The University of Indianapolis plans to break
ground on a new $9-million residence hall, the campus' sixth, on Thursday. The four-story building designed by Design Collaborative
of Fort Wayne is scheduled to open in Fall 2009. The University says the design calls for "autoclaved aerated concrete block,
a 'green' product made from recycled material that is energy-efficient, fire-resistant and sound-dampening." Shiel Sexton
is the general contractor for the building, which is planned for the north side of campus east of New Hall. What do you think?
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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.
The University of Indianapolis plans to break
ground on a new $9-million residence hall, the campus' sixth, on Thursday. The four-story building designed by Design Collaborative
of Fort Wayne is scheduled to open in Fall 2009. The University says the design calls for "autoclaved aerated concrete block,
a 'green' product made from recycled material that is energy-efficient, fire-resistant and sound-dampening." Shiel Sexton
is the general contractor for the building, which is planned for the north side of campus east of New Hall. What do you think?
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It's also across the street from Fogo de Chao and Morton's....
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Yep, the haters are trying to make good news bad. I guess it is hard to get people to believe the series is dying when they are gaining new sponsors.
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David Copperfield! I remember watching his specials on TV when I was little.
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Don't forget this is next to an MMA gym, a pawn shop, and some abandoned spaces.
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Good project for Zionsville - A group who has owned the property for many years has waited and worked patiently to bring highest and best use development to a major corridor, and mix that in with the great downtown you have. Win Win. All the Best to Pittman Partners and Zionsville.
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What is with the random wall jetting out at the entrance?
It looks ridiculous.
I guess I'm old school because I want schools to look like schools, not architectural landmarks.
This appears to be a good, solid institutional building with green features. Good for UIndy.
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/September-2007/Ten-Modern-Masterpieces/The-List/index.php?cp=2&si=1
State Street Village at the Illinois Institute of Technology, built 2003. It's really freaking cool, and I've been there so I can say from experience it is way better than the photos can show. Walking through it you understand that 'Village is not a misnomer; it's an urban housing typology that deals with a difficult noisy site (by the train tracks) and uses materials in an innovative way, as is appropriate for a technological school. It's visually interesting at all speeds (whether you're walking past it, driving past it, or in a train going past it), and reveals itself to be even more interesting as one moves through it. The distinction between site and building is malleable, and it uses different levels of opacity and transparence to remain engaging through multiple visits.
The dorm above looks like a box in the middle of a parking lot. Wahoo.
Simmons Hall, MIT, buy Steven Holl, 2004
http://figure-ground.com/simmons/
If you're a structural geek like me, you'll love the fact that the colors on the facade of the building represent the difference levels of force on the concrete frame at that point. Yummy.
Here are 2 sites with photos of an architecturally significant, beautiful PRISON in Austria:
http://gliving.tv/architecture-design/postmodern-prison-architecture-austria/
http://www.hohensinn-architektur.at/jz_leoben.html
Here are more pictures of the the beautiful, architecturally significant, award-winning DORM designed by Steven Holl at M.I.T.:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cityofsound/sets/1793426/
One Western Avenue, Machado Silvetti, at Harvard, 2003
http://www.architecture-page.com/go/projects/one-western-avenue
I don't imagine a single person here will like THIS one, and besides it's graduate student housing, so maybe it doesn't count as just a dorm, so I won't say any more about it, except that it's bold.
I have others in mind, a Kieran Timberlake project, and one at ASU that I thought Bruder did, but I really should get back to work.
http://www.mimoa.eu/projects/United%20States/Cincinnati/University%20of%20Cincinnati%20Campus%20Recreation%20Center
Now this is a totally amazing building: a student rec center with student housing above. It is intricately and successfully integrated into the whole campus (stadium, Tshcumi's Alumni Center, Moore Rubell Ydell's Student Services, Micahel Grave's Engineering building...and there's more) which was brilliantly masterplanned by Hargreaves Associates. I'd buy an apartment in this dorm if I could, the facility is stunning.
Other than that it is what it is. A dorm. Doesn't need to be some great piece of architecture. It will fit in with it's surroundings and the campus.
Graduate House, University of Toronto, 2000
http://canada.archiseek.com/ontario/toronto/graduate_house.html
http://www.ltlwork.net/pages/portfolio/projects/bh.html
http://gliving.tv/architecture-design/postmodern-prison-architecture-austria/
http://www.hohensinn-architektur.at/jz_leoben.html
http://www.sharearchitecture.co.nz/tietgen-dormitory-denmark-lundgaard-tranberg-p-239.html
ablerock: Damn. That's amazing. I've visited regular housing projects in Austria that are far more transparent glass than any American I know would be comfortable with, but in a prison?! That's wild. I love it.
I think it is great that UIndy needs the space. Good to see all of their campaigns have worked and the student population on campus is expanding.
Here is one in Europe, so it probably doesn't count either, but it's gorgeous.
http://www.sharearchitecture.co.nz/tietgen-dormitory-denmark-lundgaard-tranberg-p-239.html
And interesting: I once served on a selection committee for a new dorm competition at an Ivy League campus, and the best proposal included all these operable wood shutters to let students control the amount of light and air in their rooms. Of course the University balked, saying the shutters would be too much of a maintenance nightmare.
Facilities departments really only want brick boxes - easier to maintain, you know.
http://www.architecture-page.com/go/projects/hassayampa-academic-village-phase-1__2
As for the dorm issue, someone already mentioned it... but do you really want another fee or tuition to go up just to make a dorm look better? And another person already posted this... but has anyone seen IU's dorms... not really great to look at, but they serve their purpose. And, when I lived in a dorm... I didn't care what the outside looked like for two reasons... one, I made the inside (my unit) comfortable for me; and two, I was there for the most part to just sleep and shower... either at class, at the library or out with friends the rest of the time.
In the end, I'm glad to see that the U of Indy needs another dorm... and therefore growing.
Similarly, should a dorm be a filing cabinet for students, or should it - like the academic institution itself - attempt to expand their minds to see possibilities they never before imagined?
I will just never understand this It's good enough attitude about virtually single project I see posted on IBJ. Aspire, people, aspire!
It's not a, It's good enough attitude... it's called, There are better things to spend the money on attitude! The school can use the money elsewhere to expand on research, remodel the classrooms, etc. It's not what's on the outside that counts, it's what's on the inside.
If resources (the monetary kind) were unlimited... I would agree with you... but resources are not unlimited.
Think where you put your money... think before spending!!! Something a lot of people should be doing.
First, good design does not equal more money. I encourage everyone here to delete that lie from their mind immediately. A tight budget is just another problem that a good designer must overcome in their search for the best possible solution.
The UIndy Dorm looks like a N. Meridian McOffice building because UIndy did not demand more of the designers, not because of budgetary restraints.
Second, Universities earn their money via tuition, no?
It the highly competitive education market, it is arguable that schools can gain a edge by designing and building better dorms than their competitors. (To start, these would be dorms that do not treat their students like sardines.)
Better, emotionally compelling places to live can attract more students to the school, which in turn would increase the revenue of said school to spend on their educational programs.
As a student, why on earth would I want to spend 4 years and $40,000+ on the typically cramped dorm life, when another academically comparable university offers a beautiful, inspiring place to live and study?
http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper882/stills/3ea644a0d9197-78-1.jpg
A brick box, indeed, in the absolute best possible use of that pragmatically poetic material! (And the atrium is so, so beautiful - makes me wish I had been a coed in the 60s!).
Symbolism abounds: high iron picket fence surrounding an ivy moat, ironwork crown, and hawthorn trees lining the entry walk. One entered through a small door and passage, and then the huge atrium opened up inside. Maybe a symbolism overload...
I'm interested in excellence, in every facet of life, not only architecture, and looking at short-term solutions is rarely the way to excellence.
And you are completely right: great architecture is impossible without a great client.
Conversely, good architecture and good design do not necessarily equate to expensive construction or high occupancy costs.On that same college campus is a Louis Kahn-designed lab building that is a beautiful nightmare.
color me free, I am not an architect.
I should have left off the word conversely and written Good architecture and good design do not necessarily equate to expensive construction or high occupancy costs, but on that same college campus is a Louis Kahn-designed lab building that IS a beautiful nightmare.
I am really disappointed to find out that thundermutt did not go to the Concordia Seminary in Fort Wayne. When he commented that he lived in a Saarinen designed dorm I jumped to that conclusion.
Also, how the heck is a 4-story building imposing or in anyway counter to the learning mission of a university?
And, finally, if you are being serious, the answer to your question is no. There is no zoning rule for the University of Indy campus which says they can't build a 4-story building.
In any event, if there are any aspects of the building which should be improved, it would have to do with the design and massing of the building, not its height.
http://www.indygov.org/NR/rdonlyres/85E8B853-4EFC-403A-8602-1020B95EAFAA/0/ch735otherdistricts.pdf
(f) University Quarter District development standards.
(1) Development standards - UQ-1 District uses.
a. Setback lines and minimum yards.
1. Setback line and minimum front yard: Yards, having a
minimum depth in accordance with the setback requirements of
section 731-221(a) of this Code, shall be provided along all street
right-of-way lines.
2. Minimum side and rear yards: Fifteen (15) feet or one (1) foot
for each foot of building height, whichever is greater.
b. Maximum building area. Building area (as defined in section 731-102
of this Code) shall not exceed forty (40) percent of the lot area.
c. Maximum height. Thirty-five (35) feet.