Medical Mile/Michigan Street Developments

[civitas]

It's a long walk from St Mary's to VAI..

I had to walk 3 miles to school, 3 feet of snow, uphill both ways .....

I understand that VAI has purchased the east side of Division from Cresent to Lyon. I wonder why.

[PBJ]

But in respect in how it interacts with the surrounding environment, it leaves a lot to be desired, IMO.

Surroundings being? Run down buildings, parking lots, scrap yards, train tracks and 131? Are you talking specifically about the Eberhard Center, Devos Campus or both?

I would agree that the original Eberhard building was a little... bland, but with the recent additions, I think it fits just fine.

[torgo]

I don't like the Eberhard Center at all. The DeVos center is most excellent in terms of design if you ask me. Except for the stupid parking garage.

In terms of MSU's school, do we have any idea that its going to be anything more than simply a building? GVSU's Cook-Devos Health Sciences building isn't a "campus", its just a building. Maybe that's what the MSU school will be.

Edited September 19, 2006 by torgo

[Cliff19336]

I think we're talking about just a building. It's only the MD medical school.

[snoogit]

Surroundings being? Run down buildings, parking lots, scrap yards, train tracks and 131? Are you talking specifically about the Eberhard Center, Devos Campus or both?

I would agree that the original Eberhard building was a little... bland, but with the recent additions, I think it fits just fine.

I was talking about the Devos Campus.

Some people might say its timeless others (such as myself) say its sort of "meh" but anyway I'm not here to debate that. I'd be very upset if MSU pulled a GVSU and put its campus in a sea of parking smack dab in some prime real estate.

[DwntwnGeo]

I was talking about the Devos Campus.

Some people might say its timeless others (such as myself) say its sort of "meh" but anyway I'm not here to debate that. I'd be very upset if MSU pulled a GVSU and put its campus in a sea of parking smack dab in some prime real estate.

So you are saying that you would rather have a sea of parking lots than the GVSU downtown campus?

[GRDadof3]

Alright, moving on.... It would be great to see a building with at least an urban campus feel, that blends and interacts well with the rest of the area. I think we can all agree with that.

[mpchicago]

I personally would like to see a large building at the SE corner of Crescent and N Division, right where GRDad showed a rendering earlier on. Somthing very modern and transparent.

Edited September 19, 2006 by mpchicago

[snoogit]

I personally would like to see a large building at the SE corner of Crescent and N Division, right where GRDad showed a rendering earlier on. Somthing very modern and transparent.

You think Rafael Vinoly would do the MSU campus too if it goes next to VAI? might help tie-in the VAI to the area if it had a similar design nearby.

[mpchicago]

You think Rafael Vinoly would do the MSU campus too if it goes next to VAI? might help tie-in the VAI to the area if it had a similar design nearby.

Maybe somthing like that is going on right now behind closed doors?

Edited September 19, 2006 by mpchicago

[tamias6]

"Total square footage required varies from 112,000 to 182,000 depending upon whether research space is required within the facility or provided within the VAI facility"

That was from the articles early on. It's a long walk from St Mary's to VAI..

That's alot of space. I did some calulating based on the upper end of your quote and came up with a 100' square building 18 stories high. That does not include the consideration of space requirements for mechanicals, elevators, stairwells, interior walls and structural needs. Though I don't think tallness would be a priority for MSU, if they built a building close to the dimentions I calculated we'd see somthing similar in magatude to McKay tower in breath and height. That would very nice infill to the skyline no matter the location.

Edited September 19, 2006 by tamias6

[GRDadof3]

I see on the Planning Commission agenda both the Children's Hospital and VAI Phase II are seeking variances from the ground-floor transparency and "facade articulation" requirements. Ooy! The DCH calls their big concrete wall a 3 story "podium".

http://www.ci.grand-rapids.mi.us/meeting.p...amp;type=agenda

The E-packet link is not working.

[torgo]

Barf. What's the point of having transparency standards if we don't make anyone adhere to them?

[twoshort]

Barf. What's the point of having transparency standards if we don't make anyone adhere to them?

And I don't see anything in their explanation that justifies it. They are still planning on one of those crazy bridges though:

[GRDadof3]

I got the whole package, and it appears that the design shown above is the design that they are going with. Check out the ground floor waves. They are also asking for a variance to build the "Calatrava-esque" bridge. I guess it's better than what is there currently, and it will certainly change the skyline. The packet even has the layout of each floorplan.

[twoshort]

I got the whole package, and it appears that the design shown above is the design that they are going with. Check out the ground floor waves. They are also asking for a variance to build the "Calatrava-esque" bridge. I guess it's better than what is there currently, and it will certainly change the skyline. The packet even has the layout of each floorplan.

Did you see any reason or excuse for the street level fortress in their 'Justifications' section?

[tamias6]

And I don't see anything in their explanation that justifies it. They are still planning on one of those crazy bridges though:

That rendering is going to take awhile to chew on. I'm not sure about the cable stayed skywalk. It would look better spanning the Grand River than Michigan street. But considering how MDOT will be widening the road to a God forsaken amount of lanes, I guess the need for a skywalk on steroids like this is justified. The wavey things on the street walls seem gimicky to me. I think a street level entrance complimented with some transparancy would be a more effective solution to eleminating the fortress look of the base.

In short, this rendering is somewhat better than the older all black "Cobra Headquarters" version of this plan. But I still say that site's prominance deserves much better than what I see in this image.

[GRDadof3]

Did you see any reason or excuse for the street level fortress in their 'Justifications' section?

Nada. It just basically states that the project as a whole is enough to outweigh any other factors, it's better than what is there now, and that landscaping will be added similar to what will go in across the street at the new Spectrum complex. I would bet though that the wavy accents were added because of ground floor appearance concerns. It is an improvement (although somewhat outlandish) over the blank wall back in the beginning of this thread. I wonder if designcritic will like it? I've given up complaining though. I guess if you want things to change, you have to join the Planning Commission or the HPC.

Get used to the design tamias. Based on the detail I see in the packet, I'd say this is it.

Groundbreaking early November 2006, occupancy 2010.

[mpchicago]

Can anyone explain the curtain wall on this building? Don't think I have ever seen anything like that or is this a bad copy of the rendering.

If I was a kid going in their for some procedure I might be a little frightened.

[CK1]

I like it. It is like nothing else in the area or the city, and it will cause people to stop and say "heyyyy....look at that." And being that it is going to be so unique and will be obvious to anyone coming down Michigan Ave and 196 (and given the height, anywhere downtown), no worry about people driving around the block a dozen times looking for it when bringing their sick child in for a doctors' attention.

Edited September 26, 2006 by CK1

[GRDadof3]

Some interesting features to the new plan. It looks like there is a large glass curtain wall facing Southeast toward Crescent Park in the expansion, and they are going to add cable lattice system to the ground floors along Crescent and Division to possibly grow vines on the building (since it's just blank concrete walls). Their request for variance is also based on their belief that there are no other buildings in that area to match up to on the ground floor.

I didn't realize this portion was 8 levels, but it does look a bit smaller from North to South than the original expansion design.

[Greedo]

My understanding is the corner of Michigan and Bostwick will house a safe and secure ambulance drop-off for the children's hospital. I'm not sure a curtain wall as schizophrenic as designed is necessary. It's not functional and it's not art, so scrap the ugly mess.

I like the building overall, but it needs an Eye of Sauron on top to really make it complete.

[GR8scott]

the cabled skywalk looks cool, but I wish they (mdot) could do something like that on the 196 bridges over the grand river

[mpchicago]

Wish the city would fix that e-packet feature!

Jeff, you indicate that the plan appears to deviate from the original Vinoly phase II? Does it still have the cascading window feature that appears on phase I? Does information provided indicate the architect of record?

[numstead]

Looks to me like they rolled a giant joint, but since this a hospital we lets just hope its for "medicinal" purposes. Do children children ever suffer from glaucoma?