Topic for unofficial/random visualizations and massings that don't belong in a designated topic or relate specifically to the topic in question.

 

For example, official massings of the new SWHQ would go in the SW discussion thread (once released) while unofficial massings or massings using buildings in the real-world could go here. Anyone can post a rendering, and people can request concept/random renderings from others as well.

  Also, Happy 4th of July Everyone!

 

8 hours ago, mrnyc said:

it would be funny to see something like makkah royal clock tower complex in mecca placed placed across the site, if it would even fit? mostly because it would make for dueling tower city type complexes, but also because the clock tower building itself almost 2k’ tall.

 

or maybe just pick any top rung supertall, just to see what it would look like there.

 

Megatall Concepts by Request

 

Ping An International Finance Centre - Shenzhen

     Height: 1,965 ft

     Floors: 115

     Floor Area: 4.2 million sqft

 

Signature Tower - Jakarta

     Height: 2,093 ft

     Floors: 114

 

Abraj al-Bait - Mecca (A.K.A. "And you thought OUR Tower City was big...")

     Height: 1,972 ft

     Floors: 120

     Floor Area: 16.9 million sqft

 

Shanghai Tower - Shanghai

     Height: 2,073 ft

     Floors: 130

     Floor Area: 4.1 million sqft

Edited July 4, 20204 yr by Geowizical

I think I'll go with one of your original three renderings instead, lol.

1 hour ago, Geowizical said:

  Also, Happy 4th of July Everyone!

 

 

Megatall Concepts by Request

 

Ping An International Finance Centre - Shenzhen

     Height: 1,965 ft

     Floors: 115

     Floor Area: 4.2 million sqft

 

Signature Tower - Jakarta

     Height: 2,093 ft

     Floors: 114

 

Abraj al-Bait - Mecca (A.K.A. "And you thought OUR Tower City was big...")

     Height: 1,972 ft

     Floors: 120

     Floor Area: 16.9 million sqft

 

Shanghai Tower - Shanghai

     Height: 2,073 ft

     Floors: 130

     Floor Area: 4.1 million sqft

Thanks, I hate it.

I think a paint can covering the earth would look good on top of the SHW tower.

awesome geo thx — that was fun. i kind of like the supertall styles there, except for the height being so out of context. its just cool and fun to see what it would look like to have the very tallest buildings in the world on public square compared to what’s already there.

 

the absolute stunna is the mecca clock tower complex though. we knew it was bigger than tc complex of course, but holy mackeral look at just how much more massively bigger it all is. its crazy to see it on the warehouse parking lots — its like a massing godzilla!!!

 

 

1 hour ago, skiwest said:

I think a paint can covering the earth would look good on top of the SHW tower.

 

 

yeah, like spinning around and changing colors. don’t be afraid to be a little kitsch! 

 

i think that actually would have been a no-brainer to do had the progressive tower been built as envisioned.

I'll try to dig up some of my admittedly hasty and dreadful mockups from back in the day and add them here. Great idea for a thread! ?

The crazy thing about Mecca tower is that is has more square ft then all our downtown office buildings combined! Just an insanely massive building. 

nvm. Getting buildings mixed up!

Edited July 4, 20204 yr by roman totale XVII

Hey, great new Thread on UO. Thanks for starting it, @Geowizical.  Finally, a place where we can go off-topic and not be off-topic( I think!)  So, I get that the first few requests were to see some of the world’s tallest buildings on Public Square - but Im going to put my request in before the lines jam up - Instead of what never is going to be, I’d like to see what almost was.  Could we see the Cleveland Skyline with the inclusion of the biggest projects that “almost” happened - meaning “Progressive”, Ameritrust, the Weston Superblock and the original  Nucleus - and (because I’ll never probably get this chance again) - could you throw in your favorite SW HQ

massing, in an available space -( maybe at Bedrock?). Thanks, and Happy 4th weekend! 

@CleveFan

Will do (once the partying has subsided of course ?)! Happy 4th!

@CleveFan, et. al.

 

What Our Skyline Could've Been

 

I'm missing a couple things, specifically since I don't know where Progressive Tower is supposed to go (information on that please), and also I can't find the original drawings for the rest of Tower City that was never built (where the existing parking lots are I believe...). If anyone has that type of image that would be swell. 

 

I really enjoyed making the Ameritrust model (I'd like to think it is very accurate), it actually makes me wish SW could've just recycled that plan and used it for their HQ. It would've been such a cool supertall to have. If built it would currently be tied for 11th tallest in the US with Chicago's new Vista Tower.

 

1. Ameritrust Center

     Height: 1,198 ft

 

2. Weston Superblock

     Height: ~310 ft (tallest building)

 

3. Doubletree at Couthouse Square

     Height: 350 ft

 

4. Lakefront Development

     Height: ~150 ft

 

5. NuCLEus (Original Proposal)

     Height: 647 ft

 

6. Cleveland Trust Tower Phase II (The 9)

     Height: 382 ft

 

7. The Lumen at Playhouse Square

     Height: 396 ft

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh well. That's life. Moving on......

29 minutes ago, Geowizical said:

@CleveFan, et. al.

 

What Our Skyline Could've Been

 

I'm missing a couple things, specifically since I don't know where Progressive Tower is supposed to go (information on that please), and also I can't find the original drawings for the rest of Tower City that was never built (where the existing parking lots are I believe...). If anyone has that type of image that would be swell. 

 

I really enjoyed making the Ameritrust model (I'd like to think it is very accurate), it actually makes me wish SW could've just recycled that plan and used it for their HQ. It would've been such a cool supertall to have. If built it would currently be tied for 11th tallest in the US with Chicago's new Vista Tower.

 

1. Ameritrust Center

     Height: 1,198 ft

 

2. Weston Superblock

     Height: ~310 ft (tallest building)

 

3. Doubletree at Couthouse Square

     Height: 350 ft

 

4. Lakefront Development

     Height: ~150 ft

 

5. NuCLEus (Original Proposal)

     Height: 647 ft

 

6. Cleveland Trust Tower Phase II (The 9)

     Height: 382 ft

 

7. The Lumen at Playhouse Square

     Height: 396 ft

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to this page, it looks like it would have gone on the north of Lakeside Ave, due south of where the Science Center is
http://www.clevelandskyscrapers.com/progressive-corporation-headquarters

I hate bringing up these old skyscrapers-that-never-were, but since you asked @Geowizical here they are.

 

Progressive

 

 

 

Tower City (two separate visions a couple of years apart)

 

 

Edited July 5, 20204 yr by KJP

Believe it or not, I actually started a conceptual thread a while back.
 

Although it's not specific to Cleveland, i'm the only user who posted in the thread with a booty-cheeks rendering of a conceptual building, and my water turbine concept. Although I have a semi finished concept for those water turbines that was posted in Lakefront development.

Edited July 5, 20204 yr by tastybunns

I also have this MS paint rendering from a while back when SW first came out with talks about a new building.

I did this like over 3years ago showing a twisty SW / nuCLEus / Weston / Beacon (before we saw the final render). So far we got 1 of the 4, hopefully SW and nuCLEus are just around the corner.

Very cool! Thanks Geo & everybody for the cool images. It’s amazing how big Ameritrust really was, easily eclipsing Key Tower.  Personally, I think Progressive looks like the skyscraper version of a junkyard (sorry). The original Nucleus, I wanted to like it - on its own, it was cool- but in context of the Cleveland skyline, it looked really out of place. .  And the Tower City master plan was probably just fantasy, right? 
Let’s hope SW understands the powerful image

they are about to (hopefully) unveil. It will potentially become a symbol of Cleveland as a Renaissance City.   I doubt it will be a super- modern look, given SW’s traditionally conservative image. I just hope it has style worthy of its great neighbors  on Public Square. 

^For Progressive, you have to understand that Peter B Lewis of Progressive basically bankrolled Frank Gehry's early career as an architect. I saw a Documentary in school about it, but can't recall the name, and can't find it online. I'm sure others here know of it. If it wasn't for Peter B paying him millions to push the limits of architecture and design forward, Frank Gehry would not be the Starchitect he is today...or at least it would have taken longer. He spent millions for Frank to design a house that never got built. So that explains the weird Progressive Tower...which one has to wonder how serious Peter B was about building it.

 

This is from Metropolis Magazine: https://www.metropolismag.com/architecture/peter-b-lewis-philanthropist-and-patron-of-architecture-dies/

 

"Lewis famously worked with Gehry for more than a decade on a house, whose (largely hypothetical) budget at one point reached $80 million and whose very real fees totaled $5 million. After several iterations, Lewis pulled the plug on the project. “He kept me trying things, exploring things,” Gehry told the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Steven Litt. “I think he never intended to build the house. He didn’t need it.” The fees generated by the episode—easily one of the century’s most notorious unbuilt projects—helped the Gehry office invest in the computer technology that enabled the creation of the Guggenheim Bilbao and helped spawn the digital architecture paradigm. Gehry once said working on the Lewis house was like receiving a MacArthur genius award."

Does anyone remember Hexatron?

 

 

I remember. If I recall, it was rather impractical 

I'm not sure how they would have been able to squeeze a 70,000 seat facility between Mall C and the Shoreway.

My attempt at the fourth tower during my third year's Kent State architecture program.....22 years ago..eek.  I'd go for something that height however.

Edited July 7, 20204 yr by Firenze98

I'd be interested in seeing a combo of "future skyline" ( SW, nuCLEus, flats/ nautica development, lumen 2 ) and potential if burke ever got put to good use. Could be office skyscrapers, residential, a combination, anything really. Also any new development around the stadium ( new clinic building ) and a new jail building. I'm sure I'm forgetting things but jus some starting points. I really enjoy the visuals @Geowizical

Edited July 9, 20204 yr by 86henryw86

 

 

1 hour ago, 86henryw86 said:

I'd be interested in seeing a combo of "future skyline" ( SW, nuCLEus, flats/ nautica development, lumen 2 ) and potential if burke ever got put to good use. Could be office skyscrapers, residential, a combination, anything really. Also any new development around the stadium ( new clinic building ) and a new jail building. I'm sure I'm forgetting things but jus some starting points. I really enjoy the visuals @Geowizical

 

@KJP did that as an article back in January:

 

On 1/20/2020 at 12:04 PM, KJP said:

 

MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 2020

Return of the Roaring 20s: downtown Cleveland development

 

Entering the 2020s, early as next year and likely continuing for at least several more years, it's looking more likely that downtown Cleveland will have as many skyscrapers under construction simultaneously as were built in the entire decade prior. Of course, this depends on the local and national economies. It's a return of the Roaring Twenties for Cleveland.

Nearly a dozen skyscrapers are planned downtown, along with several more buildings in the 10-19 stories range, and a handful of shorter new buildings. Unfortunately, not all of them are going to happen. Even the most well-thought-out plans go awry for the craziest of unanticipated reasons. Some of these are early on in their planning but already have some meaningful financial backing.

 

MORE

https://neo-trans.blogspot.com/2020/01/return-of-roaring-20s-downtown.html

 

Thanks, with the assistance of @w28th!

So, when my uncle passed away I inherited some of his Waterford collection - one of which was this piece. 

 

It's kind of funny to note how close the National City (?) tower was to being built on Public Square... so much so that it was included on memorabilia.

 

 

1 hour ago, YABO713 said:

So, when my uncle passed away I inherited some of his Waterford collection - one of which was this piece. 

 

It's kind of funny to note how close the National City (?) tower was to being built on Public Square... so much so that it was included on memorabilia.

 

 

You probably mean Ameritrust but I am no sure it is actually depicted on that piece.

I snapped these when I was messing around back in November but didn't have the confidence to post. So happy and relieved this thread was created because not only is it insane fun, it's also an important think tank on the visual impact increasing urbanity will have on our city. I'm gonna stop myself from launching into a discussion on what might be called skyline iconography(?) here as I can't seem to keep one sentence from turning into ten. Hope to post more in future and ?? to everyone here.

Edited July 11, 20204 yr by Pleco

I've always liked the more 'structural expressionist' aesthetic that Sir Norman Foster follows. I just think the diagrid-pattern and other elements would work well in Cleveland (think the lift bridges, etc.). Anyway, the Bow in Calgary turned out really well - better than my attempt at these renders from 2009; I thought it would be a good fit for the Sherwin Williams tower site. 

On 7/7/2020 at 12:58 AM, Firenze98 said:

My attempt at the fourth tower during my third year's Kent State architecture program.....22 years ago..eek.  I'd go for something that height however.

 

 

So around 1995ish? We may have crossed paths in/near Taylor Hall - I wasn't in the architecture program but knew plenty who were, and I worked for the Daily Kent Stater for several years.

 

Guess 2009 was my year for making mockups - Omaha's First National Tower on the Public Square site, Milwaukee's University Club tower adjacent to the Renaissance Hotel ballroom (Prospect and Superior) Louisville's Waterfront Place at West 6th and Superior. I should note proportions were NOT scientifically studied or rendered. ?

We might’ve had something very much like that, had the Weston Superblock materialized. Those renderings by @MayDay show just how critical the SW HQ will be in changing the feel of the downtown skyline. 

I like the progress we've had since 2009, everything looks so empty. But thank god!

Lord Norman Foster is my favorite architect by a mile, the St Mary Axe tower is my personal favorite. I would love to see Sherwin Williams commission him for their design. You know for certain it would be an actual modern masterpiece, and would continue if not elevate the recent trend of high level architecture in this town. 

Found this from back in 2011 when the rumors were swirling that a Westin Hotel was going to be the convention center hotel. I photoshopped a rendering of the Ritz Carlton Toronto; guess my rendering wasn't too far off! ?

On 7/13/2020 at 4:47 PM, MayDay said:

 

So around 1995ish? We may have crossed paths in/near Taylor Hall - I wasn't in the architecture program but knew plenty who were, and I worked for the Daily Kent Stater for several years.

 

Yep.  1995-2000.

Would anyone be willing to add to the Cleveland list at SkyScraperPage.com? I gave it a try once last year and it didn't turn out well.?

Other cities around the world are regularly updated and some of the Cleveland diagrams are misnamed (75PS, Westin Hotel)

Some people have been adding diagrams, but some buildings are missing that could be added (Skylight office tower, Ritz Carlton, One University Circle) and I know it is called "Sky Scraper Page" but other cities include low rise large / historic structures and churches, so if anyone is bored (Post Office Plaza, City Hall, courthouses, Library, Public Auditorium, MetroHealth). Also, many structures in University Circle, such as CCF, UH, CWRU buildings, and even the old St Luke Hospital could also be added (Tudor Arms, Fenway Manor, Judson Manor, CWRU-Cleveland Clinic Health Education Campus building).

 

Also, the only "proposed" structure listed is of Nucleus (24 and 25 floor version) and City Club Apartments could be added, as well as the Dream Hotel and The Viaduct. That way they can just be switched to "under construction".?

 

Hopefully this was an OK place to ask this, if not, sorry. 

The potential for Gensler designing the Sherwin Williams headquarters has me excited.  They designed the Shanghai tower.  I really like twisting towers and with the potential for multiple towers on the SHW site, I was thinking about some type of twisting tower siblings. I'm not good at photoshop (actually paint dot net), but I wanted to take a stab at it.  Here it is.  Of course it also needs a good multi-use design for the rest of the parking lots with good street presence, a hidden garage, and the foundation for another tower or two.  Even the original Gensler concept for the rest of that space would be good.

 

3 hours ago, WhatUp said:

Would anyone be willing to add to the Cleveland list at SkyScraperPage.com? I gave it a try once last year and it didn't turn out well.?

Other cities around the world are regularly updated and some of the Cleveland diagrams are misnamed (75PS, Westin Hotel)

Some people have been adding diagrams, but some buildings are missing that could be added (Skylight office tower, Ritz Carlton, One University Circle) and I know it is called "Sky Scraper Page" but other cities include low rise large / historic structures and churches, so if anyone is bored (Post Office Plaza, City Hall, courthouses, Library, Public Auditorium, MetroHealth). Also, many structures in University Circle, such as CCF, UH, CWRU buildings, and even the old St Luke Hospital could also be added (Tudor Arms, Fenway Manor, Judson Manor, CWRU-Cleveland Clinic Health Education Campus building).

 

Also, the only "proposed" structure listed is of Nucleus (24 and 25 floor version) and City Club Apartments could be added, as well as the Dream Hotel and The Viaduct. That way they can just be switched to "under construction".?

 

Hopefully this was an OK place to ask this, if not, sorry. 

 

Actually the perfect place to ask/post and glad this thread was created for just that purpose. A brief history - I've been on skyscraperpage.com's (SSP) forum since 1997 (good lord Jesus, I was *25* when I joined! ?) - same screen name as I have here. For a long time it was well run (not to toot my own horn but at one time I was a moderator there), threads were kept on topic, etc. and then over time it just started falling apart. I think about two years ago, intrusive ads/spam made it largely unusable for a lot of  people, myself included.

 

The Admins/ownership just either got lackadaisical and let threads go off the rails, or weren't engaged when the tech issues came up, or in a few cases jumped into the 'power vacuum' and ran roughshod over whatever threads they got involved in. That's when I stopped updating the City Compilation thread for Cleveland and redirected the traffic here. Note that @richNcincyhas consistently kept the tech end of things a LOT more up to date than skyscraperpage.com. Fyi, UrbanOhio's forum is actually a spinoff of skyscraper page.com and skyscrapercity.com's forums. 

 

As far as the SSP diagram for Cleveland - I can reach out on your behalf to the few moderators I'm still in contact with if you want to try again, *or* perhaps that's something we can add to our forum/site? I fully admit my rendering skills are nowhere near what you see on SSP, but I created some of the first that were posted there. I could dig up my old renderings for starters and then If there's any interest and people want to take a crack at creating new and updated renderings, I'm all for it.

Doesn't always go as planned, but I'mma take a crack at a couple.

 

Edited August 25, 20204 yr by Pleco

@MayDay when I said it didn't turn out well, what I meant was that I suck at trying to create a diagram.?@Pleco did a far better job than I could have, as is evident with the Hilton, Beacon, Lumen diagrams. If you would like to try your hand at any other buildings, here is a list of some of the buildings that have not yet had a diagram created for them. Keep in mind that many of the names are now wrong (Athlon, Schofield, Westin, Crowne Plaza).

 

On 8/18/2020 at 8:24 PM, MayDay said:

 

*or* perhaps that's something we can add to our forum/site? I fully admit my rendering skills are nowhere near what you see on SSP, but I created some of the first that were posted there. I could dig up my old renderings for starters and then If there's any interest and people want to take a crack at creating new and updated renderings, I'm all for it.

 

I agree that this would be a fun addition to this site. I enjoy comparing buildings side by side from different cities, it helps to gain a whole new perspective and appreciation. 

4 hours ago, Sapper Daddy said:

 

True--but I like the little "uptown" and it's separation ?

There are so many former industrialized areas in this city that could be potential small downtowns. (e.g. north of St. Clair between E20th and the innerbelt, just south of Gordon Park, Opportunity Corridor) the list goes on and on. Other cities develop those small areas and work to build fill between them.

2 hours ago, Cleburger said:

 

True--but I like the little "uptown" and it's separation ?

I do too.. but I think as Midtown progresses, the stretch of Ohio City to University Circle will become more and more dense.

If anyone wants to use these to mock up SHW's new building(s), have at it.

 

For example -this is Bulfinch Station (project in Boston by Pelli Clark Pelli) 40ish floors plus decorative crown.

 

 

That's not bad, but for a tall tower, I prefer them to taper off a bit towards the top.

While we all want a spectacular building in this spot, those of us old enough to remember what it was like before the old, very average structure was demolished know what an impact adding ANYTHING will have on the overall atmosphere of the square.  Having that empty lot - and lack of a "fourth wall" - totally ruined the sense of place at the central hub of downtown.