New Grand Rapids Art Museum

[GRguy]

I saw them installing metal panels on the back side of the museum yesterday (across from Big O's). Nice beige color.

[egrguy]

The Times article was great. I thought this quote was quite fascinating.

"Thus he is comfortable using materials that are not just recycled but recyclable. That implies that the building will eventually be altered."

I guess that had not been an aspect I thought of before; to have the option to alter the musuem as time goes on. Unique and idealogical.

[MJLO]

And you didn't call!

sorry I didn't think about it, I was to busy checking out all the new.

[NorthEnder]

Very interesting bit about rainwater being collected to flush the toilets... Hope we don't go through a long dry-spell!

This is great advertising for the site, people who may not otherwise be interested in art might check out GR to see the first LEED art museum.

Good stuff!

[Veloise]

Very interesting bit about rainwater being collected to flush the toilets... Hope we don't go through a long dry-spell!

...

During the black-out of 2003 (SE Mich and parts east), water pressure dropped, along with everything else. I remember filling many containers just as the outage started, thinking they'd help keep the fridge contents cooler longer, and could be used for the above purpose as well.

[GRDadof3]

I'm loving all the little balconies and alcoves throughout this project:

Hard to tell from the picture, but you can see right through the building here into the courtyard area:

From the renderings, it looks like there will be large vertical "louvres" hung here:

Eglaze

Almost ready for windows

[jbr12]

I really love the fact that they are reusing rain water. When I lived in the Virgin Islands, this was VERY common, almost a necessicity. Every home outside of the actual city had to either collect and store rain water or buy water from a truck (VERY expensive). The down fall to this is it wasn't something regular people could drink without getting sick. The locals, who have drank the water their whole life, could drink the rain water no problem, however. I actually think our average rainfall in this area is higher than the average rainfall down there, and our rain water was used for everything- washing hands, showering, dishes, etc. I don't think they'll have a problem with running out just from toilets flushing

Edit- St Thomas gets 5 more inches of rain annually than we do in Grand Rapids However, given the footprint of this museum, I don't see running out of water being a problem. I don't have a clue how much of the roof area is being used to collect or how much storage capacity they have. I am curious though, so I might ask some questions at work next week.

[GRDadof3]

Chris Knape has an entry about the Art Museum, and work is progressing right along even from just the other day:

Louvres and more glass

[sparky05]

work is progressing on the lantern-box things. It's moving forward on all of them, but the one on the north end seems to be furthest along:

[joeDowntown]

Interesting. I would have figured the glass would be more opaque, giving a lantern effect. This looks pretty clear.

Joe

work is progressing on the lantern-box things. It's moving forward on all of them, but the one on the north end seems to be furthest along:

[GRDadof3]

Interesting. I would have figured the glass would be more opaque, giving a lantern effect. This looks pretty clear.

Joe

I was wondering that too Joe, but I don't think that glass that is going on is the exterior glass. From the renderings it appears that there is glass flush with the "towers":

[joeDowntown]

You are right GRDad. It looks like these are inner panes of glass. Must be the outer panes will give them a box shape, but you'll be able to see the structure inside. Pretty nifty.

[Stumbleine]

That winter scene is quite beautiful.

[jbr12]

It would be sweet if the space between the exterior and interior panes of glass created a walkway, almost like a catwalk type deal.

[MJLO]

thanks for the photo's guys, they are GINORMOUS hard to fit them on my screen.

[localtalent]

Anyone who receives the American Express Departures magazine should check out page 152 of the current issue.

It has a cute little write-up of the new museum and its LEED certification in the "Culture Watch" section.

[dbrok]

The opaque panels are being added to the outside of the tower closest to Monroe Center & Ottawa.

[DwntwnGeo]

The opaque panels are being added to the outside of the tower closest to Monroe Center & Ottawa.

dbrok, you beat me to it I was downtown for lunch/meeting and noticed the glass going up also. There was only one piece up when I walked by. I think it will look nice when they are completed. I wonder if they will be lighted during the evening hours when the site is completed.

[Veloise]

... I was downtown for lunch/meeting and noticed the glass going up also. ...

Me three. What a crowd of folks on Monroe Center...Coney Girl, sax dude, cocktail tables in the sun on RPC, al fresco seating at Olive Express, pedestrians, lunch hour...keep it a secret.

[joeDowntown]

They better! I hope they stay lit 'til 2am every night. Though would that be a no-no in a eco-friendly building?

dbrok, you beat me to it I was downtown for lunch/meeting and noticed the glass going up also. There was only one piece up when I walked by. I think it will look nice when they are completed. I wonder if they will be lighted during the evening hours when the site is completed.

[sparky05]

I thought those might be on site yesterday when I took some photos. Unfortunately, they weren't putting them up there yet... Oh well, here are some photos from yesterday to tide us over until someone gets out there with a camera:

[sparky05]

Wow, no photos of the lanterns yet? I thought I'd be way behind on these. COME ON, PEOPLE, you're laying down on the job!

Here's one from Friday:

And some from today:

[GRDadof3]

There's a fairly new government building in Berlin that I noticed in the UP photo section that has an interesting similarity to our new art museum. The sweeping staircase, the exaggerated concrete overhang, and the glass and concrete construction caught my eye. It's obviously A LOT larger than our art museum.

http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&a...G=Search+Images

It's quite an interesting complex from above. Wow.

[sparky05]

Today:

[tracer1138]

Generally, I'm not the biggest fan of modern architecture, though I suppose I would say leans a little more postmodern... Nevertheless... that is one SNAZZZY buildling!

I really like the materials use, and the fact that it's position is "monumental" almost sculptural in it's relation to the rest of downtown, I'm not so up in arms by the fact that it doesn't match the more historic buildings surrounding it. In that respect it reminds of Frank Gehry's Bilbao Guggenheim museum - one of his few pieces I don't find wildly counter to its context!