PhattyNati

Yeah. That rendering looks terrible. Inspired by the gateway condos probably. Oh well.

i dont want to perpetuate this debate since its not the first time... but i really dont understand what the big deal is. The place is called "Stratford at Kenwood". Its on kenwood road. is that not enough to justify it being called that? Infer what you will about neighborhood assocation with the make believe kenwood area vs madisonville and whatever the prestige factor might accompany both.

has anyone been up close with this thing to know whether or not the cladding is brick or eifs? something tells me its eifs which would be very disappointing...if not stupid for a project this size.

^ Well put!

Wow. Looks about as shi--y as the Riverboat pavilion... first class all the way.

i appreciate the effort. they could have just thrown a trailer out there and called it a day.

yeah ive noticed that too. i first noticed it right around christmas so i thought it was something seasonal. obviously not the case. the same green light shows up in the pilon sign on dana so somehow they are trying to work it into the branding of the development. looks like garbage is all know.

I saw that...almost three weeks ago now. Whoever it was got to those foundation walls the day the took the formwork down.

there will certainly be a period of hesitation. they are still hashing out some architectural details so cant imagine they'll have that all squared away by then. the freedom center pad sat empty for a while, didnt it?

^ i caught that too. im pretty sure the enquirer was smearing "first tower in 17 years" all over queen city square I as well. you'd think they'd be able to remember a project they most likely criticised to death from only a couple of years ago.

very cool. i wonder exactly where on montgomery road this is proposed to go.

^ If good PR is what it takes for companies to start thinking this way, then so be it. I really dont get why so many people are down on LEED. No, its not a perfect system. Yes, in certain ways its flawed. Does the certification process cost too much? Probably. But companies in America dont do anything anymore without some sort of incentive (there are certainly exceptions). And if good PR is the incentive they need to build better, more efficient buildings, then i think thats a good start. Ideally, in the years to come LEED disappears and sustainable principals are absorbed into building codes...but until then, its all weve got.

^ thanks for clarifying nicker. i brought this up a few days ago...and now it all makes sense. its easy to forget that the all but 8 floors of qc1 are parking hidden behind the curtain wall.

what a great looking proposal.

that webcam image makes curious to know what they are going to do with all the glazing on qcs I where it appears the two buildings will attach. from any of the concept imagery i have seen i dont recall a setback that would provide any distance between the two.

Quite seemless integration into the existing neighborhood.

i doubt they will be lit. it seems that the forms are a little too complex for any sort of legitimate lighting scheme. i dont hate it though.

ironically enough streetcar tracks are visible below the bus in the first image.

^ my guess is openings for garage ventilation system.

A 14-story office building and a proposed 12- to 14-story boutique hotel would likely serve as the landmarks of the first phase. "We're intentionally deferring to let those be the landmark structures," Pope says. "I think that all of this Thats fine, thats exactly how it should be....but dont hide behind that as a reason to pass off substandard design. You can have simple buildings that still contribute to the ambiance. Currently they dont feel good. They are getting closer...

Exactly. They have articulated the storefronts at the retail module, not the architectural module. Obviously the retailers are going to take up spaces that extend beyond the footprint of a single "buliding". That doesnt mean they cant manipulate the storefronts to apear as though the retailer is actually leaking from one building to another. This happens all the time, especially in neighborhoods like OTR where a single building footprint just isnt large enough. Its as if they were designed by two different people who never communicated. And im glad it was brought up at the review. It just really strikes me as odd that some pretty fundamental architectural principals are ignored.

After taking the time to look through these twice...i hate them a lot less than the first go around. I think they are beginning to address the 'lack of detail' issue for me but i still think they leave a lot to be desired. The developer must be pushing real hard on Cole + Russell to keep the designs ultra boring for cost reasons. I agree with the comment about the slanted brick area. A little foreign and most likely a last ditch effort for something 'contemporary'. What bugs me the most is that the street level storefronts seem to have absolutely zero relation to the buildings above. Its like the entire block is built on top of a mall. It would be significantly better if the fake massing above would register all the way to the street. Im glad the review board is not satisfied...but i agree that progress has been made.

^ no. the article that described the work as that was wrong...completely wrong. the formwork is a single assembly that is able to be lifted from floor to floor in one piece. obviously this saves time on taking apart and rebuilding the formwork for every floor. what appears to be a new floor added on in one day is simply the formwork being lifted one floor.

Hopefully not completely.

I don't really believe this was his goal, he wanted a signature building to sell condos while at the same time building a landmark building for his hometown. I am sure there is some ill will between Butler and the Ohio side, but if he is so pissed off why did he just build a new hotel and office building for Humana in Cincinnati that will contribute far more to the tax base than 77 condos? The Humana complex is the Anti-Architecture. I dont think hes pissed off, but i dont understand why you raise the bar on a certain project, realize the success as related to high end design, then go back to doing the garbage that is the new humana building. I assume the Humana is where it is in Ohio because its land that was ready to build on, its close to downtown (but thank god NOT downtown because of all the crime), and its land that he owned. Anyway... i really need a more detailed rendering to make any educated judgments on the building. The intent of this image, which seemed to be implied by the developer, was to portray the "feel" of the district, not necessarily the detail of the building.