Thoughts about Novare

[Abe2M12]

Okay let me start out by saying this about Novare..... no other company, or at least to my knowledge, has given atlanta more hi rise options and by saying that it makes them great and worthy of praise. But honestly and not to be harsh, but are the faux spires, tempered shiny glass, and similar looking balconies in spire, realm, eclipse, twelve, gallery, etc start to border on cheesy and commercial largescale pre-fab bulidings. They may not be horrific, but i think that most cities strive to have architectual diversity and imo the buildings by novare are not accomplishing that. One could say that by look at one of their new buildings, you've basically seen the rest. When the hi-rise boom is over, i'd hate to see novare looked at the way peachtree center is looked at today. It is possible to maintain a consistent image without copying 50% of the previous work. I would like to see buildings such as the ones in Santa Fe, Mexico City which happen to be unique but flow together and still be modern. Am i the only one that feels this way or do others agree????

santa fe projects

[verge]

Okay let me start out by saying this about Novare..... no other company, or at least to my knowledge, has given atlanta more hi rise options and by saying that it makes them great and worthy of praise. But honestly and not to be harsh, but are the faux spires, tempered shiny glass, and similar looking balconies in spire, realm, eclipse, twelve, gallery, etc start to border on cheesy and commercial largescale pre-fab bulidings. They may not be horrific, but i think that most cities strive to have architectual diversity and imo the buildings by novare are not accomplishing that. One could say that by look at one of their new buildings, you've basically seen the rest. When the hi-rise boom is over, i'd hate to see novare looked at the way peachtree center is looked at today. It is possible to maintain a consistent image without copying 50% of the previous work. I would like to see buildings such as the ones in Santa Fe, Mexico City which happen to be unique but flow together and still be modern. Am i the only one that feels this way or do others agree????

santa fe projects

As an architect I absolutely agree... Formulaic and mediocre, but better than the first generation of ATL residential high-rises... some of the Santa Fe models are quite nice... I know that in the architectural community there are plenty of us that feel this way--- you can only accomplish what your clients will let you... There are incredible things happening in residential architecture today, one would hope that as Atlanta becomes more sophisticated that they will happen here too... One closely watched project will be John Wieland's new 'High-design' towers in Midtown across from the High Museum... He's hired former MOMA design director Terrance Riley to help him find a young up-and-coming designer...

[ryanmckibben]

Novare has agreed to start changing the designs of their future buildings. They have received a lot of criticism from the neighborhood groups (a lot of it coming from me). They realize that too many buildings that look the same will start to become monotonous. The efficiences they achieved by having all of their buildings basically the same dramatically lowered the cost of the design phase of each building. I do know that the joint project that Novare is doing with Pope and Land in Buckhead will be built with a brick facade. They made this concession after some pretty adamant opposition to the design from the NPU for that area.

[verge]

Novare has agreed to start changing the designs of their future buildings. They have received a lot of criticism from the neighborhood groups (a lot of it coming from me). They realize that too many buildings that look the same will start to become monotonous. The efficiences they achieved by having all of their buildings basically the same dramatically lowered the cost of the design phase of each building. I do know that the joint project that Novare is doing with Pope and Land in Buckhead will be built with a brick facade. They made this concession after some pretty adamant opposition to the design from the NPU for that area.

Making all of thier buildings some phony historical style certainly is not the answer... the answer is simply better design...

the designs posted by Post and Land... glass buildings as well, were considerably better than the usual for Novare... designed by a NY firm, I believe... I certainly hope that neighborhood pressure hasn't resulted in the re-design of those buildings to some bland bad 'brick' monstrosity... Some of the worst buildings in Atlanta are those that have tried to respond to conservative ' neighborhood' tastes-- and do it quite badly...

as far as 'design costs' go, its usually 2-5% of construction cost... hardly a 'major' expense

[weymo]

My only exposure to Novare is with The Biltmore. Overall I think they've converted it into a usuable space for offices; the grounds are nice with big old oaks...almost a mossy postage stamp of Florida in the heart of downtown...something about it reminds me of Walkula Springs lodge, but I don't know why. Love the shaded veranda, but it's no longer used.

And while the lobby looks shiny and 'updated' while trying to maintain some aspect of its old grandeur, it does seem a little faux; in the same way on-property Disney resorts seem to be theme facades...very shallow. Some of the elevators feel original. The office floors are hopelessly renovated into winding corridors of beadboard and lowpile utility carpet.

[KLW2UT]

If the P&L/Novare project you mention is the one at 3630 Peachtree Road in Buckhead, then no it won't have any brick facade. Both towers on that site will be tinted, reflective glass... and the NY architect is Handel & Assoc. with the local archie being SRSS.

[micropundit]

Handle & Associates will also be the design architect on Novare/Pope and Land's 14th Street project(s0 as well.SRSSA will be the production team here also.