Chas Wiederhold

See this tweet thread for questions about the wood. I would assume they would replace with wood again because they have been preparing for this day.

I was trying to suggest that the rendering of 8th and Sycamore did not indicate the color shift, yet we got the color shift. The rendering of 8th and Main shows it as some nondescript white material, and maybe it will be something exceptional like the colorshift... just white-ish. And I'm not saying it will be colorshift, but maybe it will have a different unique texture or effect.

My hope for this part of uptown is that it develops like the Navy Yard in Philadelphia. Yes, office park, but also yes very walkable and bike friendly despite the buildings being spread out. Now if only you didnt have to go through the dead zone of parking between 76 and 95 to get to it. https://goo.gl/maps/Qum2Ym1XT9v

With this being another Senhauser/Neyer project, I wonder if we are going to get a really interesting facade material like they used on 8th and Sycamore. There was no indication from those renderings that they would be using that color shift panel.

Looks like you didn't think hard enough, Travis, hahaha.

One of the best parts of running the Flying Pig is running the 7th Street canyon.

This is big news... and no architects who I've talked to have a good understanding of why FC Cincinnati would be switching design architect at this point.

From the article: The Neuroscience Building could be expanded up to 8 stories higher?? That's wild. One of Perkins + Will's best projects.

I don't disagree 100% with you guys. 1) @ryanlammi, I like your plan. It is far more feasible. From where I stand though, if you start with proposing that, it will get scaled back to something more conservative. Shoot for the stars (crying babies in mozart wigs) and you might land on the moon (Ryan Lammi's proposal). 2) Wanna wrestle about how cool the Kroger building is or is not? It's going down the next time we hang out. 3) @bfwissel I totally agree. Kroger must be a community partner in this, especially if they plan to operate out of their existing HQ tower for another generation. They stand to benefit from an incredible public space more than others and must be robustly engaged. I just wouldn't want them to control the process like Western & Southern with Lytle Park. Not that I hang out in Little Corporatia (a nickname I just came up with for the southeast corner of downtown) very much, but the whole project from Anna Louise Inn to demo-ing the houses on Arch Street and on and on stink of exclusivity at the expense of the public.

I just feel like no one should wait for Kroger to do anything. My idea is based off of the Barcelona Superblock idea: https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/08/inside-a-pedestrian-first-superblock/566864/ Yeah, it's a new idea, but it's not entirely untested. I'll admit, Ryan, my proposal was totally free and philanthropically funded by Cintifuse angel investors who run underground weiner dog racing leagues. Further, I lust for the OG international style Kroger Building. It's base was far more open (but it appears as if the south side of the building was always more fortified). I also love the mechanical penthouse as an object on top of the tower. Cue someone reminding that this building sucked and was trash before the re-do and that nothing good has ever happened in this city after the great depression.

Which I referred to in my list of plaza amenities:

Occidental Square Park in Seattle for reference: https://www.google.com/search?q=occidental+square+park&safe=off&rlz=1C1GCEU_enUS821US821&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiv8rONj5ThAhUI74MKHVB6BkcQ_AUIDygC&biw=1536&bih=782 I posted about the conceived idea of Court Street on twitter a while back. If you squint hard, you can see how life would be different today if the Kessler Parks Plan was fully implemented:

OH, COME ON! We've gotta be visionary and rip off the band aid! Here, please put on my pair of rose tinted sunglasses, and buckle your seat belts. NO MORE THRU-STREET AND LOTS OF TREES AND CRUSHED AND PACKED LIMESTONE! In a car at West Court Street, you have two options if you're a normy: Turn left to go north on Vine or go straight into a subterranean garage. In a car at East Court Street, you have two options if you're a normy: Turn left to go south on Walnut or go straight into a subterranean garage. The garage would hold double the amount of cars that this one block currently holds and would cost the same as on street parking today. Up above, you have a park much like Occidental Square Park in Seattle. One really awesome thing that would take place at the Court Street Plaza would be the gathering of FCC supporters on their march to UDF Stadium in the West End. Every day, the plaza would be filled with lunch time crowds, public art, ice sculpture competitions, movie nights, concerts, bocce ball, cornhole, ping pong, weiner dog races, giant chess, light shows, psychos, Furbies, screaming babies in Mozart wigs, sunburned drifters with soap sud beards, Ice sculptures (did I already say that?), winos, Germfs – German smurfs – a Teddy Ruxpin wearing mascara, an old lady wearing Kid ‘N Play hair, and none other than DJ Baby Bok Choy.

I was sent an e-mail today from Derek Bauman about the future of Court Street. I've paraphrased it below. There is a survey linked. The Downtown Pedestrian Task Force is circulating a survey asking respondents how they would use a transformed Court Street between Vine and Walnut Street. One of the project goals is to transform this block into a vibrant and pedestrian-oriented civic space that can provide flexibility for programming and encourage strong indoor/outdoor spaces for adjacent businesses. Please complete the survey below by Thursday, March 28, and feel free to share with your friends, coworkers, and neighbors: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2QNWTPV If you have any questions about the survey, you can e-mail Derek Bauman: [email protected] Continue the conversation below with what you shared in the survey!

When I was last in San Francisco, I visited a friend who lived in a new building in Dogpatch and I wondered if it could be Camp Washington in some distant future. The neighborhoods have many similarities. 1) Sandwiched by a large highway (I-75 and Southern Embarcadaro) and no man's land (railyards and the bay) 2) That highway separates the neighborhood from a hilly neighborhood (CUF and Protrero Hill) 3) Both have histories of being heavily industrial (railyards vs shipping yards) I'm sure there are more similarities. And perhaps even bigger differences that don't make this a very worthwhile comparison. In any case, I saw how the development there could be a model for the development in Camp Washington. Streetcar extension from Rhinegeist, to Colerain, to Spring Grove, to Northside. Boom baby. https://goo.gl/maps/VhSmfescJv32

What I appreciate about the MIT/Harvard and the UT Austin proposal is creating a "Museum Campus" around the Freedom Center. I think that is a strong move to make the Freedom Center a civic node for The Banks neighborhood and I think that is most effectively accomplished by transforming the cap block north of Freedom Center to park or plaza and all others would be built up. I also continue to push, whenever I get a chance, the idea that the caps are built to carry a 4-story building, but that building doesn't have to be limited to 4 stories. The 4-story building limit is a weight calculation, not a height calculation. So, by building a building on stilts with plaza beneath or out of incredibly lightweight construction, you could potentially go higher.

UC's campus is the bomb. It's Friday. I don't have the bandwidth to respond semantic warriors or haters. I will go down with this ship. I don't give a hoot about Hausman's Paris or L'Enfant's DC. I'm interested in Koolhaas' Lille and Bernard Tschumi's Parc de la Villette and Kohn Peterson Fox's Hudson Yards/High Line and James Corner Field Operation's Vancouver. Pragmatism, not historicism. There's my bias. That's why I think UC rocks. I'm not alone. If those places don't fit your definition of urbanism, such is the way of this wonderful world where the answers are made up and the points don't matter. Here, someone already wrote this argument from both sides. I'll save us all the prodding and poking: Lessons from Cincinnati What can Harvard learn from the Midwestern university's bold building boom? http://archive.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2007/11/18/lessons_from_cincinnati/?page=2 EDIT for family friendliness

Y'all are a tough crowd to please. I can't disagree more. I love UC's campus. It is truly different, in a very good way. The most urban microcosmic campus you will find (outside of campuses contained within single skyscrapers). Mainstreet flipped the script on what social space looks like on a college campus. So what if UC's main social space isn't a classic quad like the Oval or anything at OU or Miami; that's so 19th Century. Mainstreet on a spring or fall day looks like an ant farm of human activity. Open yer eyes! And I don't care if you've lived in Corryville your whole life, I've lived, studied, and worked off and on that campus for 7 of the last 10 years. Anyone who is boo-hooing that people don't hang out on Sigma Sigma Commons hasn't taken a good look at it since 2005. I have students who literally call the east end of Sigma Sigma Commons "Eno Grove" because of the double and triple decked hammocks (Eno is a popular brand) that spring up in the tree groves. When the weather is nice, it would be rare to not find a cricket game being played on campus and people sitting in the amphitheater. Heck, there might even be some Don Juan or Juanita playing their guitar on one of the sculptural hills. Does every part of a landscape have to have a purpose? Can't we just delight in the uncanny and absurd? Tailgating on Sigma Sigma Commons has grown exponentially since I was in undergrad there 10 years ago. With the university orienting more buildings to open up onto the commons, the 2 sisters and 1 step sister, the business school, the new law school, and the trees growing taller, Sigma Sigma is only going to become even more popular. It's still important to note: Sigma Sigma Commons is already popular. And for real, half of the conversations on this board are about how shoddy new infill architecture in this city is and then when you have an institution that actually recognizes talent and pays for it, y'all poo poo that too. What gives?! The above comments confirm the stereotype that Cincinnatians can''t recognize the embarrassment of treasures right under their noses.

Spill the details for the non-natives. Those are some strong accusations.

I would happily pay $60 for a parking permit if I were allowed, but because I do not own a car, there is no facility for me to do so. Anytime I've expressed this to community members, my situation is not considered worth the debate or I am told "if you let people who don't own cars to have parking passes, then what stops them from letting their friends or family use that pass for FC Cincinnati or the CSO or a Bengals game." I guess nothing... but I'm still a resident without a parking pass.

I imagine many of those 7-lane votes are coming from business owners. There is a rift between the residential community and the business community in Over-the-Rhine. It seems absurd that the priorities of both don't align, but the business community can't imagine a world without free parking for their customers and employees and the residential community (specifically property owners, more than renters) can't imagine a world without tight restrictions on parking. Frustrating for someone who lives in the neighborhood so that they don't have to own a car.

Some fun numbers: 83 recommendations for the 5 Lanes Option 72 from the three surrounding neighborhoods, 3 from outside the neighborhoods – Westwood, Oakley and Mt lookout and 8 e-mails 32 recommendations for the 7 Lane option 4 recommendations with no address or an unknown address 3 recommendations with half the ballot filled in but no Option was chosen Also, i'm now hearing that this project has to go to the planning commission because of changes to the ROW.

Last night's meeting was a joke with a phony "vote." I feel bad for the city's transportation guy who becomes a punching bag for community concern. 1) Not a single city councilperson was there 2) No representatives from FCC 3) Owner of the Senate et all frustrated that they only found out about this meeting a half an hour before it happened - which shifted part of the focus of the vitriol to the city's community engagement efforts 4) History of the project was presented and it appeared as if they were showing a presentation that hadn't been updated in some time because the presentation referred to cycle track options that are no longer part of the project. 5) They presented 3 reasons why, after a tremendous amount of community engagement, and funding secured for the project, why the project was being reconsidered. Those reasons were 1. that there is a 20 year old water main under the south side of Liberty that would be too close for comfort to the foundations of new buildings on the south side of Liberty. Cost to move that is $800,000. When asked if the cost to move was part of an existing budget to replace outdated water mains, they responded by saying that water mains should last 100 years, so this one is still spry. 2. FC Cincinnati 3. The OTR residential parking plan. The Liberty Street Road Diet would remove 77 24-hour parking spaces. The 5 lane plan would include around 77 7pm-7am parking spaces and still some 24-hour parking on the north side of Liberty at the base of Prospect Hill (included within that 77). The 7 lane plan would include around 66 24-hour parking spaces and bump outs at the intersections. I read over some emails among neighbors that Jeff Pastor is the needed Yes vote. In a last ditch effort to make the 7-lane plan appeal to emotion, Cranley suggested that they've learned from Northside that 24-hour parking makes safer streets. So, in what I can imagine not being what Cranley expected when he made his statement, council moved forward a motion to explore a 5-lane option with 24-hour parking, haha. All of that was paraphrased from my neighbors' emails. If some details of the actual scenario differ, please accommodate for that. Everyone I talked to was enthusiastically for the 5-lane proposal. I did see an elderly couple leave without speaking up or speaking to anyone else, and at least the wife had the 7-lane proposal checked on their voting sheet. Speaking of the voting sheet. Attached below. If you are a property owner, resident, or business owner, you might as well print it out and send it in with your vote. I appeal to you to vote for the 5-lane option, and I don't understand how you could justify spending all this money to re-do Liberty Street without reclaiming any new property from the south of the street, which is what the 7-lane option does.

Truly a shame. I can only imagine how student culture would change if getting to Burnet Woods wasn't a game of IRL frogger. Jefferson does an okay job with the median plantings, IMO, but would do even better with a streetcar running up it. A streetcar on Jefferson would justify its width. Clifton does okay until Joselin, then turns into a drag race to MLK.

I was giving John Ronan a tour of UC when I was in grad school and he made an interesting observation about the campus. The campus intrigued him for its compactness. This led to a statement that I continue to ponder. As UC grows denser and denser, the architect's role is going to move further and further from the designing of an object in the landscape and closer and closer to designing the spaces between buildings. He was impressed by the negative spaces on campus; the path between the Geology Building, Old Chem, and the Physics Building, the artery between Steger and CRC, the plazas surrounding CCM, Calhoun, and Siddal. He told me that he wants to visit the campus again in a hundred years to see how the already very urban campus intensifies over that century. He was to design a new Alumni Center in and around the University YMCA. I think the project has been scuttled, which is unfortunate because I love Ronan's Poetry Foundation and Innovation building on IIT's campus, both in Chicago and worth visiting.