Frieze Building Officially Closed, demolition prep begins.

[mendelman]

Thanks for the demo shots.

That tower is going to be a great terminus for that part of Thayer St.

I'm going to have to make a special visit to Ann Arbor in a year or two to see the new building in the flesh.

I jsut want to reiterate - I really like the new Public Policy building at State and Hill.

[detwaa84]

why was there public critism to the first rendering.

[wolverine]

Here's what the original design looked like

It was ugly as hell. Notice how the salvaged portions were just tacked on instead of being integrated with the design scheme. The back portion looks ugly and scaled wrong. The front could be okay, but it's pretty generic.

There was such a big public outcry after it was released that another architect (Stern) was brought onto the project. As you can see, the quality has dramatically increased, although there was also a major increase in cost.

[detwaa84]

Is there a picture for the newer rendering. The one posted is way too big and isn't scaling down. I see one window at a time! Thanx

Nevermind.

I love it!!

[wolverine]

Drove by the Frieze today. Looks the same as in the pictures still.

[tracer1138]

They have begun full scale demolition of the Frieze building.

I was in my studio class in the basement of the building across the street when we heard great rumblings and crashings outside.

Suddenly everyone was cramming to look out the window, and sure enough, they had a huge machine of some kind just bashing away at the walls as they came crumbing down in huge chunks... all extremely cool.

I went outside after class and took a few shots.

[wolverine]

Wait, you mean look up out your window.

Pshh, MLB basement dwellers

[nofunk]

It was too beautiful today to stay at home, so I headed downtown for some photos...

By the way, 2212 MLB is a good vantage point, if the classroom is open.

[wolverine]

Everyone always beats me to it in this thread!

[mendelman]

Wham-o! Thanks for the update.

I like the building, but understand that it was old and very wornout. Best to demolish it and replace it with something better.

[wolverine]

The middle addition is about 80% demolished. Looks like they might start pounding away at the original portion of the building possibly later today or tomorrow.

[wolverine]

The older part is being demolished. Looks like the top story has interesting vaulted ceilings. Wish I would have thoroughly documented the place, although I only have pics of the ground floor lost somewhere on the hard drive.

Zach, I know you've been through the building, do you have any pictures to post of the lower levels?

Homrich has yet to to detach the Carnegie from the Frieze building. My guess is that they will continue to work clockwise on the building and probably use more precision demolition techniques as they get close to the portion that will be saved.

I was really hoping that sitework would begin before I graduate. Oh well, I have two more years here!

[Kimberlaina]

If you want to see an awesome "behind the scenes" tour of Frieze, search for the Frieze Building on YouTube and watch "Frieze Building Explorations." If I had known all those little back alleys were there, I may have had to see them for myself . . . but alas, too late. They get some neat shots of the construction of the building.

I wasn't all that sentimental when they first announced the demolition, but now I have all these memories coming back, like when came frighteningly close to vomiting on a professor in class one day . . .

Best

-K

[wolverine]

Awesome! Thanks for the info Kimberlaina.

BTW, you need to top one student who threw up on 8 people coming down the stairwell in Haven. I was one of the people who got hit by a few stray drops.

[nofunk]

So is the Frieze history now? I haven't been downtown in a while.

[wolverine]

Was just downtown, they've begun on the columned portion. By this evening, the front entrance will likely be destroyed. The back (auditorium), is gone.

Windows have been removed from the portion that is being salvaged. I don't know if this means they will begin gutting the interior.

I wish I could find a well ordered timeline on this project. I'm interested in when site clearing will be completed. I'm guessing the new North Quad won't be completed until I'm done with grad school lol.

[wolverine]

The front of the building has been demolished. They are now at the corner where the film library used to be.

Before my sister graduated they had a ceremony in that room that showed some of the work the students did. I remember being bored with some of it and leaning back in my chair against the window. By the end of the sessioin, I had had pealed all the paint off the lower part of the window and the frame. My contribution to the demolition of the building.

[nofunk]

By the end of the sessioin, I had had pealed all the paint off the lower part of the window and the frame.

[wolverine]

The Frieze Building is gone.

Right now I'm looking over the floorplans for North Quad, and it appears that the preserved Carnegie Addition will be the new residents entry for the building. It has a major lobby and stairs space.

Some other notes:

- There are two 'towers' to the project. The large 10 story residence hall structure and the lower 7 story academic structure that runs along State.

- The ground floor is NOT the plaza level. The plaza actually exists on a Mezzanine or what they are calling in the plans the second floor. Therefore the ground floor is almost the size of the entire building footprint.

- Room sizes aren't all the same. The singles range from 144-160 square feet. The doubles are 188-240 sqft (not exact)

- 3-4 residents will share a bathroom. Their rooms are not connected to the bathroom, rather they must access it via the hallway like a typical community bathroom, except I'm guessing that only their keycards will be able to open that bathroom. The bathroom contains a private shower and toilet.

- Most of the doubles exist at the ends of the residence hall structure while the singles exist in the middle. (think Couzens Hall)

- Laundry spaces are generous and of course exist on each floor.

If you have any questions, ask

Can't wait to see this amazing building rise!

[Eridony]

Wow, I've never seen a residence hall that tall that actually looks nice. Hopefully it'll look as good in real life as it does in the rendering.

[wolverine]

I'm hoping too. The same architect did a building just down the street with the same type of architecture. It was just completed this past year. I love the building, but the chunky tower drives me nuts.

images courtesy U of M Plant Extension

[nofunk]

That building would look grand if the tower were a few floors taller...

[mgman]

I'm hoping too. The same architect did a building just down the street with the same type of architecture. It was just completed this past year. I love the building, but the chunky tower drives me nuts.

images courtesy U of M Plant Extension

[WALD0123]

This is all that remains of the Frieze building. This part will be saved as part of the new dorm/classroom building. I'm usually more of a preservationist but in this case, I think this is just about the right amount of preservation.

[tomcampion]

This is all that remains of the Frieze building. This part will be saved as part of the new dorm/classroom building. I'm usually more of a preservationist but in this case, I think this is just about the right amount of preservation.