The view of the expanded Indiana Convention Center from
Lucas Oil Stadium caught several Colts fans off guard after the team's first preseason game on Aug. 15. From the north
steps of the stadium, you can see a block-wide expanse of aluminum siding, giving the convention center a decidedly industrial
look. (Click on the image for a larger view.) Blogger Curt Ailes wrote on the Urban Indy blog that it looks like an auto-parts
plant. "Is this the face that we want to show to the people who will be attending the Super Bowl here in 2012?"
Ailes wrote. "Granted, there is plenty of
good looking skyline, but a two block long corrugated aluminum wall is going to detract from that." The design is as
intended, arranged to accomodate loading docks and other back-of-house functions, said David Sease, a spokesman for the Indiana
Stadium and Convention Authority. "Originally, the design allowed for exposed mechanical units along the length of the
building, but we were able to fund enclosures around them to further refine the space," Sease wrote in an e-mail. "The
ISCBA believes that compared to other loading docks and back-of-house spaces in town, this looks good, and will become invisible
when looking out of Lucas Oil Stadium at the Indianapolis skyline." That won't be encouraging news for Ailes and
other commenters on the Urban Indy blog. What do you think? (Photo: Curt Ailes)
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Welcome to Property Lines, Indy's source for neighborhood real estate news. Your host is Scott Olson, IBJ's real estate beat
reporter. Edited by Cory Schouten.
From Lucas Oil Stadium, Convention Center expansion has an industrial look
August 27, 2010
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Indy is about as progressive in its architecture as its cops are respected...very little.
PS how about murals painted by local artists or students to showcase their art for Indy? Are you listening ICC? I doubt it.
But it also looks like something begging for a bit of adornment. It would be soooooo great to commission an artist to paint something lovely on it. It could end up being something on a visitor's brochure if it ended up pretty enough.
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JoeAccounting, that dirt lot will become a paved parking lot. And it, too, has an ugly (rust colored) corrugated-metal retaining wall along the RR embankment.
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I think that long wall could have been improved very cheaply and easily with varying the color and texture and direction of the siding as was done in the first 50-100 feet (at right).
Of course, what's there will only be seen by tens of thousands of people looking out the stadium windows and millions more on TV.
For a PR guy, Mr. Sease sure messed up on this one when he pulled a page from the BP CEO playbook and told us "little people" that we're wrong, and to look at something else instead.
Repeat after me, Mr. Sease: "I agree with the commenters, it certainly doesn't look very nice from the stadium. We'll see what we can do before 2012."
Thanks for the nod Cory
Thankfully, Indy also has a lot of great older and historic architecture. We are not a city of poor architecture, per se. We are just a city with a poor architectural imagination.
And yes, I really do despise what was done to the library. I don't expect everyone (or anyone) to agree with me. It's a big glass box attached to a wonderful piece of architecture...exciting...
2. I think the addition to the library is beautiful, especially at night. And they way it serves as a bvackdrop to the American Legion Mall is very eye-catching.
3. As architecturally boring as some of you apparently think Indy is, we still have a downtown that is the envy of many other cities across the country. And with all the parking lots beggin to be "in-filled" there is plenty of opportunity for statement architecture.
2. I think the addition to the library is beautiful, especially at night. And they way it serves as a bvackdrop to the American Legion Mall is very eye-catching.
3. As architecturally boring as some of you apparently think Indy is, we still have a downtown that is the envy of many other cities across the country. And with all the parking lots beggin to be "in-filled" there is plenty of opportunity for statement architecture.
The original 1917 Cret building, which is on the NRHP is only now an afterthought.
Regardless SCUB, I didn't realize this article was about the library. Are you suggesting that Indianapolis has great contemporary architecture? Does this story reflect that?
Guess what, $750 million of a $1 Billion budget was spent on Lucas Oil causing the original plan to delete a ballroom, support beams & foundation to be undersized for future expansion, carpet,lighting,& wall finish upgrades to old section of convention center to be postponed.
Heck, Lucas Oil operating expenses have bankrupted the CIB, yet they shuffle $30 million of state bailout funding to the Pacers to seal thier coffin.
Yet Bart and Fred have been doing well and Greg Ballard is just following the same path.
We deserve much better!
My point stands. It's an opinion. I hope you can handle that. Don't give yourself a coronary!
It would have been easy to incorporate the curtain wall and atrium features into a Library addition with a more classic skin that was properly squared up to Meridian and Penn...
Just as it would have been easy to vary the color and pattern on the south facade of the Convention Center addition.
Why is this a big deal? It's a loading dock. If a bunch of extra money would have been spent to beautify that area, a legitimate story could have been told about how taxpayer dollars were wasted to beautify a lousy loading dock.
This facade is especially appalling because it's so large, and it's not isolated. It's actually an extension. Let's not forget about the already-existing wall of beige corrugated siding that covers the back of Union Station's train shed. Or the towering wall of red siding that covers the east side of the steam plant.
Combine the three facades (Make no mistake, it's a continuous facade bisected only by Capitol Ave and West St.) and we've got 2,000+ feet of aluminum siding stretching from the Convention Center's end at West St, to the east end of Union Station's train shed at Meridian St. And it's all elevated above street level for everyone to see.
That's almost a half-mile of highly-visible corrugated aluminum siding slicing right through the heart of our most-visited district. (It's practically the living room of our city.) This isn't a hidden loading-dock. This is front and center visibility we're talking about.
Bottom-line: the siding looks like a warehouse, factory, barn, or a cheap backyard shed. It's not communicating the right message about our blossoming downtown. And it's screaming pretty loudly.
Not a good look for Indianapolis folks, not a good look at all.
Unfortunately, almost all convention centers and train houses are in actuality sheds, barns, and warehouses. You can see this in many great cities.
That said, ours in this spot have become very visible based on what's going on. This area is in slow transition, so it won't always look this way, but some steps could be taken to soften the edge in the meantime. I don't normally like to just hide the reality of what buildings are, but this is a pretty harsh thing that could be softened.
I also enjoy all of the folks who ask what buildings each of these designers has designed...there never seems to be a response?
Am sorry, I really tried not to post, but...it just is rather frustrating having to hear these same folks complain, and nit-pick...and typically have very little ability to find any positive value in anything that is constructed (at least if they're not the ones who have designed it)!
It makes you wonder whether one of their designs has been nit-picked, and they're just trying to lash out at the world...by pointing out that there is really not much out there that is nearly as perfect as them?
I disagree that "almost all convention centers and train houses are in actuality sheds, barns, and warehouses."
They're not. Using that logic (large open space + shelter + storage = shed, barn, warehouse), one could apply those labels to most manmade structures. And, if I read you correctly, use that logic to excuse the poor aesthetics of any building.
Is our Central Library a warehouse? Is Lucas Oil Stadium a shed? Is Circle Centre Mall a barn? Your line of reasoning says yes.
Obviously, structural definition is more complex than that.
The convention center and train station may have similar functions to warehouses or sheds: they do have large open spaces and sheltering principals. But convention centers and train stations are also public spaces. They are places of commerce, transportation, communication, and connectivity. They are two of the most-frequented public structure-types humans build. They're structures that attract many visitors in any city. And like airports, they are the buildings that create those all-important first impressions.
All that to say: Their functions as high-traffic, high-visibility, and visitor-oriented structures, in central, front-door locations dictate that their aesthetics be of the highest priority.
(Besides, why is it ok to accept unattractive, banal warehouses, barns, and sheds?)
I am not an architect, but I care passionately about the built environment in Indy.
I am a graphic designer. (A small sampling of my work can be viewed at www.ablerock.net)
Some of you are asserting that others have no right to critique these structures because they don't build things or design them.
So I ask in return:
Do you have the right to critique a movie though you've never made one professionally?
Do you have the right to critique a meal at a restaurant if you've never cooked for a living?
Do you have the right to critique a book if you're not an author?
Do you have the right to critique the government and politicians if you've never worked for the public?
Do you have the right to critique coaches and players if you've never played professional sports?
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It's completely reasonable for us to love our city, be vocal about the poor designs we see here, and to critique and discuss them on this real estate and development blog.
We care about our city and its quality. Do you?
You, of course, are right that people use them, which is a big distinction.
I am stating that it is a big problem, especially as cities are having more and more massive shells built to hold suburban or visiting masses.
I wouldn't care as much if a building were built right against it anyway, like say in Pittsburgh.
And sheds don't have to be ugly - see that Fairgrounds.
Peter Eisenman took a legitimate look at them in Columbus - its still just siding, and three dead sides with an entrance side, but at least the "dead" sides are part of the overall thought.
And no, the library, lucas oil, and the mall are not sheds - they are just big. Though the mall is made up very much of huge decorated walls that really have nothing to do with the shopping inside. I think it depends on how the space is dealt with.
I completely agree with you on the right of anyone to express their opinion, however.
The real concern needs to be will the cops be sober and will the administration see to it that the dozens of panhandlers in the Mile Sqaure are somewhere else. Those types of things create impressions...