8 Comments so far

1. Scott on May 23, 2006 11:28 am

   I look forward to seeing this!

2. Sarah on May 23, 2006 12:43 pm

   I must be the only one who is upset by the design of that building as well as the HOK Building. I have lived in the market for 6 years and can’t believe that architectural approval was given for 5 Delaware. It doesn’t fit into the “look” of the market at all. It would be nice to see a builder come into a great neighborhood and build condos that look like they have been there forever.

3. Tony on May 23, 2006 5:30 pm

   Good stuff. I wouldn’t have known about this if it hadn’t been for this blog.

   However, I would like to note that it would be nice if we could line up representatives from all three of these organizations and slap them like the Three Stooges for trying to make my beloved cowtown trendy and attempting to raise my property taxes.

4. ChrisM70 on May 23, 2006 11:22 pm

   I have to say that I find some of the attitudes here very self-serving.

   Create buildings that look like they have been there forever? If that was the case, architecture (and buildings) would never evolve - we’d be all be stuck living in old style, drafty colonials! Perhaps some are not happy with modern design, but I for one am happy to see someone taking a chance and creating something different in this city. KC is becoming a city of art & culture!

   And also I have been waiting for this:
   complaints about downtown revitalization!

   Everyone complained that downtown is dead, nothing to do, it’s dirty, it’s filled with crime, etc, etc.
   Now that the city is actually DOING something (renovating old buildings, adding new ones, bringing in an arena, grocery store, new entertainment) now people are COMPLAINING!!!

   Um… what did you think would happen to property taxes? It’s simple: when property is coveted, the price goes up. There has been plenty of warning that this was coming. Plus, KC is still a very affordable city to live in (this isn’t San Francisco, Chicago or New York).

5. Slappy on May 24, 2006 11:12 am

   That building rocks! cant wait to see the issue. KC Mag has an article on one of the units this month looks very cool.

6. Brian C. on May 28, 2006 8:45 am

   “I must be the only one who is upset by the design of that building”

   Nope. I do NOT like the 5th and Del building. It is ugly now and will be even more so in 5 - 10 years when the ultra tech industrial look is no longer hip. It will look just like all the hideous crap in mid town build in the 70s.

   “Create buildings that look like they have been there forever? If that was the case, architecture (and buildings) would never evolve”

   I think what was meant is creating buildings appropriate for the neighborhoods they are in. The market is a historical area. This building clashes with the neighborhood, no one is saying you can not build contemporary designs just build them is areas they fit into.

7. J. Ell on June 18, 2006 8:34 am

   Interesting quote from Lewis Mumford about this very topic:

   “Let us be clear about this, the forms that people used in other civilizations or in other periods of our own country’s history were intimately part of the whole structure of their life. There is no method of mechanically reproducing these forms or bringing them back to life; it is a piece of rank materialism to attempt to duplicate some earlier form, because of its delight for the eye, without realizing how empty a form is without the life that once supported it. There is no such thing as a modern colonial
   house any more than there is such a thing as a modern Tudor house.

   “If one seeks to reproduce such a building in our own day, every mark on it will betray the fact that it is a fake, and the harder the architect works to conceal that fact, the more patent the fact will be…The great lesson of history - and this applies to all the arts - is that the past cannot be recaptured except in spirit. We cannot live another person’s life; we cannot, except in the spirit of a costume ball…Our task is not to imitate the past, but to understand it, so that we may face the opportunity of our own day and deal with them in an equally creative spirit.”

8. Brian C. on June 18, 2006 5:04 pm

   For the second time no one has said that we should just keep rebuilding the same old designs over and over. We are just saying that it is not appropriate to create buildings that garishly clash with the areas they are in.

   Additionally the these retro-tech industrial designs are cheap and tacky looking. In time when this fad passes they will be even uglier.