57 minutes ago, Chas Wiederhold said:

I struggle with the Art Museum spending so much money on this ableist of a project.

 

Instagram. 

Time to install that mythical aerial tramway from the casino to the art museum.

3 hours ago, Chas Wiederhold said:

I struggle with the Art Museum spending so much money on this ableist of a project.

I find the location of it bizarre as well, if you are going to spend a bunch of money on a staircase, why not expand and beautify the staircase leading up from the Elsinore Arch? That would at least lead toward downtown/OTR, where this staircase leads to the Baldwin apartments , two office buildings and a hotel. 

 

The video mentions the staircase connects to Walnut Hills, but if you live in Walnut Hills and are walking to the museum wouldn't everyone choose to walk through Eden park instead of down Gilbert Ave? 

Just now, ucgrady said:

I find the location of it bizarre as well, if you are going to spend a bunch of money on a staircase, why not expand and beautify the staircase leading up from the Elsinore Arch? That would at least lead toward downtown/OTR, where this staircase leads to the Baldwin apartments , two office buildings and a hotel. 

 

The video mentions the staircase connects to Walnut Hills, but if you live in Walnut Hills and are walking to the museum wouldn't everyone choose to walk through Eden park instead of down Gilbert Ave? 

Exactly... the staircases connect to the Baldwin Piano Apartments (condos?) and TriHealth corporate offices. With the Ballet going in south of these two, maybe this could become a bit of a cultural trail...

Doing research mid-response and found this: https://www.cincinnatidesignawards.com/cda_entries/cincinnati-art-museum-art-climb-master-plan/

CAM staff presented at the Mt. Adams community meeting earlier this year, I can't find the PPT but remember the meeting fairly well. 

 

The idea they referenced was to open up the CAM to Walnut Hills because it's literally been a walled off ledge for decades. A few vocal residents got off-task talking about which 'neighborhood' Eden Park and the Art Museum are in - with CAM staff trying to remain neutral and claim all neighborhoods, including WH and EWH, as welcome and open participants as it is a city-wide asset.

 

Massive waste of time, but was an indicator to me of the perception they're trying to change over time and may be why they chose this area to start with rather than Elsinore. Essentially it's virtue signaling, but IIRC from the overview it will all be better-connected eventually in the master plan and more ADA accessible overall. 

 

When I reached out to Dave Linnenberg from the video to ask about any plans for traffic calming near the site (e.g. bike lane, road diet), he was somewhat receptive to the idea but noncommittal. He did specifically mention removing the "no crosswalk" sign here and said they've started conversations about removing/modifying the islands at the intersection and retiming the lights, but nothing about bike lanes or general street calming. I was somewhat discouraged because he specifically referenced part of it being difficult due to a 'hard turn' for trucks, but at least he answered and wasn't dismissive. 

It's not a pedestrian- or bike-friendly area for novices like me and I tried to brainstorm ways to best fix it in my response, but my guess is that it'll end up being expensive and therefore on hold. It's also somewhat of a no-man's land so I'm not sure what neighborhood would advocate for it, other than residents of the Baldwin. Which I guess is part of the problem. 

1 hour ago, shawk said:

The idea they referenced was to open up the CAM to Walnut Hills because it's literally been a walled off ledge for decades.

 

There was a plan 15~ years ago to expand the art museum onto the main parking lot, toward the top of this new staircase.  The plan failed because of the 2008-09 economic meltdown.  My guess is that the staircase idea was hatched back then, and it makes sense as a stand-alone project since there has been some maturation of the scene at the Eden Park Dr. intersection.  The Baldwin is now residential generates a modicum of street life in the form of dog walkers and joggers. 

 

I suspect that the expansion is still in a galaxy far, far away since the museum just built a very expensive wheelchair ramp that enables ADA access at the historic front door.  That hints that the 100 year-old front door will remain the front door for the foreseeable future. 

Edited April 28, 20205 yr by jmecklenborg

The plan by Neutelings Riedijk that won the competition would have kept the main entrance as the main entrance, it just buried the parking in a garage and created a new grand plaza that you came up into before entering the museum. It also added a large tulip shaped tower, which if that existing at the peak of the hill, this staircase leading up to it would make a lot more sense. 

I love the tulip tower. I was co-oping for the firm that was state side working off of this Neutelings Riedijk masterplan and I still envision a giant tulip sprouting up from the hill.

Agreed, though I never new what it was going to be made out of, transparent or opaque, programmed space or visual object. I always liked it and think it would have really made the museum much more of a visual icon on the hillside from all over the city. Especially lit up at night, it could have been really something.

 

On a side note, this masterplan always reminded me of the planned Obama center (the Cincinnati Art Museum design came first) which also has a large tower as its focal point with a wider mid section tapering in at the top and bottom.  Unfortunately at this rate, neither are likely to happen any time soon...