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New Grand Rapids Art Museum

GRDadof3

By GRDadof3
in Grand Rapids

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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In another thread, we discussed the findings in the documentary referenced below:

In this documentary, Westphal discusses the importance of pedestrian scaled buildings along the sidewalk edge and how these buildings help make the downtown a special place to be.

He talks about narrow buildings, storefronts, activity from the building spilling into the public realm, and absolutely no faceless blank walls or overscaled structures.

Other items include visual queues to entice the pedestrian to linger and to ponder what is ahead, and having details that allow the pedestrian to "participate" with the building.

The bottom line is that the downtown needs to attract a crowd, maintain the crowd and give a perception of hustle and bustle. This can be accomplished by slowing people down on the block.

Will this building accomplish any of this? One could argue that it is a civic use and as such can be given latitude, but ultimately the shear fact that it is on the one street that has a semblance of an urban core should trump that.

Sorry, GRTP. Here's your question bumped back to the top of the discussion. Will the new art museum be engaging at street level? Will it create a bustling Monroe Center and slow people down?

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woz Whistle-Stop

woz

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I hope those folks who live on the upper floors of Morton House and City View Condos rest up now, because next year when those lanterns are finished it's not going to be easy trying to fall asleep if your bedroom window faces the GRAM.

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tamias6 Town

tamias6

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^ Even though I'm waiting for the glass to be installed before coming to a solid opinion, I fearing that all that concrete on the SE face of the building is starting to look a bit nuclear bunker-esque. But We'll see what happens with the finish product as glass and hopfully plant materials yet to be installed may soften the look of the concrete.

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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I think this will be great when ever it gets done?

Boston/Big Dig GR/Big Box(GRAM)

GR8-town, I don't think it's fair to characterize this project in the same category as the Big Dig. To the uninformed average joe's who walk by this every day it may seem that way, but this thread highly details the complicated nature of the construction process taking place here, including the massive number of unique individual concrete forms that had to be built. I also don't think they are over budget like the Big Dig was. The building will also be LEED Certified, which added extra construction time on this project.

Some people will hate the design and wonder why it took so long, and others will love it.

BTW: Staff has already begun their move-in on the Southwest side of the building. You can see offices and cubicles in the windows.

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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Is it just me or do I notice in JBR's 2nd pic that there is brick?? or some kind of brick makeup material? What's up with that? I thought it was all supposed to be concrete? I'm confused :lol:

It is concrete (cinder block), which looks like it will be covered. You can see the blocks clearer here (bottom right area):

328395686_c9ab4a2b05_b.jpg

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joeDowntown Metropolis

joeDowntown

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I like the way this side of the building is stepped. One thing that confuses me. Near the lamppost, I see both the concrete that will be exposed, and "rougher" walls that look they will be covered. Is part of the wall getting glass or are they in the process of finishing the (exposed) wall?

Joe

Holy cow, this thread dropped to the second page! I'll throw a couple shots I took just to keep it alive :)

340015739_b306431081_b.jpg

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GR8-town Unincorporated Area

GR8-town

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GR8-town, I don't think it's fair to characterize this project in the same category as the Big Dig. To the uninformed average joe's who walk by this every day it may seem that way, but this thread highly details the complicated nature of the construction process taking place here, including the massive number of unique individual concrete forms that had to be built. I also don't think they are over budget like the Big Dig was. The building will also be LEED Certified, which added extra construction time on this project.

Some people will hate the design and wonder why it took so long, and others will love it.

BTW: Staff has already begun their move-in on the Southwest side of the building. You can see offices and cubicles in the windows.

Don't get me wrong I love it and think its cool, however I did not think it would take

4 years to build.

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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Don't get me wrong I love it and think its cool, however I did not think it would take

4 years to build.

True, true. I did look at some of the old Business Journal articles from when the site was selected and they were from 2002. When did the old buildings on that block come down? Anyone remember?

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GR8-town Unincorporated Area

GR8-town

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True, true. I did look at some of the old Business Journal articles from when the site was selected and they were from 2002. When did the old buildings on that block come down? Anyone remember?

I think it was back before Nam. ha ha just kidding.

the only thing that bugs me about this project is $75,000,000. 125,000 sq feet and only 18,000 sq feet

for ART. thats $4,166. per sq foot for ART. ouch.

http://www.gramonline.org/expansion/features.html

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tamias6 Town

tamias6

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That is a good question. The exibition space is smaller in space than a Walgeeens drug store. If I remember right, there's also going to be an auditiorium, classrooms, cafe, and a gift shop included in the new GRAM. The rest of the space I assume will be for storing non exibited artifacts.

I think it was back before Nam. ha ha just kidding.

the only thing that bugs me about this project is $75,000,000. 125,000 sq feet and only 18,000 sq feet

for ART. thats $4,166. per sq foot for ART. ouch.

http://www.gramonline.org/expansion/features.html

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GR8-town Unincorporated Area

GR8-town

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That is a good question. The exibition space is smaller in space than a Walgeeens drug store. If I remember right, there's also going to be an auditiorium, classrooms, cafe, and a gift shop included in the new GRAM. The rest of the space I assume will be for storing non exibited artifacts.

The sum of all of their listed Sq footage is 31,400 not counting the Auditorium maybe another 5,000 sq feet

that is still only 36,400. sq feet from the 125,000 total. That leaves 93,600 for administration/offices.

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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The sum of all of their listed Sq footage is 31,400 not counting the Auditorium maybe another 5,000 sq feet

that is still only 36,400. sq feet from the 125,000 total. That leaves 93,600 for administration/offices.

It is interesting how little of the building is exhibit space. Apparently the exhibit space is on three floors underneath the "lantern" wing of the building. The 18,000 sf is 3x larger than the current museum's exhibit space, and there are art studios and an educational center. Here's a comparison from their website:

http://www.gramonline.org/expansion/features.html

and another article about it here.

Here's an interesting exhibit coming to the new museum:

http://www.tronrud.no/dokumenter/Catalogue.pdf

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GR8-town Unincorporated Area

GR8-town

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It is interesting how little of the building is exhibit space. Apparently the exhibit space is on three floors underneath the "lantern" wing of the building. The 18,000 sf is 3x larger than the current museum's exhibit space, and there are art studios and an educational center. Here's a comparison from their website:

http://www.gramonline.org/expansion/features.html

and another article about it here.

Here's an interesting exhibit coming to the new museum:

http://www.tronrud.no/dokumenter/Catalogue.pdf

I think when they first unveiled this project to the lead donors they where so awestruck with the inverted

pyramids in glass that they failed to inquire about the 14.4% of the total sq footage to be used for exhibit space. Maybe it was all that champagne?

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AlexPKeaton Burg

AlexPKeaton

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It looks great, though I too am a little concerned about all the concrete. It might be nice to get some ivy growing up on the blank portions of the building to give it a little contrast to the concrete.

I did think the square footage numbers seemed low, but I have no idea what's reasonable for a museum our size. I know it's significantly smaller than the Art Institute of Chicago. :)

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