The areas are going to get an applied stainless steel strip

 

Thanks. I either forgot that or did not know it.

The panels are coming around to the front now:

also, cool view of the ballroom from the Waterfront line!

i really want to see the front when it is all glassed up. 

Topping Off Day 06/22/12 http://www.wkyc.com/news/article/249328/3/Cleveland-Medical-Mart-Tops-Out-on-Friday

"It will never be built" - Every Cleveland.com poster. :D

Clueless, I don't think it looks dirty, I think it's textured to add a tactile feel so that the big box facade is somewhat more interactive. I like it, it's almost kinda like a post-modern take on Italian renaissance rustication..

Anyone know how to get the camera point back at the mall?

 

http://www.clevelandmedicalmart.com/about/live-web-cam/

 

I like the blue sky shots, but that's not what I'm looking for...

Crappy cell phone pic, but you get an idea of how far along the roof is:

 

^Is that from your Dentists office??

^^Hey, I know that view!  Any cavities?

Hey that's my dentist too!

Yeah, he's popular on here amoung UO'ers. :-)

He's going to be mine starting next month... Can't wait!  Haha

Wow that must be one busy dentist!

Does he offer you folks an UO discount?  The UO sales team may want to visit him.  hint..hint.

I came across these additional renderings of the medical mart and convention center. These are from the Cuyahoga County Medical Mart Presentation dated June 26,2012

 

View from the Cleveland Public library:

 

 

 

Very impressive vantage point.  The juxtaposition of old and new in the 2nd photo is awesome.  I work just around the corner, but don't really have a good view of the construction site. 

Great pictures. Its really coming along. The library has the best views of the mall. Especially the special collections wing in the original building!

Wind is blowing stuff all over St. Clair from on top of the MedMart!

 

 

^Only on Urban Ohio...fast breaking news...just like you're there.

There's some stuff blowing off the building next door but it's really hard to see with my lame-o camera phone.

this building looks fine. its unobtrusive, yet modern.

 

even if all goes bust for the med center idea, which i dont think it will, it would work as a cc annex. win!

 

 

Eastbound view

I stopped to talk to the guard on the North Mall area a few days ago, and she explained the grass system to me, which was pretty cool, because I was really wondering how it works:

 

From the bottom to top:

 

Layer 1:  The bare metal (roof of the convention center)

Layer 2/3/4:  Waterproof membrane, sealant, more waterproof membrane (part of the membrane is what was shown blowing around in the photo above)

Layer 5: 6 FOOT of solid Styrofoam - this was the part that blew my mind, but explained what protects the waterproof membrane from damage

Layer 6: possibly another sealant/protector

Layer 7: rocks & rubble

Layer 8: dirt

Layer 9: sod

 

From our vantage point on Lakeside, we could see all of the different layers in action, which was really cool.  As of today, it looks like everything is in place on the North mall and the sod is being watered with sprinklers.

 

I also find it interesting that the section between St. Clair and Lakeside, which gradually vaults up towards Lakeside, will likely rise another 10ft (on top of the existing appx 40 rise)  after the 'grass system' I describe above is put in place.  This will provide some incredible views of the Lake Erie and be a unique feature for Cleveland that I've never seen anywhere else...

 

As cool as this project is, I think the main structure is one of the most displeasing buildings in Downtown Cleveland.  The cladding of white panels is already looking aged and filthy after a few months.  The window spacing looks amateurish, haphazard (yeah yeah, I know what it is supposed to look like) and way too sparse.  The Ontario side of the building follows the unfriendly pedestrian form of the oppressive Justice Center design - huge setbacks from the street, detaching the building from the life of the city and creating a vast windswept courtyard that is useless in the Summer and Winter.  On the outside, the only part I really like is the HUGE glass wall with catwalks that will face the Mall - this looks like it will be a real Cleveland signature of the whole center when it is completed.

 

Some pictures from the office and on the street while I was out on lunch.  It was neat to see them putting up the replicated doorways along St. Clair.  I also noticed out the window yesterday that some of the "ventilation stacks", those metal framed art-looking pieces flanking the mall, appear to have been completed and fully clad in the reflective material.  Ill try to find them again later, I couldn't get a pic.

 

**EDIT** I guess you can see them in the second picture near the bottom left next to the stairwell (I think thats what those are?)

Thanks for the updated photographs.  I am not a fan of the ventilation stacks.  The scale and amount appear to be a complete miss to the historic fabric set forth in original Mall design architecture.  The color choice of the precast concrete panels feels off as well as the lamp posts chosen.

i knew this two months ago... but figured i'd let the press release it first  :wink:

 

Cuyahoga County's new convention center is now expected to open early

 

http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga-county/index.ssf/2012/07/cuyahoga_countys_new_convention_center_is_now_expected_to_open_early.html

I stopped to talk to the guard on the North Mall area a few days ago, and she explained the grass system to me, which was pretty cool, because I was really wondering how it works:

 

From the bottom to top:

 

Layer 1:  The bare metal (roof of the convention center)

Layer 2/3/4:  Waterproof membrane, sealant, more waterproof membrane (part of the membrane is what was shown blowing around in the photo above)

Layer 5: 6 FOOT of solid Styrofoam - this was the part that blew my mind, but explained what protects the waterproof membrane from damage

Layer 6: possibly another sealant/protector

Layer 7: rocks & rubble

Layer 8: dirt

Layer 9: sod

 

 

Thanks for the info, that's pretty cool to know. I think that unique space has a bright and interesting future.

 

I'm not as critical of the building, by far the HUGE glass wall is its best feature. I'm holding out hope that the setbacks/sidewalk presence won't be too dysfunctional. Really the Justice Center is such an awful trainwreck that anything at all is an upgrade compared to it.

You have to wonder why the designers of the MM building didnt take into account that the ridge textures on the building would collect debris etc as well as the color; which I agree with a prev poster, looks dirty already and would not also collect dirt and debris???

Also! The slope of the Convention Center roof from St. Clair is a lot more dramatic than I thought it would be. I was thinking that it would rise more  gracefully and gradually than it looks like it will. Anyone wlse notice this?

Do you notice a difference between some of the first tiles put up and the last ones to go in?

 

I saw it last week when I was home, and honestly I didn't see any dirt.  But I like the building, and how it fits into the group plan, so maybe I overlooked it.

Yes I did. Look at the back of the Medical Mart, then look at the front. The back is dirty.

Some pictures of todays progress

 

...and the other angle (from yesterday)

 

 

 

 

I never realized there would be such a large thingamajig along St. Clair.  That should be a patio, perhaps with a stage.  They talk about the lake view from the front windows, but I'm thinking this view will be much better, when weather permits.

Did they mess up the window design on the northern side of the MM? Thr pattern just randomly stops, then starts up again.....btw, do people like those black tower art pieces they are currently putting up? For some reason I thought they were going to have a more stainless steel look...

"mess up" probably isn't the right phrase but they apparently feel it unnecessary to better disguise the bunghole of the building. It's really just something you'd expect to see on the back side of a building. The silver square on the roof would hint that there maybe is something there like a service elevator or mechanical/utility shaft. 

Did they mess up the window design on the northern side of the MM? Thr pattern just randomly stops, then starts up again.....btw, do people like those black tower art pieces they are currently putting up? For some reason I thought they were going to have a more stainless steel look...

 

They are actually a lot more reflective in person.  For some reason in my pictures they seem to take on a more black-hue

 

Thanks guys for the pictures

Im hoping all of those steel skeletons will eventually look like these two (dont like that lattice look below).

 

 

 

Thanks guys for the pictures

Im hoping all of those steel skeletons will eventually look like these two (dont like that lattice look below).

 

They will; the ones along Public Hall are just the frames.  The reflective surface is attached to that.  Actually I don't even think the ones in the first picture are complete, Id imagine something will be done on top to hide the frame inside.

"mess up" probably isn't the right phrase but they apparently feel it unnecessary to better disguise the bunghole of the building. It's really just something you'd expect to see on the back side of a building. The silver square on the roof would hint that there maybe is something there like a service elevator or mechanical/utility shaft. 

 

Well "Mess up" is a hard word.. what that is is a fire escape stair shaft. It cannot have windows (well, it could, but for the sake of this argument we'll say they couldn't) so they had to break the pattern at some point. They could have dealt with this problem in a few ways. They could have moved the fire stair inward, but this would have created less open space in the plan and changed the structural design of the entire building. They could have had the pattern gradiate into nothing, and then start back up again. This would have ultimately left some spaces with less natural light, however. It looks like they sort of de-gradiated the pattern a little, but stopped the windows short. What they could have done is leave the windows in, but use a brick or something on the inside of the stairwell to keep it sealed, so those windows would have done nothing. This was probably too expensive, or against the architects philosophies.

 

So they stuck it on the side that will be least visible, and called it the least objectionable option.

 

 

They will; the ones along Public Hall are just the frames.  The reflective surface is attached to that.  Actually I don't even think the ones in the first picture are complete, Id imagine something will be done on top to hide the frame inside.

 

That's good.

They were looking perilously close to what I think is the city's worst structure (and even more awfully placed):

 

I went bonkers today with pics...hope you enjoy them.

Nice shots! I especially like the juxtaposition of the MM/CC in the foreground with Flats East Bank in the background. And the last shot is a stunner!

I think the Medical Mart looks good from a distance.  Maybe they can clean up that "dirty look".

What are those black glassy things?  Purely decorative?.... or do they serve some kind of function such as a natural light well?

Looking at all these recent pictures, the finished building fits in much better than I thought it would.

Cuyahoga County medical mart and convention center includes no parking

http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga-county/index.ssf/2012/07/cuyahoga_county_medical_mart_and_convention_center_includes_no_parking.html

 

Yet the project, set to open for the National Senior Games next July, doesn't include a single parking space -- an omission that at least one expert describes as a potential deal breaker for some conventions.  ...

 

The convention center will use existing parking options to make the convention center work, officials said.

For example, conventioneers driving into town and staying at downtown hotels can use the hotels' valet service. Buses also could shuttle conventioneers from far-away lots, including the Municipal Lot along the shoreway, something the experts recommend.

 

Yeah, I know the center shouldn't need its own specific parking supply, but given how lazy/stupid/cheap Indians fans appear to be, I wonder if this doesn't boost the proposed garage/lakefront walkway north of the center up the priority list.  Though I'm not sure I see voters approving an expanded port authority levy.  And I wonder about the architectural implications of requiring that a purchaser of the county admin site cram in an addition 1,000 parking spaces on top of whatever they plan to serve their own site.

 

EDIT: this has been the plan for a couple years now....not sure why the PD is only hitting the panic button now.  I guess because of the perception that parking is all of a sudden in short supply due to the casino?

Shuttle service from Muni Lot.  Done.

Parking will only be an issue for the local workers at the Convention Center and Medical Mart.  This space is not going to attract consumer shows where quantities of proximal parking are critical.  Any of the conventions I have run or attended used a shuttle bus service to get attendees to and from the hotels.