Hayward

Though I bet Dubai urban planners are saying "See! We told you so, this is why we kept those towers out of the historic city center." If they do recover eventually, it won't be a total waste. Scaling back would really help add some diversity in building size and height to the new downtown. Okay, you got your towers, now start building closer to the ground like the rest of us.

I know some people here read skyscraperpage, but does anyone remember how annoying the wavy-glass comments got? It's really difficult to remove imperfections in the "flatness" of glass, so when it goes up on a box, you see "waves" or bubbles across the facade. It's been that way forever, but people over there sure do like to complain about it. In fact, they banned posting about it in project threads, but allow it in the wavy-glass thread. It seems like this building would be perfect for them. Rejoice, wavy-glass has its place.

Wow, Michigan Av looks dark and scary in that photo. Did you take them from the fire escape of death?

I swear, my hometown is full of such stupid criminals. Firebombing, hiding in the trunk of your getaway car after a robbery. Oy...at least they got caught. http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2009/02/saginaw_robber_who_hid_in_car.html

Hate to nitpick, but could you all take the new employment celebration to a new or different thread? Congrats Randy on your job, this is exciting, But this is distracting from the original topic. It would be nice if people could offer some helpful advice and guidance since I'm sure there are numerous unemployed individuals reading this thread. I'm hoping to compile a list of some job that i will post that will hopefully be helpful.

Thought I'd brag just a bit Ann Arbor was recently named the #1 College Sports Town in the nation http://www.freep.com/article/20090213/SPORTS06/90212100/?imw=Y Not a huge fan of forbes rankings, but oh well. I'll take it over the worst of everything rankings of nearby Detroit Recently Ann Arbor was also named America's Healthiest City by AARP

A photo found here: http://flickr.com/photos/fimoculous/3271515087/sizes/l/ Is probably the first I've seen where the construction site actually makes some sense. That long white concrete thing stretching across the site is where the transit center is. There will of course be buildings beyond it eventually. The steel in the center is where the memorial is. You can actually see that square of decking missing where the water at the bottom of the fountain goes down into the hole. To the far left you see the WTC under construction.

This one in North River (Chicago) is nice. Two stories.(2nd story in use) Proportioning is correct. Real Masonry. http://maps.google.com/maps?source=ig&hl=en&q=Chicago,+IL&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=0MCVSeOnB9PGtgeF6ZGkCw&ll=41.899011,-87.628251&spn=0.002723,0.006781&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=41.899929,-87.628293&panoid=7fcOnfKHu-T7xjWRT9KuJA&cbp=12,56.89035887186747,,0,-7.8723946490273535

That's awesome, my friend works in this building currently on the 11th floor. The views are the best and I love going up and down the wire fire escape on the side. Don't know if you've been in since, but they did some heavy restoration/renovation inside. One of the best I've seen.

Man I remember the days when getting a temp job (between jobs) was a breeze. Walk into any factory and they'd hire you and put you on the line right there for $20/hour. 2 years later production is down and these jobs don't exist.

I'd feel so strange standing there being photographed lol Lee Plaza Detroit. The building was abandoned in 1995, beginning as an extended stay hotel and finally becoming an old folks home. The building experienced extensive scrapping with the terra cotta lion heads removed from the exterior, sold illegally to an architectural salvage company only to be placed on a condo building in Chicago. The FBI had the remaining lions returned to Detroit, but a few were permitted to remain on the condo building. In the late 90's all the windows were removed exposing the building to the elements. On the sunny and mild day, it was raining in the apartments. Water poured from the ceiling of some rooms. Making its way down 17 floors into the dark basement that smelled oddly of gasoline. The day also brought high winds that roared through the double loaded corridor of the building. It sounded like violent thunder at times. In 2006, the roof of the building was stolen. The police were called many times, but didn't give adequate response. Thieves made off with over a hundred thousand dollars in copper roofing, all in plain daylight along a heavily traveled street. The once dark attic is now pierced with gaping cavernous holes. While Lee Plaza is a protected national landmark, the CoD has a bad track record of demolishing historic sites, the downtown Madison Lenox being one of them. A developer has recently purchased the building, but the location isn't the best. It will be interesting to see how the project pans out. Shown here is the main living room. This piano has been here for awhile. It's repositioned over the years as photographers try to compose the perfect image. The type of lighting effect you see here is a result of a few things. The windows are cement blocked up to the arch, allowing light to be cast in from above. The orange brick on the exterior bounces light back to a neighboring building which then shines into this room. Indirect light bounced from the gray cmu block is cast onto the floor.

I know a couple people that just lost their architecture jobs in Chicago. Really sucks for those like me graduating soon. I have an undergrad degree in architecture which basically won't help me at the moment in this economy, and soon a graduate degree in planning with a focus in urban design and transportation planning. Looks like I got transit planning as my last hope. Sorry you lost your dream job civvik, I hope you can find a new, and hopefully better replacement, soon.

I never really thought about University addresses, despite that I sort the mail for a fairly large building on the University of Michigan's campus.

I always found it interesting, but not surprising, that out on rural I-94 between Kalamazoo and Battle Creek there's a bunch of adult book stores and Asian massage parlors together off the exits.

That was an architecture feast!

Well, it wouldn't be the first time guns have gone off in that building lol!

Just going to say he might want to lay off the fast food. Sherman, that's a great shot of MCS. Waiting out in that blasting cool air was worth it. For the first time ever in my life, I had nightmares about that building last night.

Comcast OnDemand. However, if I move to an area that is nearby a Blockbuster or other local video carrier, I will patronize them, just like I try to patronize stores when I buy albums. I like walking into a physical structure to get what I need

I think it's a valid one. The question comes up quite often. Experiences make the discussion more dramatic I suppose.

I'd be a bit concerned about those windows. You will need to replace them, unless you plan to spend a fortune on heating that place. I live a building with original windows, and heat escapes like crazy. How many of them still have the string attached to the pulleys? I see a few still operable in your photos. I actually don't know how they repair these. I just broke one in my apartment and my landlord said it's too difficult to replace, so he gave me a wooden block to prop open the window. LOL MTS, the plaster is already off the wall in those photos. That looks like an easy repair. Knock out that toilet and put your automatic one in there.

Okay guys, keep it on topic.

Okay, lol. I was confused for a second. The photos you just posted thought could have easily been taken in Mt. Pleasant though...at least from what I've seen on flickr.

It's stupid yes. I think we can all agree with that. Photography is definitely a scapegoat when it comes to these types of accusations. But why bother to put up a fight. You don't own the building. You are there on their conditions. The only debate here is private vs public, whether your rights were indeed violated. If this facility is privately owned (regardless of public subsidies) you should have stopped when asked. BTW, I'm not an enemy to photographers. Forumers come visit me up in Detroit to get the grand tour of our abandoned structures...all fenced and posted.

Wait, Mt Pleasant? That's many hours away from Mt. Clemens. I've never been to Mt. Pleasant except for CMU, but I've never seen the neighborhoods or even the downtown.

^ And it hardly feels like one.