facilities mentioned above). #ckont #chathamkent #chathamontario #libraries #library #architecture #historicpreservation #creativereuse #architecturalmasterpiece #chathamkentmuseum #chathamkentlibrary #chathamkentciviccentre #cityhall #midcenturymodern Lloyd Alter Catherine Nasmith Kae Elgie Architectural Conservancy Ontario National Trust for Canada Alex Bozikovic

The Amsterdam development is the typical way to break open an urban area and townscape that should be protected by city codes, but is not. Urban areas that give form to the sole and culture of the city. Too much history is already lost in the need to go big. Atlanta will face big challenges in growth, but should be careful in its developments. The piedmont park / VH / Morningside area is unique since it forms the typical Atlanta plot structure character of single homes in a very green environment. Atlanta : the city in the woods, the green canopy. Large developments should be avoided in that area, since it will destroy in the end that historically grown small scale Atlanta characteristics. Architects should be aware of that. And it also destroys the original idea of the beltline. Recreate at human scale in a green small scale path, fhe green and bohemian (small scale pedestrian) corridor through the city. https://chng.it/LssWtLdYPC

Don’t bother speculating. This phrase is often uttered while facing uncertainty. Consider this perspective instead: Speculation is not just idle daydreaming; it's a disciplined exercise in creativity, a powerful tool for devising novel solutions. History is rich with stories of visionaries who broke barriers and reshaped their fields through speculation and creative thinking. In the heart of New York City, a philosophical battle unfolded between Jane Jacobs, a visionary urbanist, and Robert Moses, a powerful urban planner. Moses envisioned a city shaped by grand infrastructure with neighborhoods yielding to the concrete majesty of urban design. Contrarily, Jacobs championed the vibrancy of city life, envisioning urban environments thriving on human interaction, diversity, and creativity. Their clash came to a head over Greenwich Village, where Moses planned a destructive highway. Jacobs, seeing the potential devastation to the community's social fabric, mobilized opposition, advocating for a city that nurtured human connection and complexity. Through her creative speculation about urban living, grounded in the value of organic, messy human networks, Jacobs halted the expressway project, preserving Greenwich Village's integrity. This victory underscored the transformative power of collective imagination and community engagement in shaping urban futures. Creative Speculation Exercise: Design a Pocket Park that fosters human connection and community spirit, inspired by Jane Jacobs. Choose a Space: Select a neglected or underutilized area in a community. Complete This Statement in Your Mind: The Pocket Park will transform this space from a _____ to ______. Visualize Your Pocket Park: Incorporate elements that encourage interaction. Thought Cloud: Imagine visiting a park that fits within the tiny confines of an actual pocket! Memory Keepsake: Before leaving the Pocket Park, you get a magical item to remember your visit. Tell us what it does in the comments below! #PurposefulDaydreaming #Speculation #Imagination #YonderGPT #AIcollaboration #CloudClub #creativity #pocketpark #humanitycentereddesign

Great summary of ED1 changes here, especially on the ADU 'Loophole'. I recently toured a project that reserved space for ADUs and that was making it pencil (just barely). It will be interesting to see what sort of chilling effect this has, if any.

🌵 If you’re familiar with my work on ‘spikes’ and ‘curb cuts’, please read this powerful article about the real consequences of ‘hostile architecture’. Then reflect on the unintentional, figurative and hidden spikes within the fabric of your school’s campus and curriculum, teaching and assessment, strategy, policy and practice, and to what extent they may have the same effect. 💡 Significantly, the author, Eva Wiseman, observes that our built spaces “make everybody rush through them, meaning there’s less opportunity for chance encounters, for communities to form, for idle thought.” She argues that, “rather than making an area feel more safe, these designs impact us in mean and insidious ways”. 😔 Finally, she describes them as “a grim illustration of how public spaces are increasingly not for the public at all. While billionaires build underground bunkers, and suburban doorbell security cameras monitor every passerby’s movement, as I pass another sloping bench, this hostile architecture feels like a concrete embodiment of a society at war with itself.” Now… 1️⃣ explore your data sky to find the margins of your school community 2️⃣ listen carefully and sincerely to their silent or silenced stories 3️⃣ uncover, with curiosity and humility, the spikes you didn’t know were there 4️⃣ reimagine, together, better ways of being and doing 5️⃣ and, again together, move intentionally towards it. * (*The ‘Equity Transformation Cycle’, from Safir and Dugan’s ‘Street Data’) #TheMonaLisaEffect