I think that exact same picture is on page 12 of this thread :)

^ Ok yeah but that was almost a year ago now.  Seemed relevant to the current discussion.

Since this thread was talking about Burnet Woods...

 

How could Burnet Woods become Cincinnati’s next great public space? Here are some ideas

Apr 24, 2015, 3:05pm EDT Updated: Apr 24, 2015, 3:16pm EDT

Chris Wetterich Staff reporter and columnist-

Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

About 13 months ago, Mayor John Cranley said he wanted to see Burnet Woods in Uptown reimagined into a more welcoming place that is more pedestrian friendly both on the outside and inside.

 

University of Cincinnati students studying engineering, architecture, planning and other disciplines working out of the Niehoff Urban Studio delivered that and more after they spent the last year reimagining the 90-acre city park.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2015/04/how-could-burnet-woods-become-cincinnati-s-next.html

I went to the event last night to check out the work. There were some really nice ideas. Traffic calming measures on MLK and Clifton were common and highly supported by basically everyone. Land bridges over MLK were present in a handful of designs. Some nice pathway connections stemming directly from Campus Green and continuing to various key locations in the park. Lots of mixed use development ideas along the edges to activate the park some more which is an intelligent idea. Overall nice to see so many different ideas coming together. Hopefully they spark some conversation by the powers that be.

There was a proposal on the table probably a decade ago to grade-separate the intersection of MLK and Clifton Ave. While I don't like the fact that MLK is being turned into a highway, it would be an interesting solution to sink MLK from roughly Riddle Road to Bishop Street. Then you could easily "cap" it and have a very nice connection between Burnett Woods and UC's campus.

I'm a big fan of walkability and traffic calming, but MLK is going to be an auto oriented road, and in fact millions are being spent to make optimize it for that purpose in between 1-71 and I-75. I believe in even in Jeff Speck's book he has a section about Picking your winners (in other words choosing your battles.)

 

Just saw the biz courier article- land bridge over MLK looks cool.

Grade-separating intersections like these can be ok where it makes sense topographically, and at MLK/Clifton and MLK/Vine/Jefferson it certainly does since MLK sharply slopes up to meet both cross streets.  The problem is the connector street to allow turns, which when the traffic engineers get a hold of it turn it into a wide-radius, multi-lane, highway-esque loop that completely kills that one corner (unless you happen to be White Castle). 

Scioto Hall is pretty much gutted at this point.

 

 

Does anyone know what they're doing to the southern entrance to DAAP?

UC looking to build $135M College of Business

 

A tentative site has been identified on the university's main campus. The new building would be located on the site of the current Alumni Center and the unused faculty club building, which anchors the northern end of UC’s MainStreet. The anticipated multi-story building will house most of the facilities for students and faculty for the College of Business.

FIRST LOOK: UC Health reveals details of multimillion-dollar medical center

UC Health plans to build a $50 million outpatient center in Corryville to treat people with neurologic and psychiatric diseases.

 

The new facility will be the headquarters of the University of Cincinnati Neuroscience Institute, which has launched a $54.6 million fundraising campaign. About $26.6 million will go to to help pay for the building, and $28 million will go toward program costs. The remaining funds needed for the project would come from the university and UC Health.

 

The center will be built at 223 Piedmont Ave. The Piedmont Mews apartment complex at the site, which is owned by UC and managed by Towne Properties, will be razed to make way for it. The complex dates to 1965, according to the Hamilton County auditor’s office.

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/08/24/first-look-uc-health-reveals-details-of.html

If You Build It, They WillCome ... Won’t They?

The University of Cincinnati is trying to raise its profile through a

risky (but increasingly common) investment: expensive architecture.

By NIKIL SAVALSEPT. 10, 2015

 

When you think of a classic American college campus, you probably envision a set of pastoral images: a demure brick rowhouse crowned with a white steeple, a gargoyle perched on a limestone archway, a domed library on a sunlit grass quadrangle. Often far from cities or shielded from them by gates and walls, campuses exude a sense of refuge. Thomas Jefferson famously wanted the University of Virginia to resemble a kind of ‘‘academical village.’’

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/magazine/if-you-build-it-they-will-come-wont-they.html?_r=1&module=CloseSlideshow&region=SlideShowTopBar&version=EndSlate&action=click&contentCollection=Magazine&pgtype=imageslideshow

Get me a job, school! I don't care about starchitecture if I'm underemployed three years after I graduate.

Probably a good thing that the extra 12,000 students they've attracted in a little over a decade has helped fund better resources for UC and as such it has one of the highest ROI of public schools.

 

UC students, due to so many programs being co-op programs, are a lot more well rounded upon graduation and achieve better jobs due to experience than comparable schools without co-op programs.

Exactly. I suppose UC can get away with it, but if I'm looking at schools without co-op it's a different story.

The whole tone of that article is weird, and it seems like the author is a bit clueless. It reads like a critique of the strategy, but it's a strategy that has clearly worked well for UC. It's almost like the author started out wanting to tear UC apart for their focus on unique architecture, learned it worked out okay, but still wrote the article because he had a deadline. Maybe someday he'll learn that you have to be willing to accept that fact that your hypothesis is wrong and move on, lest no one will ever take you seriously.

The title definitely supports that. The "...won't they" sets a tone of a failed attempt but increasing your student body by 30%+ in a decade or so is incredibly impressive for a school that was already large. So the answer to the question asked in the title is, "in this case, hell yeah they did" yet you wouldn't expect that to be the answer if you just saw the title itself.

Perhaps students have found out that they are more likely to leave UC with a job than they are at other schools rather than it having to do with the rec building and the TUC work (I still want to find out what the Food Bubbles were). They had to do something about the Ugly Sisters, though. And Lindner Hall is moldy-smelling.

Correlation does not necessarily imply causation.  I would argue that UC's appeal isn't so much in its exhibition of starchitecture, some of which is positively wretched, but more in the execution of the campus master plan.  It wasn't long ago that a large portion of campus was paved over with monolithic parking lots, and criss-crossed by banal and utilitarian service drives.  There's virtually no surface parking left, and a lot of high-quality outdoor spaces have been constructed such that walking around or just being on campus doesn't feel stifling.  That's the curb appeal that makes a good first impression.  There's still plenty left to do to be sure, and I'm not saying the architecture doesn't help, but I suspect just as many are turned off by it as turned on. 

Correlation does not necessarily imply causation.  I would argue that UC's appeal isn't so much in its exhibition of starchitecture, some of which is positively wretched, but more in the execution of the campus master plan.  It wasn't long ago that a large portion of campus was paved over with monolithic parking lots, and criss-crossed by banal and utilitarian service drives.  There's virtually no surface parking left, and a lot of high-quality outdoor spaces have been constructed such that walking around or just being on campus doesn't feel stifling.  That's the curb appeal that makes a good first impression.  There's still plenty left to do to be sure, and I'm not saying the architecture doesn't help, but I suspect just as many are turned off by it as turned on. 

 

No doubt.  Just close your eyes and remember what campus was like circa 1992.

UC's Campus is really nice these days. Only real concern is,

 

University 2004 2014

The Ohio State University $814,606,000 $2,605,528,000

Miami University $93,151,622 $641,065,000

Wright State University $16,484,121 $101,957,190

University of Cincinnati $894,596,000 $1,236,000,000

Central State University $2,535,821 $17,781,501

Youngstown State University $13,680,000 $70,710,037

Northeast Ohio Medical University $0 $40,649,167

The University of Akron $204,729,516 $487,101,792

Bowling Green State University $84,400,000 $147,100,000

Ohio University $171,300,000 $332,900,000

The University of Toledo 176,097,000 $332,549,000

Kent State University $279,351,000 $506,455,000

Cleveland State University $54,487,124 $205,581,517

TOTAL $2,805,418,204 $6,725,378,204

SOURCES: Provided on request by universities

 

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/debt-of-ohio-public-universities-tops-65b/nj83M/

That article in the DDN lists UC's Nippert Renovation as financed with debt.  All the info from UC says it was financed with donations and suite/seat sales. I don't doubt the gist of the article though.

A few nationally ranked programs?

Lindner College of Business in top 100 — UC’s business school placed 36th in the nation among public business schools. Out of all business schools in the nation, UC placed 84th. The ranking was five places higher than the previous year's. (March 2013 and '12)

Full-time MBA program in top 50 — The UC Lindner College of Business MBA program was ranked 47th in the nation. (November '14)

College of Business' undergraduate program rankings among public schools (2013):

 

    No. 5 marketing

    No. 5 accounting

    No. 6 quantitative methods

    No. 7 ethics

    No. 10 microeconomics

    No. 10 macroeconomics

    No. 14 international business

    No. 15 operations management

    No. 16 finance

    No. 37 information systems

    No. 40 sustainability

    No. 41 entrepreneurship

    No. 45 corporate strategy

    No. 55 business law

 

  6 — paleontology (2010)

20 — environmental engineering (2014)

31 — aerospace engineering (2014)

48 — civil engineering (2014)

60 — mechanical engineering (2014)

MBA:

 

    46 — best part-time program

    70 — best full-time program

    top 10 — greatest financial value upon graduation, based upon highest first-year salaries relative to debt load out of 437 for programs 

 

DesignIntelligence

 

    Survey of employers

        Industrial design No. 1 — UC's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning was named as having the country's best undergraduate industrial design program for the fourth straight year —  (2015)

        Interior design No. 6 — For more than a dozen years, DAAP’s undergraduate interior design program has ranked in the top six in the nation. (2015)

        No. 18 for graduate architecture — DAAP’s graduate-level architecture program has ranked in the top 20 for four years in a row. In the Midwest, it was ranked No. 3. (2015)

 

Colleges

 

    32 — College of Pharmacy, 2012 ranking still current

    40 — College of Medicine for research, 2015 ranking

    54 --- College of Nursing graduate studies, 2015 ranking

    70 — College of Business MBA, 2015 ranking

    81 --- College of Engineering graduate studies, 2015 ranking

    82 — College of Law, 2015 ranking

 

I won't even get into the CCM stuff, but I hear that there are more UC grads working on and off Broadway in NYC than virtually any other University.

        No. 9 for graduate design — DAAP’s graduate-level design program was ranked 9th nationally and 2nd in the Midwest. (2015)       

 

LinkedIn

 

    No. 8 in the country — DAAP's School of Design ranked eighth among design schools, based upon career outcome data of more than 313 million members. (2014)

 

Webometric

 

    No. 150 in the world — The Cybermetrics Lab in Spain measures "the performance and impact of universities through their web presence," ranking the University of Cincinnati 150 in the world. Webometrics scores each university on four criteria, the most heavily weighted being the number of links to the institution's website from other sites -- a way of evaluating that site's general impact on the web community say the rankers. (2014)

 

Business Insider's Global Design Rankings

 

    DAAP college No. 3 in world — Art directors, product designers and other design professionals rated UC's College of Design, Architecture, and Planning No. 3 in the world as a school that "is best suited to get you the design job you want." The college was the No. 1-ranked public university in that category. (2013)

 

The Washington Center

 

    Public University of the Year award — Bestowed on UC in recognition of its dedication to experiential learning. (2013)

 

Wow, law's fallen to 82. It was in the 40s just a few years ago

^Hasn't been in the 40s since at least 2003, my first year there (when we fell to like 53 and were all up in arms about it). 

Should someone go to jail for this?

http://www.fox19.com/story/30078112/fake-certifications-uncertified-welders-uncovered-in-fox19-investigation?clienttype=generic

 

Should someone go to jail for this?

http://www.fox19.com/story/30078112/fake-certifications-uncertified-welders-uncovered-in-fox19-investigation?clienttype=generic

 

 

Probably belongs on the Nip renovation thread. No idea what crimes were committed, if any. Any welders out there? Do you have to have this cert or that

cert? Developers build building to particular LEED standards but often do not get the work certified by USGBC, does it matter, IDK

That's way different. I'm not a welder, but yes, welders need to be certified. That is a safety issue.

 

Building something to LEED standards but not getting it certified is perfectly fine, but you can't say the building is LEED certified. You can say you used the methods of LEED to make it efficient and followed the rules, there just isn't any certification saying you satisfactorily met those requirements.

Moved the Nippert discussion here.

UC plans $60M renovation at Blue Ash campus

The University of Cincinnati is planning a big overhaul of its oldest building at its Blue Ash campus.

 

A $59.6 million, multi-phase renovation is envisioned for the Muntz Hall at UC Blue Ash College. The university issued a request for qualifications for an architect, engineer and code consultant in September to complete a renovation master plan and facility audit, according to documents posted on the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission website.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2015/11/03/uc-plans-60m-renovation-blue-ash-campus/75081642/

This is a pretty impressive short-list:

University of Cincinnati 

College of Business - New Building Concept (Design Architect)

A/E $110-$135 million

 

Behnisch Architekten

Foster + Partners Ltd

Henning Larsen Architects A/S

FCB Studios International Ltd

Grimshaw Architects

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC

What is that list? Are those architect firms who submitted proposals?

It's a list of who will create proposals.

 

My wish is for Behnisch Architekten, Henning Larsen Architects A/S, or Grimshaw Architects to get the project but I feel the reality will either be Foster or KPF. Which will be fine but will not likely be as innovative or present anything new to the conversation of institutional architecture.

UC names design architect finalists for $135M College of Business

Three international firms have been named as finalists for design architect for the University of Cincinnati’s new $135 million Carl H. Lindner College of Business. Danish firm Henning Larsen Architects, London-based Fosters + Partners Architects and Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios International, with headquarters in Bath, England, are the three finalists for design architect for the project.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/12/08/uc-names-design-architect-finalists-for-135m.html

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/12/21/uc-selects-star-architecture-firm-for-100m-new.html

 

Business Courier announced that Henning Larsen won, with KZF as aor. Did anyone go to this presentation or know what this is going to look like?

The selection was not based on renderings of the new Lindner COB, it was based on their previous body of work. I bet we won't see anything for another 6 months or so, maybe more. I expect this to be a top-notch design.

Chris Wetterich is reporting that Robert Richardson Jr was elected to be next Chair of the Board of Trustees:

 

Richardson has been vice chair since 2008 and will be the youngest Chair in the history of UC: https://www.uc.edu/trustees/trustees/richardson.html

 

Apparently Richardson was UC's student body president 15 years ago. He was elected unanimously.

 

 

Chris also mentioned an "influential Democrat" did not want Rob Richardson to become the board chair. I have no doubt that person is John Cranley because Rob has openly speculated about running for Mayor against John. Rob was a principal in Believe in Cincinnati during the fight in 2013 and Rob is very pro getting the streetcar uptown.

 

I doubt his being board chair will have much affect on that discussion but interesting nonetheless that Cranley apparently didn't want this outcome and the board unanimously voted him chair.

I doubt his being board chair will have much affect on that discussion but interesting nonetheless that Cranley apparently didn't want this outcome and the board unanimously voted him chair.

 

The UC student body has been vocal about wanting to get the streetcar Uptown. Perhaps with UC pursuing a new Law School building at The Banks and now a pro-transit leader as Chair of UC's Board, we can start having a mature discussion about getting the streetcar Uptown.

Chris also mentioned an "influential Democrat" did not want Rob Richardson to become the board chair. I have no doubt that person is John Cranley because Rob has openly speculated about running for Mayor against John. Rob was a principal in Believe in Cincinnati during the fight in 2013 and Rob is very pro getting the streetcar uptown.

 

I doubt his being board chair will have much affect on that discussion but interesting nonetheless that Cranley apparently didn't want this outcome and the board unanimously voted him chair.

 

Rob also was one of the original Cincinnatians for Progress officers during the No on Nine campaign in 2009. 

 

Rob being elected to the board chair has been in discussion for sometime. Smitherman was on with both Bill Cunningham and Brian Thomas last fall discussing that this was the plan. Obviously all three were against it. Willie even commented that he would get on the horn with former trustee and large donor Jeff Wyler to put the kibosh on the plan.  :roll:

The Jan 22 print edition of the Business Courier (behind they paywall online) had a cover story on UC moving to The Banks. There wasn't really much "news" from the perspective of new information about UC's intentions, but the article talked a lot about how Arizona State (based in Tempe) opened up a satellite campus in downtown Phoenix, 11 miles away. That distance is much longer than it would be for UC. It's a straight shot 2.3 miles up Vine St from Freedom Way to Taft. I love how (if going north) you could get from the law school at The Bank to the main campus on just 1 street.

 

The article made the point that Phoenix's light rail was instrumental in making the downtown campus viable. I'd be curious to hear stats on how many students use the Phoenix light rail on a daily average. It's 34 minutes by light rail between the campuses... so you can't exactly hop back-and-forth the way you would be able to between The Banks and Uptown. On Metro Plus, it take about 10 minutes to get from downtown to Uptown.

 

If the Metro Plus line simply added a stop at/near The Freedom Center, the connection between The Banks and Uptown would be so easy, with buses already running every 15 minutes.

 

In the future, it'd be great to see the streetcar extension connect the two campuses, but in the short term Metro Plus already solves the connectivity challenge.

I doubt his being board chair will have much affect on that discussion but interesting nonetheless that Cranley apparently didn't want this outcome and the board unanimously voted him chair.

 

The UC student body has been vocal about wanting to get the streetcar Uptown. Perhaps with UC pursuing a new Law School building at The Banks and now a pro-transit leader as Chair of UC's Board, we can start having a mature discussion about getting the streetcar Uptown.

 

Exactly. I also found it interesting that the student body president was making the arguments of affordability and safety. I'm not certain about the nuances of both of these sides of the argument, but I can certainly see that students would have some concerns about where they will live while going to law school at the Banks. They're probably not going to be renting $2.50/sq. ft. + apartments downtown. Effective transit is the obvious solution.

Is UC saving or tearing down the old Sears building at Reading and Lincoln? I took the 43 this evening and that building is stripped to the bone and the corner part is semi-demolished. I was under the impression that the building was going to be saved as-is.

Last I read they were demolishing the 1940s addition but keeping the original 1920s part.  The only problem is that the 1940s addition is more than half the building, including the corner entrance. 

Last I read they were demolishing the 1940s addition but keeping the original 1920s part.  The only problem is that the 1940s addition is more than half the building, including the corner entrance.

 

Thanks for the clarification. That seems kinda silly.

Getting back to this version, though I'm betting the north facing wall that was removed for the addition gets replaced with a glass curtain wall or something "high-tech" looking. Cant see UC going back in time and restoring it as it was.

I'm shocked any of it at all is being saved.  Time and time again the Uptown Consortium has shown little regard for the areas' historic assets.

 

Great find on the photo above, what I'd give to have a time machine and explore Cincinnati before urban renewal started destroying it.

That stretch of Reading actually used to have a pleasant streetscape!

 

I wonder if anyone back then complained about the streetcar wires  :wink:.