New Grand Rapids Art Museum

[Greedo]

Chicago has great neighborhood parks all over the city that are constantly used for recreation. But the loop, and N. Michigan's density is compensated by the enormous front yards called Grant Park, MMPark and Lincoln Park.

[sparky05]

Forgot to post this one -

[tamias6]

Thank You. I was about post a comment similar to yours. Chicago has some stellar parks throughout the city and surrounding communities. Grant Park is by far my favorite out of any city ark I've been to.

Chicago has great neighborhood parks all over the city that are constantly used for recreation. But the loop, and N. Michigan's density is compensated by the enormous front yards called Grant Park, MMPark and Lincoln Park.

[GRDadof3]

Thanks for reminding me sparky. I got some pictures yesterday of the uncovered West side. I think it's looking great!

Future balcony?

Inner courtyard area still in chaos.

I love this view, where it doesn't totally obstruct the front of the ornate Ledyard Building

Wonky Pano

[joeDowntown]

This looks cool. How are they going to finish the "ceiling". It doesn't look as precise as the walls/columns that hold it up.

Joe

[grmetro]

I know a couple of contractors who are glad they didn't win the bid on this project. Grand Opening 2012?

[GRDadof3]

I know a couple of contractors who are glad they didn't win the bid on this project. Grand Opening 2012?

Grand Rapids Art Museum Grand Opening Schedule 2007

It's also posted somewhere in this thread, but hard to find. Fully open by this Fall 2007. Apparently a lot of the staff has already started moving into the offices on the South side of the building.

[sparky05]

Today - More glass being installed somewhere:

A look at the structure of the roof:

Pans:

[grmetro]

Grand Rapids Art Museum Grand Opening Schedule 2007

It's also posted somewhere in this thread, but hard to find. Fully open by this Fall 2007. Apparently a lot of the staff has already started moving into the offices on the South side of the building.

2012 was tongue in cheek...i need to do better with my sarcasm.

[numstead]

yeah, the structure of that roof is pretty cool. Looks like an inverted bow truss, similar to this building...

... but with concrete instead of steel.

[jbr12]

With all this talk of the roof, I was waiting for one of those pictures to show up

[torgo]

I still think the concrete looks awful. But I am going to hold out final judgement until its finished...

[Prankster]

I still think the concrete looks awful. But I am going to hold out final judgement until its finished...

Same here. I guess I just don't appreciate fine architecture. Here's hoping that it fulfills it's mission and becomes a cornerstone for downtown.

[sparky05]

As a whole, I don't think the concrete is that bad, especially when contrasted against the glazed wall sections along the street. But I do hope that the bottom of that roof overhang is going to be cleaned up somehow, because it ain't pretty.

[sfloria]

I would imagine those stains are from the plywood sheets that molded the underside of the concrete. Once it gets cleaned and finished, you wont see those white stains. I have faith that they know what they are doing. I doubt they'd let something so prominent have poor quality finishes. Its definitely going to look different from its surroundings but I think its really going to be a great asset to the city center.

[tamias6]

Going from I've seen so far, I'm liking this new building more and more. But I have a feeling that one won''t really get the full impact of how good the new GRAM will look until its all done when the complete package will finally be seen. So, I'm anticipating this thread to light up like times square with "ooohs" and "aaaahs" on the day of the grand opening.

[gvsusean]

Going from I've seen so far, I'm liking this new building more and more. But I have a feeling that one won''t really get the full impact of how good the new GRAM will look until its all done when the complete package will finally be seen. So, I'm anticipating this thread to light up like times square with "ooohs" and "aaaahs" on the day of the grand opening.

hopefully the top of the building will too

[grmetro]

I would imagine those stains are from the plywood sheets that molded the underside of the concrete. Once it gets cleaned and finished, you wont see those white stains. I have faith that they know what they are doing. I doubt they'd let something so prominent have poor quality finishes. Its definitely going to look different from its surroundings but I think its really going to be a great asset to the city center.

Not so sure about the faith invovled here. How many managers has teh project gone thru? How much over budget is the project? How far past original timelines is the project. How much arbitration and litigation has and will this project gnereate. Too much.

[numstead]

Not so sure about the faith invovled here. How many managers has teh project gone thru? How much over budget is the project? How far past original timelines is the project. How much arbitration and litigation has and will this project gnereate. Too much.

Wow, where did that soapbox come from?

I'm pretty sure sfloria was just saying that the concrete tradesmen know what they are doing. There's a process to concrete construction, and its not over when the forms come off.

[GRDadof3]

Not so sure about the faith invovled here. How many managers has teh project gone thru? How much over budget is the project? How far past original timelines is the project. How much arbitration and litigation has and will this project gnereate. Too much.

I think you're being overly dramatic. What "arbitration and litigation" are we even talking about? Seems like if there were going to be lawsuits, we would have seen shots fired already. And I thought the Art Museum actually trimmed the budget way back from its original amount.

I too hope that the undersides of the roof get cleaned up a bit..

[grmetro]

I'm neither on a soapbox nor being over dramatic. This project has been badly mismanaged and there are rumblings of law suits over various issues (certain arbitration hearings may have already occurred) My original point was that the look of the concrete may have something to do with poor management, instruction, etc. UPer's need to know when not to be cheerleaders anymore. This major block of downtown Grand Rapids has been in flux for too long and I know of several subs who are thankful not to be part of it.

[tamias6]

As high profile of a project the new GRAM is, one would figure that such mismanagement and threats of lawsuits would have hit local media by now.

[joeDowntown]

I absolutely hated this design for years (just start on page 1 of this thread and read my rants), but as it comes together, I think it is a fine looking building. In fact, I think depending how the finishing touches, open spaces and landscaping are done, this building will be an absolutely perfect setting for GRAM.

I don't think we're cheerleaders. [sarcasm]In fact, I enjoy throwing people and projects under the bus whenever possible[/sarcasm]

Joe

I'm neither on a soapbox nor being over dramatic. This project has been badly mismanaged and there are rumblings of law suits over various issues (certain arbitration hearings may have already occurred) My original point was that the look of the concrete may have something to do with poor management, instruction, etc. UPer's need to know when not to be cheerleaders anymore. This major block of downtown Grand Rapids has been in flux for too long and I know of several subs who are thankful not to be part of it.

[GRDadof3]

I'm neither on a soapbox nor being over dramatic. This project has been badly mismanaged and there are rumblings of law suits over various issues (certain arbitration hearings may have already occurred) My original point was that the look of the concrete may have something to do with poor management, instruction, etc. UPer's need to know when not to be cheerleaders anymore. This major block of downtown Grand Rapids has been in flux for too long and I know of several subs who are thankful not to be part of it.

Without any proof of any of that, it's just conjecture. Every project has its critics in the contractor world, and many projects go into arbitration or have disputes. It's not going to be torn down and started over again, so why not celebrate the fact that it will open this Fall.

I agree with Joe, we're all very willing to throw people and projects under the bus. Time to be supportive for a change (or at least I'm going to be).

[DwntwnGeo]

I had to stop downtown this afternoon for work. I noticed they were putting up more glass on the Monroe Center side. This was the Northwestern most corner. It was opaque on the bottom half and clear on the top half (where GRDad thought about a balcony?). It is looking nice in my opinion. I wonder if the glass will continue around the corner and head in the Southwestern dircetion?