May 18, 201213 yr Well you have Euclid commons dorms The new admin building on euclid Student center Education building Rec center Main classroom expansion Law building expansion New infill of Euclid street wall Eastside transit center North campus apartments construction South garage Prospect garage East garage New central plaza New plaza next to moes New roofs on main classroom and engineering building
May 18, 201213 yr ^You are welcome for that, by the way. Ha, thank you! Seriously. Now to find a worthwhile use for the dumb lawn next to Levin.
May 18, 201213 yr ^You are welcome for that, by the way. Ha, thank you! Seriously. Now to find a worthwhile use for the dumb lawn next to Levin. Im for a building, or a streetcar transit stop. :D
May 18, 201213 yr ^You are welcome for that, by the way. Ha, thank you! Seriously. Now to find a worthwhile use for the dumb lawn next to Levin. Yeah, it took some convincing, but the current location is the best place for it. The donors originally wanted it on Euclid - even the Levin front lawn. I have the study I made still. Maybe I'll dig it up for you all to look at. I also made a draft conceptual plan for expanding Levin (per a request from Dr. Kellogg) under and on said front lawn with a design focused program (a la Kent's UDC). But Kent with moving into a different space and Levin (and CSU) was losing a lot of state funding. So that went nowhere but on somebodies shelf. It was a cool design, if I should say so myself. I miss working there.
May 18, 201213 yr ^You are welcome for that, by the way. Ha, thank you! Seriously. Now to find a worthwhile use for the dumb lawn next to Levin. Yeah, it took some convincing, but the current location is the best place for it. The donors originally wanted it on Euclid - even the Levin front lawn. I have the study I made still. Maybe I'll dig it up for you all to look at. I also made a draft conceptual plan for expanding Levin (per a request from Dr. Kellogg) under and on said front lawn with a design focused program (a la Kent's UDC). But Kent with moving into a different space and Levin (and CSU) was losing a lot of state funding. So that went nowhere but on somebodies shelf. It was a cool design, if I should say so myself. I miss working there. I would actually be sad to see it go. It looks very nice and classy. Many friends from Kent or even Akron have always mentioned that CSU has no green space at all. Wasn't CSU criticized for having no green space and all concrete? Now is it reverse?? lol
May 18, 201213 yr ^My plan wasn't to get rid of it at all. Most of the space i proposed was underground... actually, all of it was now that I think of it.
May 18, 201213 yr I also made a draft conceptual plan for expanding Levin (per a request from Dr. Kellogg) under and on said front lawn with a design focused program (a la Kent's UDC). But Kent with moving into a different space and Levin (and CSU) was losing a lot of state funding. So that went nowhere but on somebodies shelf. It was a cool design, if I should say so myself. I miss working there. Interesting. Even if CSU doesn't feel like putting a building there in the foreseeable future, it might still benefit from some public art, a kiosk, a garden, or something to make it less useless. Maybe a bocce court and a concession stand :). EDIT: I've mostly seen campus when classes aren't in session, so I should probably ask: do people use this lawn for anything ever?
May 18, 201213 yr ^ Ive never seen the lawn used. Ive heard their were plans to improve it but the Universities focus moved on to different and more important things.
May 18, 201213 yr Students will sit on the benches surrounding the lawn when its sunny, warm, and dry out. So, yeah, it is utilized for about 5 or 6 days total during the Fall and Spring semesters.
May 19, 201213 yr I also made a draft conceptual plan for expanding Levin (per a request from Dr. Kellogg) under and on said front lawn with a design focused program (a la Kent's UDC). But Kent with moving into a different space and Levin (and CSU) was losing a lot of state funding. So that went nowhere but on somebodies shelf. It was a cool design, if I should say so myself. I miss working there. Dr. Kellogg (and Kirby Date) still talk about adding more design oriented classes all the time
May 19, 201213 yr ^My plan wasn't to get rid of it at all. Most of the space i proposed was underground... actually, all of it was now that I think of it. Sounds very interesting! There is another underground building at CSU down behind the education building. I don't know much though, it's the only building I've yet to experience on campus.
May 21, 201213 yr Certainly the biggest change was the installation of "The Politician" in the useless green space north of the business school. Here is the the site selection study I did for the Politician: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9SRzBl8blmCOGI2Zjc1OGUtNzI4NS00ZDIxLTllZjgtMjhlNTdmZWNhMGQx I think my Levin Conceptual study may not be digitized at the moment. I'll look around for it though
May 21, 201213 yr ^ Ive never seen the lawn used. Ive heard their were plans to improve it but the Universities focus moved on to different and more important things. When I was at Levin between 2006-2008, they used the lawn for outdoor events with free giveaways, food, music, etc. Granted, the events didn't happen every week (usually once or twice a semester), but the lawn is used on occasion by the university.
May 21, 201213 yr It does get used at times, and was part of the original Ingenuity fest. I still hate it though. Leave it to the College of Urban Planning to feature a big lawn buffer that takes up half the lot. This notion that CSU has no greenspace... where does it come from? Until recently, that campus has looked about as urban as the Kent State branch in Salem. Copious surface parking, lawns everywhere, and buildings that look ashamed to be on Main Street. It really has turned around in the past few years, though its adherence to suburban design elements continues to frustrate me.
May 21, 201213 yr Levin really is a total dog of a building. That whole CSU block is just bad. What confuses me about CSU's open space scheme is that's almost all passive lawn/plantings. I'm just surprised they've never developed a plaza space right on Euclid that could regularly host outdoor events without destroying planting beds. I thought the new student center would have been a great opportunity for something like that, but no, just more useless lawn and left-over spaces.
May 21, 201213 yr CSU is looking for balance. If that means incorporating some "suburban design element"...... or what I would instead refer to as typical colllege campus elements...... I have no problem with it. All I can say is whatever they are doing, they should keep plugging away. I have never seen this level of activity on CSU's campus before. Students are out and about. It looks like a real college.
May 21, 201213 yr Greenspace is fine, if it's being used. But like Straphanger noted, the greenspace at CSU is just left over land, not designed to really be used for anything. Build a quad or a usable plaza, by all means.
May 21, 201213 yr Build a quad or a usable plaza, by all means. Yes. In my experience, urban campuses are very different from what's otherwise considered typical. They're more urban than campus, which is what sets them apart from other choices. I personally see no value in balancing a downtown setting with suburban design elements. I find it broadly counterproductive.
May 21, 201213 yr The Urban College building (and possibly the business building - not sure on that one) was not designed for the CSU campus. It was literally an off-the-shelf plan originally designed for some suburban insurance company in another state. I kid you not.
May 21, 201213 yr The Urban College building (and possibly the business building - not sure on that one) was not designed for the CSU campus. It was literally an off-the-shelf plan originally designed for some suburban insurance company in another state. I kid you not. [erupts with righteous fury]
May 28, 201213 yr Here are some shots from yesterday...siding going up in back, brick on from and second building being started: IMG_2449 by lilblondiecan2003, on Flickr IMG_2450 by lilblondiecan2003, on Flickr IMG_2451 by lilblondiecan2003, on Flickr
May 28, 201213 yr Building in first picture? Building in second picture? Building in third? Wait and see. EDIT: then I change my scientific rating system for the third photo as per ClevelandOhio's comment below. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 29, 201213 yr Was anything recently there on that property before the development or was it grassland/surface lots?
May 29, 201213 yr It was mostly surface parking; also one old industrial building that was kind of cool.
May 29, 201213 yr It was mostly surface parking; also one old industrial building that was kind of cool. Ok thanks, and regardless if this looks suburban to some people it is undoubtedly better than looking at a surface lot.
May 29, 201213 yr It was mostly surface parking; also one old industrial building that was kind of cool. Ok thanks, and regardless if this looks suburban to some people it is undoubtedly better than looking at a surface lot. The Doan Electric building was nicer looking than the condo esq buildings, but it'll look a lot nicer without the surface lots. There was also an art building that came down, but it didn't interact with the street nicely so it's not a huge loss.
May 30, 201213 yr It was mostly surface parking; also one old industrial building that was kind of cool. Was that the one-story brick building that sat up to the street?
May 30, 201213 yr ^^I was referring to the Doan Electric bldg, which was a few stories high, dark brick and in the middle of the block, IIRC.
May 30, 201213 yr Back on page 57, Reply #1698 is a nice photo spread by McCleveland of the buildings that have been demolished for the North Campus project.
May 30, 201213 yr It was mostly surface parking; also one old industrial building that was kind of cool. Was that the one-story brick building that sat up to the street? I think you're talking about the old art building.
May 30, 201213 yr Okay, this is probably going to be the weirdest thing I've ever said on here, but I actually REALLY like the siding they chose ... maybe even more than the brick they chose :o It has this variable brown and green tint that makes it look more or less like stained wood. I think it looks pretty sharp, honestly, and is about 80 times less obnoxious than the siding used for Euclid Commons. I think these townhouses are shaping up to look far more urban than the rendering suggested ... These could have been sooooooo much worse. At this point, I'm much more troubled by a site plan that still has a high surface parking to building ratio than I am by the aesthetic appeal of the buildings.
May 30, 201213 yr I don't want to oversell them. No one's going to mistake this for Uptown :) But nonetheless, I think the roofline series of windows, the french door "balconies" and the wood-esque siding makes it a lot more interesting than it could have been. With the right kind of landscaping, these could actually be pretty nice. Regardless, I think they do look MUCH better than the GERD-inducing rendering we were up in arms over. I've also got to credit CSU for placing them adjacent to the street ... Nice move by a campus that has historically favored setbacks (30 feet setbacks 20 years ago, down to five today :) ).
May 30, 201213 yr I don't want to oversell them. No one's going to mistake this for Uptown :) But nonetheless, I think the roofline series of windows, the french door "balconies" and the wood-esque siding makes it a lot more interesting than it could have been. With the right kind of landscaping, these could actually be pretty nice. Regardless, I think they do look MUCH better than the GERD-inducing rendering we were up in arms over. I've also got to credit CSU for placing them adjacent to the street ... Nice move by a campus that has historically favored setbacks (30 feet setbacks 20 years ago, down to five today :) ). The condos on Gay Street in downtown Columbus (albeit brick) seem very similar in design to what is going on here at Cleveland State. They are really nice and have a great street presence.
May 30, 201213 yr At this point, I'm much more troubled by a site plan that still has a high surface parking to building ratio than I am by the aesthetic appeal of the buildings. I'm hoping that at some point they will put an additional building with some structured parking and more residential in the middle of those blocks, but that's just my urbanista fantasy.
May 30, 201213 yr At this point, I'm much more troubled by a site plan that still has a high surface parking to building ratio than I am by the aesthetic appeal of the buildings. I'm hoping that at some point they will put an additional building with some structured parking and more residential in the middle of those blocks, but that's just my urbanista fantasy. I actually made a mock up of this back on page 80
May 30, 201213 yr Building in first picture? Building in second picture? Building in third? Wait and see. EDIT: then I change my scientific rating system for the third photo as per ClevelandOhio's comment below. You definitely have to see them in context to appreciate how nicely the townhomes fit in. The whole complex looks great and adds nicely to the campus and a depleted downtown area. It's also nice that the townhomes line a street that is also home to the sports complex for csu-- adding a nice college town feel.
May 31, 201213 yr ^^^^ I'd love to see the mid-section get filled in. I think the other solution would be to extend the townhomes down the side streets and then street-fronting along Payne (or a second set of brick facades along Payne. Even with surface parking in the middle, it would at least be lower visibility in a "courtyard" format.
May 31, 201213 yr Nice mock-up, ClevelandOhio. One big-ass, fugly surface parking lot down, 500 more to go.... "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 3, 201213 yr The renovation of the c. 1905 Union Building on Euclid is moving along. NEOMED is supposed to start classes there in August...
June 4, 201213 yr Looks great! I wonder how the storefronts will turn out. Hopefully they restored the lobby
June 4, 201213 yr Beautiful building. But occupancy by August? Really?? "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 5, 201213 yr The renovation of the c. 1905 Union Building on Euclid is moving along. NEOMED is supposed to start classes there in August... How long has this been vacant?
June 5, 201213 yr When Rhodes tower was built wasn't there a sort of controversy over the high rise being built? I remember watching the video about the downfall of Downtown Cleveland and how building were getting demolished left and right. I also remember something being said over the construction on Rhodes tower and how there was some type of controversy but can't pinpoint it exactly
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