You can choose three.

(Sorry Firefox users [me too]. Because of a known bug, not all of the pics will show, so will have to use m$ IE)

 

 

Here are photos of each of the submissions from the Design Competition for the Breuer Tower held during Ingenuity.

The photos can also be found on my Flickr site with a brief critique of each submission.

Feel free to comment on individual proposals on the Flickr page for the specific photo.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/muscatello/sets/72157600997698738/

 

 

What would you do with the Breuer Building?

Architecture Exhibit

 

IngenuityFest 2007 Cleveland Festival of Art & Technology

July 18 – July 21, 2007 1305 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, Ohio

 

We asked a simple question. The answers, both individually and as a group, are clever, quirky, serious, complex and simple. But the overriding answer is that the Breuer Building has relevance. Those who responded to the call for entries have offered fresh and engaging visions for the Tower. From as far as Australia, Dubai and Italy, architects and designers have presented thought-provoking, sustainable and socially relevant themes.

 

This exhibition responds to the bold proposition by the political establishment to raze the Cleveland Trust Co. (Ameritrust) Tower, a 36-year-old, 29-story building designed by the significant Modernist architect, Marcel Breuer.

 

We are happy to have received so many entries. We are intrigued by their differences, from the pragmatic and minimalist to the impossibly absurd. All of the entrants were given the same digital background image upon which to base their responses; yet, they have expressed diverse points of view using a range of presentation styles - from the hand-drawn and water-colored to the completely computer generated and then combinations in between.

 

If you consider all the schemes together, the variety of proposals is vast; ranging from those that would leave Marcel Breuer's work mostly intact to the more drastic ideas that imagine a completely transformed identity for the building. At the modest end of the spectrum are various modifications to the building's facade. These provoke the viewer to see the building in a fresh context - (re)defining the building as a work of art. Others suggest changing the building's function from office building to a home for Superman, a source for wind power, or a collection of gardens, to name just a few. Several presentations rely heavily on words. These comment on frustration and outrage with local politics and current events; they capture the essence of the architecture and the intellectual background of Breuer's Modernism, and they even propose a global design center for sustainable solutions.

 

The office tower was built in 1971 as an addition to George B. Post & Sons' Cleveland Trust rotunda of 1908, located at the corner of East 9th Street and Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland. Breuer’s concrete and glass composition creates a patterned background against which to appreciate the Beaux Arts bank building. The tower reflects Breuer’s concern for functional sustainability (before “sustainability” became the buzzword it is today). The deep set windows block direct sunlight from entering the offices, allowing a more diffuse ambient light to illuminate the interior and reduce cooling loads during the summer months.

 

It is clear that historic preservation and sustainability are intricately linked when addressing the future of this building. Here we have both the only high-rise office building ever built by this important mid-century Modernist and a structure with significant “embodied” energy (all of the energy consumed to create the building and each of its elements). We question the possibility of a new structure’s eligibility for “LEED” certification when it is the replacement of another building whose demolition contributes to landfill and waste. The demolition of this tower eliminates a chapter in Cleveland’s architectural history, and it creates profound costs to our shared environment. In positive terms, by saving and adapting the structure to meet present needs, we preserve our recent past and we protect our near and long-term future.

 

We believe that more creative thinking needs to be devoted to this and all of society's problems if we are to create a sustainable economy and civilization.

 

Among the entries are two historic boards: Post’s 1919 design for an addition to the rotunda building and Breuer’s original design for twin towers, one facing Euclid, the other East 9th Street. In addition, we show boards presented to Cuyahoga County by the six local and national architecture teams that responded to the county’s Request for Proposals (RFP), including the team's that ultimately won a $13,500,000 contract for architectural services.

 

As we look at the mounted exhibition, we are struck by the many variations of the same image, shown in a pattern reminiscent of the grid of windows that compose the Breuer Tower. Together, the entries make a strong visual statement. We hope that when seen together, this collection of ideas reminds elected officials that there is more to the Breuer Building than has met their eyes - at least until now. Also, we hope this demonstrates that when the question of a building's fate is opened to a wide range of people, there is no telling what innovative, exciting and new possibilities will emerge. We are encouraged by the many designs shown here - as hopeful visions for the future.

 

We invite you to consider what you would do with the Breuer Building, and in doing so, to consider how you envision the design of our shared future.

 

David H. Ellison, AIA and Sally L. Levine, AIA

 

 

 

Davis Brody Bond Aedas

 

Westlake Reed Leskowsky

 

KPF - 1

 

KPF - 2

 

Perkins+Will

 

Richard Fleishmen

 

Michael D. Hall

 

Keith Hayes & James Park

 

Derek Gribulis

Neeland Jana Sen

 

Jeff Walker

 

Robert M. Donaldson

 

Nathan Robb

 

Andreas Lange

 

John Drain

 

Surjan, McCaila, Black, Ransom, McCullough

 

Ron Friedman

 

Marcel Breuer

Hamilton Smith

 

Giorgio Chiarello

Marco Palsian & Mauro Peloso

 

Sally L. Levine

 

Christopher James Knight

 

George B. Post & Sons

 

Overall Jury Favorite

Gall & Medek

Bauhaus 21+

 

David H. Ellison, Mark Jackson, Eric Greenberg, Mike Osysko

 

Mark E. Olson, Jr.

 

Frederick Schwartz, Tracey Hummer, Yunjie Peng

 

Berenika Boberska

 

(One of my favorites)

Ted Ferringer, Jr.

 

Patrick James Hyland, Jr.

 

Scott A. Snyder

 

Robert Bittel

 

Aetem Golestian

 

Tie Liu Wu

 

Craig Scott

Lisa Iwamoto

 

Maxime Hourani

 

vandyke and anderson

 

 

Lord Jesus.

No...

 

Musky.

wow thx musky. excellent renderings -- very clever & inspired.

 

so did anyone else burst out laughing at the one with the hullets like i did? damn that was funny.

 

i think i'll take the scott/iwamoto idea, third from the bottom, as that would have a huge skyline presence.

 

however, the final idea by vandyke & anderson is what they truly oughta do (except just dont use that prime jacobs owned public square spot for this thing, put it elsewhere).