The Last Don

It's interesting to see the historic photos juxtaposed next to the new renderings. The architect did a good job at creating a sleek, contemporary neighborhood with an urban focus. I also like the proportions...it looks like it's built at a pleasant, human scale.

Yes, and the new site plan shows a direct connection between The Banks and the park. The street between the two has largely been eliminated, allowing for unobstructed pedestrian access.

Here is the City Beat post: New Streetcar Route City leaders have settled on a preferred route for a proposed streetcar system through downtown and Over-the-Rhine. To ensure the system generates the most redevelopment spin-off on surrounding blocks, the chosen route is longer than initially discussed and covers a larger area. http://citybeat.wordpress.com/2007/04/23/new-streetcar-route/

It looks like there is outdoor seating in front of them. Another cool feature is how the eastern section of the project faces right onto the park. That area is quite pedestrian-friendly and should be very popular before and after Reds games.

It looks like Carter added two glass-enclosed features in front of the Freedom Center. They bracket each side of the lawn at the base of the Roebling Suspension Bridge. Does anyone have any information about these features? http://cmsimg.enquirer.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Dato=20070423&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=304230051&Ref=AR&Q=80&MaxW=450&MaxH=475&Site=AB&Q=80&Border=0&Title=0

Here is the new site plan for The Banks: And here are some renderings from wlwt.com:

^ The perspective is looking from PBS...you can see the top of the Carew Tower and the Scripps Center on the left. The triangle in the foreground will be next to PBS, and is featured on the site plan for the Central Riverfront Park.

I like the scale of the project from the first rendering. The building footprints are modest, which is good. Like the others on this forum, I'm eagerly anticipating the unveiling of more renderings on Monday.

Many people in the NKY suburbs don't even go to Covington, not to mention Ohio. I've had conversations with some of them, and they don't have any conception of what much of the world is like. But in the end, their views aren't that important. As long as we build a city for the people who appreciate urban culture, then we'll have a great place to live!

Interestingly, the Ascent can be seen as you are driving south on I-71 towards downtown, in the Walnut Hills area. It can be viewed immediately to the left of the P&G towers.

I posted the rendering to give people an idea of how much additional work will be put into the facade. In a matter of months we will see how close the final product comes in relation to the rendering.

Here is what the finished product should look like:

Here is an article from the Chicago Tribune about the Olympic Stadium. It states that much of the facility will use steel frame construction, while concessions and restrooms will be located outside. Low-cost stadium wouldn't look cheap By Blair Kamin Tribune architecture critic Published January 24, 2007 This is the age of mass good taste, like the Michael Graves teakettle you can buy for $24.99 at Target. Chicago's plan for a $316 million Olympic stadium, unveiled Tuesday, represents a supersized version of that trend. The temporary stadium could turn out to be a low-budget icon, offering an object lesson in how to create a memorable image without breaking the bank. With its asymmetrical seating bowl cracked open to the outside and a sweeping tier of skyboxes lending the stadium an appropriate air of athletic dynamism, the 80,000-seat venue would subtly resemble Soldier Field--no surprise since its principal architect is Shanghai-based Ben Wood, one of the co-designers of the renovated lakefront stadium. But this is not, thank goodness, a carbon copy of that polarizing design. It's about half the height of the 150-foot-tall Soldier Field and would be tucked (as unobtrusively as possible) into a corner of vast Washington Park... http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/arts/chi-0701240059jan24,1,4891038.story?coll=chi-ent_arts-hed

Ink hit the nail on the head. If you want a landmark, then the new Brent Spence Bridge is the place to do it. Undoubtedly, the best man to design it is Santiago Calatrava, an architect that produces iconic structures almost at will: Sundial Bridge Path Station Milwaukee Art Museum More on Calatrava: Google: Santiago Calatrava

Nice pics. I love all of the nooks and crannies in Covington.

When Jack Rouse was at the port authority, and they were coming up with the Master Plan for The Banks, he said that the icon of the riverfront was the Roebling Suspension Bridge. It is the centerpiece of the development. I think that the way the park has been designed by Sasaki Associates is awesome and will be a major attraction towards getting people to live downtown. Unlike Yeatman's Cove or Sawyer Point, it will be tied directly into downtown. And by looking at Sasaki's renderings, the park really connects to the the riverfront and the Roebling Suspension Bridge at its center.

Yes, many of us have wished that multiple developers would have been included in this massive project. This may have made the project easier to get off the ground, and it likely would have prevented a monolithic design scheme. As you say, one of the great things about dense cities is the layering of architectural styles, where you can have a historic vernacular building standing next to a deconstructivist experiment by Peter Eisenman.

I think Butler is involved with the Academy of St. Gregory project in Mt. Adams, and I think Corporex owns the various Five Seasons sports complexes. But the point is that Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky are conjoined and he's right in describing a visually symbiotic relationship.

What Butler is saying is that the two skylines should be seen together as one entity. If you are driving on I-75 you can see Downtown Cincinnati and Covington together as a single composition. He is not trying to put down Cincinnati, a place where he has many projects.

It's funny that you mention the Liberty Place towers in the background...they were designed by Helmut Jahn. He was the architect of this proposal for Fountain Square West:

PhattyNati, you've been brainwashed by the Modernists! Save yourself while you can from that vicious cult. In your post you said, "while the neighborhood would be great, and the architecture would be timeless...it is not the right thing to do." The modernist ideology tries to undercut historic styles by saying that they are merely a relic of a less enlightened past, hobbled by various technological limitations. Rather than artificially degrading historic styles, we should hold them in the same esteem as contemporary innovations. And holding them in the same esteem means continuing to utilize their architectural vocabularies today. The architect should have the whole breadth and scope of mankind's legacy in the art of building. I will reiterate what I said at the top of the page: most architects aren't Frank Lloyd Wright or Le Corbusier. They cannot effectively design buildings that people will enjoy with the limited vocabulary that modernism provides. And that is ultimately what the architect should be striving for: the creation of environments and spaces that people actually like.

If they do build a tower at Fountain Square West, they should get Richard Meier to design it. He's one of the best at creating sleek, light-filled buildings. Here is an example of his work in Philadelphia, Mandeville Place:

That's a great point, Ink. It almost requires a genius to properly design a modern building, someone who can utilize space like an artist using minimal decoration.

On deck: Phase II Rendering by Ronnie Garrett

To quote grasscat, "I love it when people come into a message board and immediately begin to mix it up. I mean, Jesus, at least say hello! Do you walk into a room, pick a random woman, and tell her she's fat?"