w28th

^Pfff. GS does suck though.

If it were anymore integrated into the surroundings X and Htsguy, it would be hovering above the neighboring structures.

It's this very street level presence that you are talking about that will be lost when the Breuer Tower comes down. Its lobby facade with a wash would become a great lantern of the city again. And the Breuer Tower does not stand aloof from the surrounding cityscape X, it is connected on all sides to it, rising above it, ina way bringing the cityscape with it. You just wait and see how odd a 10 story building will look next to the rotunda. Apparently the County Commisioners and City Planning Commission are being inundated with emails and phone calls. Our presence is being felt. FYI, there is talk of a demolision protest in front of the Breuer Tower for this friday and sunday. I'll have more info as it comes along.

How can you be for demolishion when you don't even know what the replacement will be???

Whole thing seemed like a pep rally. And who was that drunk dude that quoted the Bone Thugs-n-Harmony song by saying, "...common Cleveland. Cleveland is the city where we come from..." It was at this point that the MC and several others swooped in and escorted him from the joint. Stark looked entertained though. Hilarious. Drinks for almost 2 hours before an event where crowd control is needed is not a good idea.

Oh yeah, now Hagan's email isn't accepting new messages. Here's the error I keep getting: The message that you sent was undeliverable to the following: cntfh (UNUSED)

The $1.4 billion county operation deserves a "signature building that will last 100 years or longer with people in it," Hagan said. "For 19 years, no one gave a damn about the [breuer] building. "Just because it's got the guy's name on it, doesn't mean it's a good building," he said. "It's a building that shouldn't have been built in the first place because it didn't have a future. If it was a great building, it wouldn't be vacant." This Hagan cat needs to go. I don't even know what to say on the subject anymore, but if you see people chained to one of the five columns of the building during rush hour, I'll be one of them. Anyone that's interested in doing it, send me a PM. Once again for your viewing pleasure...

I wouldn't say tear anything down. The reason gothic cathedrals are incredible structures is because they were done with Middle Age construction methods. Their beauty is derived from that fact. If those construction methods have progressed to what they are now, why hasn't the architecture. Copying a design just leaves so many unresearched concepts and possibilities on the table. The designer isn't striving for anything other than fitting into the context. That is not what gothic designers strived for. They strived to create dynamic spaces, make a difference, and represent a city. Architects that simply copy a design are doing none of that. As an architect, a young one at that (26), I have designed the interior of one of the units at the Joshua Hall condos, as well as a studio space that is under construction at the NW corner of Superior and W9th (first floor of the Western Reserve Building). I've also been involved with several competitions throughout the city.

Excuse me, Gothic architecture was interesting prior to the 1600's...

That's because Case's new dorms are the most ridiculously uninspiring buildings ever constructed. Gothic architecture was interesting in the 1600's because it was stretching the structural capabilites of the time. Simply pasting a faux gothic facade is a slap in the face to gothic architecture and shows how lazy some architects are. "Oh, the building next door is gothic, let's copy off of that." That's not how a design process should go.

I'm not a fan Fentress Bradburn at all. They're a poor man's Vinoly, and Vinoly is not that great to begin with.

^^^The Denver firm won because they aren't from Cleveland in all likelyhood. ^^Litt should be a little more aggressive in the way he states his opinions. Why didn't he get into comparisons between the 3 firms? Inform the reader that the Museum made the right choice or not. A representative for the museum could have written this article just as easily as Ohio's only paid architecture critic. I finish reading his articles with more questions than answers about the firms involved. He is also totally out of touch with the strides this city is making overall, although this is the first article of his that hasn't been prefaced with the "in a city that is losing population and jobs..." bullshite that he usually spews.

And can Steven Litt have an opinion for once? All he does is report architecture occurrences, why does he never get his hands dirty in taking a side?

Well that really sucks. Westlake Reed Leskosky had a very intriguing proposal for the Natural History Museum, and I'm thinking they were the ones that had the fully conceptualized models and renderings. From the looks of it, this Denver firm hasn't done anything interesting in their "27 years of architecture for people." How lame.

TCjoe I was reading your foot note, Heismann invented the forward pass and was born on Bridge Avenue in Ohio City (CLE). Did he go to school in the Firelands?

Here's an email I will be sending to County Commissioner Tim Hagan, with the other 2 commissioners CC'ed. Can anyone think of anything else that should be included? Mr. Hagan, I have to say that I am extremely disappointed in your long standing view of demolition as the only option for the new Cuyahoga County offices. Before this stance I was a backer of many of your policies. That has since changed. I find it hard to believe that you can legitimize spending roughly $20,000,000 to purchase the former Ameritrust complex, and then the roughly $20,000,000 to demolish an aesthetically intriguing structure by a world renowned architect. That's $40,000,000 to get to a blank site. That is an unacceptable use of 1.3 million peoples' tax money. How do you legitimize this? You then speak of the building being unable to adapt to sustainable energy practices and of the problem of asbestos removal. Sir, there is nothing more unsustainable than demolishing a structurally sound building of this size and then sending it to the nearest dump site. Also, have there been any studies to see if it is in fact inadaptable to sustainable technology? Secondly, the problem with the asbestos is not going to disappear because it is slated for demolition. It must be removed and abated before demolition, so either way this task will have to be performed. Then there is the matter of demolishing one of the more interesting structures in the city. Granted, I will represent only my personal opinion, but the Cleveland Chapter of the AIA, Steven Litt, and the overwhelming majority of the city's design professionals are against demolition. Yes the structure is constructed in the rarely admired Brutalist manner, and years of disuse have certainly not helped its appearance, but the way in which this structure integrates into the surrounding context (the tower pulled off East 9th Street in relation to the Rotunda, small precast concrete shells serving as window casements break down the buildings mass to a manageable human scale, and the incredible abstract entry treatment that would absolutely explode with light if brought back to use) is an incredible work of urban design. If you would have attended the Breuer forum at Cleveland State with your fellow commissioner Peter Lawson Jones a few months back you would have seen this opinion from the attendees. Also, the demolition of the building could be a bit more acceptable had the proposals for the complex been conducted in an open design competition. Instead the status quo has been achieved and an incredibly uninspired scheme by Kohn Peterson and Fox (with Madison International) is what will replace a one of the greatest pieces of architecture in this great city. I point out all of these issues because I know you are aware of all of this, and it is inconceivable as to how you can ignore all that contradict your misguided stance. You have turned a deaf ear to any ideas other than your own on this topic, and I find it very concerning. Your constituents have an opinion, you should be listening to it, or I presume you will not be County Commissioner after the next election. I would appreciate it greatly if you replied to this as it is an issue of great importance to our city and county. I thank you for your time.

Beth Kalapos, AIA Cleveland President, made an official statement in of all things The Cleveland Free Times, saying that the AIA supports keeping the Breuer Tower and is willing to work with the County Commissioners to keep the tower. Day late and a dollar short.

Great, thanks Ellison, one step forward, two steps back. More surface lots on Lorain. Another creative way of figuring out parking. He must have went to the Forest City School of surface lot planning. Has anyone ever heard of parking on the street? It's the thing you drive on before you turn into the parking lot, it has spaces on either side. Even more crazy, you may have to walk a half a block to get to your destination. I live in the West Virginia Building at W28th and Bridge, it has 20 units and every single person parks on the street. His business will have what, 4 employees? Why the f do you need a surface parking lot, especially on a prominent corner of a main thoroughfare. Ah the hell with it, who cares anymore...

How can anyone have a bad time on St. Patrick's Day in Cleveland? Check yourself before you make such a negative remark on a great day in our fair city. 400,000 people cramming into the city blocks, bag pipes in the Arcade with a Guiness in hand, what could be better?

I would have no better joy than putting some of the problems of the city directly into the suburbs. Great idea, or at the very least, put all housing projects along the peripheries of the city to share the burden of police and everything else, then let the core regroup and rebuild. Not the best social policy perhaps but if your main goal is to create a community of people vested in their neighborhoods, this is one option. This is precisely what Chicago (considered one of the most segregated cities) did with the public housing in their city. The South Side is completely cut off from the Loop and the rest of the city by a tangle of freeways serving as social barriers. This was a cognitive urban design solution for what they knew could happen if the projects were spread out. Chicago went one way; Cleveland, St. Louis, and Detroit chose the other way hoping that mixing citizens would help everyone. But what it did was push away the middle class who did not want to deal with the less well off. Funny how you can trace the fates of cities of millions of people from a small amount of big decisions.

No problem. From the looks of it, Stonebridge's fifth phase tower looks to be built a little better, so hopefully they learned their lessons in the earlier phases. Anyways, back to Ohio City speak... The Great Lakes Brewery caught me the other day. I got off the bus at Bridge Ave and W25th and the smell of the brewery was permiating the neighborhood so much that it motivated me to run up to the apartment, grab the GLBC jug and get a fill up of Conway's. Nothing wrong with living a block from a brewery.

My bad on 3 consecutive posts, but wouldn't this sort of thing go over alot better on Euclid Ave on CSU's campus? The city needs to start overlapping uses to get a density of people together instead of continually spreading out amenities like this. It would certainly make CSU a little more enticing to prospective students.

Will they put red flame fences around this bike park like the skate park at Voinovich Park? That would be really sweet... pfffff.

Building at E57th and Euclid = best vacant structure in the city. God d$#m I hope it doesn't get torn down.

Thin brick is a garbage material.