Ratio Architects today unveiled detailed interior plans for a $275-million expansion of the Indiana Convention Center. The
light-filled expansion will feature elevated walkways and a carpet pattern designed to mimic the Hoosier landscape. The plans
were revealed at a meeting of the Indiana Stadium and Convention Building Authority. The group also awarded a $3.5 million
contract to demolish the RCA Dome to New York-based Sabre Demolition Corp. What do you think?
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Honestly, who cares what the inside looks like? They're usually designed to be a benign backdrop to whatever stuff a convention host wants to show. The host does NOT want people paying attention to the walls and floors.
Anything new on the John Willard Mariott? Sodo? Ralston? IUPUI apartment towers?
Several elements of the new ICC were supposedly inspired by the Hoosier landscape.
And now the carpet? (Which looks straight out of the 80's, by the way)
I don't buy it. Sounds like drivel conjured up to please a board.
I'm sure it will function well. CorrND has a point, but I'm not sure he's right. :-)
Its not the interior of the state house but I think it will work.
It would be nice if it had a memorable feature somewhere, perhaps an interactive sculpture/meet people space that would get in photos. If a public art percentage requirement applies to the project, I'd urge the CIB to include such a feature.
There are any number of artists who work in stone or bronze sculptural seating elements. A cluster of artistic seating could add some warmth and focus to the public spaces. Art as placemaking...
http://www.iccrd.com/conv/Expansion-Update.aspx
Would still like to see a full three-story shot of the entrance...
You're correct, it probably doesn't need a breathtaking interior to function perfectly well as a Convention Center. But, that doesn't make it right or the most excellent.
I want to see the architecture and design in this city lifted above the merely functional or good-enough and into the realm of inspiring and memorable. It's possible to design an interior that is both, without distracting from a convention's products.
I'm talking an oversized, stylized race car to cash in on the only recognized (according to many visitor and even travel pro's responses in multiple surveys) image that exists in their minds that depicts the city to them. OH, there's some kind of race there.
It's also the one sports venue that is self supporting, brings in major sponsors and cash both during the races and year round with related industries located here. But it's the one that you can't see from downtown.
LOS, old MSA, the Dome till it's gone, all distinct sports palaces. IMS has become a showcase and with planned improvements will add to the luster of our sports-crazy locals and visitors.
Conventioneers may not give a damn about the inside of the tradeshow space except wanting places to sit, go to the bathroom with convenience, decent parking (this is a whole other problem for tradeshow-goers that deserves some attention) for their transports, motorcoaches, semitrailers, vendor vehicles, etc., easy access to services, meals, entertainment, lodging and a good value for their money.
As a volunteer working with thousands of the city's visitors during all kinds of events and activities, this is what I've observed. Not having the IMS represented where the downtown conventioneer can see it is a mistake because most think they will see the track while they are in town. Even motorcoach tours have to make off-the-beaten track treks out to the IMS where there is no place to eat, but there IS a place to park the coach, which many downtown museums/attractions lack along with easy unloading because of goofy one way streets (think about the Athenaeum, or worse, the NCAA Hall of Champions).
So, they should put something in this sport fanatic town that plays off our best sports icons where there's always a winner and sometimes it's even a local we can call our own.
In a town full of pro and amatuer sports venues this is a no-brainer.
The rest of the design can be generic and non-threatening vanilla.
But use what we've got to cash in on.
Amen, sister.
When I go anywhere outside of Indiana, folks associate Indianapolis with racing.
So maybe the lobby gets some bronze race cars to sit in, stand around, take pictures of...don't forget, the big ballroom in the Center is called The 500 Ballroom.
indication of the heart or soul of Indiana?
BTW, want to know what's happening in design around the world?
check this out:
www.thecoolhunter.net
The Hyatt Regency hotel walkway collapse was a major disaster that occurred on July 17, 1981 in Kansas City, Missouri, killing 114 people and injuring more than 200 others during a tea dance. At the time it was the deadliest structural collapse in U.S. history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyatt_Regency_walkway_collapse