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The New GRAM. Love it or Hate it Poll


tamias6

The new GRAM love it or hate it  

103 members have voted

  1. 1. What is your opinion of the new GRAM architecture

    • Yes! I love it!
      38
    • It's okey, I can live with it.
      32
    • Don't like it nor Hate it.
      9
    • Sorry. Its not my cup of tea.
      14
    • Good Grief! It's butt ugly!
      10


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The cutting edge new GRAM in all of its modernistic glory is nearing completion. Opinions here on UP have swung to and fro like a some giant pendulum throughout its construction. One moment, we sing praises of the museums architectural achievement. The next we utterly detest it only to turn around and love it again. Folks, now that the new GRAM is nearing completion and we are starting to get a good idea of what the finish product will look like. Let's take a poll. How many of you like the new GRAM and how many don't? Let the voting begin.....Now!

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I sat looking at the Ottawa Ave side of this thing for half an hour on Friday, and I now hate this building 10X as much as I did before.

Poorly planned and executed monument to short-sightedness. It is almost offensive that we still, in this city, seem to produce some of the most blocky, blank, and boring structures in the nation. When I first heard about this project, I remembered reading the line where they said that it wasn't going to be any taller than the other buildings on Monroe, and that they were going to go with a relatively unknown architect (That is no longer part of the project), I just knew that it was going to be downhill from there. My expectations seem to have been met and exceeded. We are going to be stuck with this thing for the next 50 years minimum. I'm not even going to pretend that this building has any good qualities other than the LEED certification.

Just look how it all but finished off the corner of Louis and Ottawa. 50% of that intersection is now just dead corners, 75% if you count the vacant building to the SW. The corner of Monroe Center and Ottawa is barely better. The building has no focus, no inspirational design for the pedestrian almost along its entire perimeter.

While new architecture in the 21st century has curves and transparency, we end up with the Grand Center just with some fogged glass! Maybe the inside will look nice. Who cares when the outside just looks awful.

Sorry for the rambling rant, but this is just an golden opportunity totally blown again just like the VAMC and the Marriott along Campau.

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There is NOTHING inviting about this building. There is NOTHING that says "COME IN". It looks like it

wants to keep people OUT while it holds its treasures prisoner. Maybe the building does fit in with the

Maya Lin designed park area, but that may have been its first mistake. This design shouldn't have been

predicated on a park that many already dislike and doesn't function well as a place to sit, relax, eat lunch,

read a book, or meet your friends EXCEPT when there is an event like BOTM. So the circle's main function

is for EVENTS instead of a usable space to serve the downtown live/workers/visitors. Who the heck are

the people who decide these things? It's time for new blood because too many mistakes are being made.

Where do I sign up?

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I've never heard people complain about the park. I know on a regular basis, the majority of my office walks from our office on East Fulton, down Monroe Center and various people disperse to wherever they want to get food from and then meet up again at the park to eat. Every time I've been down there, it was been fairly busy and tables were hard to come by. I've taken my daughter there a couple of times and she loves running around on the hills or in the circle and there always seems to be little groups of people meeting up there to 'hang out'. Sure, the movable furniture may seem weird, but the space was designed to be flexible, allowing for a multitude of things to happen...

In regards to GRAM being unwelcoming and uninviting, I don't understand that criticism at all, especially considering the museum isn't done yet! Once the construction fence is torn down, the art work and banners are up, and the spaced is inhabited, then tell me if its welcoming or not. Would you rather see a bunch of fake ornament on a building? Does plastering 'stuff' on a building facade make something inviting?

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There is NOTHING inviting about this building. There is NOTHING that says "COME IN". It looks like it

wants to keep people OUT while it holds its treasures prisoner. Maybe the building does fit in with the

Maya Lin designed park area, but that may have been its first mistake. This design shouldn't have been

predicated on a park that many already dislike and doesn't function well as a place to sit, relax, eat lunch,

read a book, or meet your friends EXCEPT when there is an event like BOTM. So the circle's main function

is for EVENTS instead of a usable space to serve the downtown live/workers/visitors. Who the heck are

the people who decide these things? It's time for new blood because too many mistakes are being made.

Where do I sign up?

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I absolutely *love* the contrast between the museum and the area surrounding it. I also think it was such a great decision to put it facing the park because this type of structure needs visual white-space. From the corner of Monroe and M.C. the building will probably look best, as you can see from a distance the full view of it and it's surroundings. I'm not an architect but I am an artist and I think it looks great. I'm not sure what options are available with cast concrete other than windows - which of course are off limits in an art gallery. And yes, there are more inspiring designs out there but I think what we have is a vast improvement over the old building and introduces a new modern look to a very old city. I love all the old buildings, and I think only a very modernist building like this fits with it. I agree that some crazy Ghery type structure would look odd in such a bricked out enclosed downtown. I think if you don't already you'll have to learn to love the new GRAM in whatever way you can because it's not changing now. wink.gif

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I'm withholding final opinion until it's all done, but there are aspects to this building I really like ( especially the open pavillion by the park - it's going to be stunning). I do have issues with the exposed concrete. I was hoping the white panels were going to cover all of the building, but I guess that is not the case. If you look at CC's buildings, many designed with the popular exposed concrete look of the the mid 80s, they are not aging well.

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I love the building , but the greatest irony of the building remains that its modern design completely contradicts the style of art contained within.

I hope they have an opportunity to make more modern acquisitions, or host some more contemporary exhibitions. There's only so many impressionist haystacks a person can take.

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One attribute that I will like about the interior of the building if its pulled off right is that the concrete walls are a neutral color which is a very important attribute in a gallery space designed to display art. This means viewers of the GRAM's art collection will be able to see the colors of the artwork as the artists intended unaltered by the color temperature of the light reflected by gallery walls.

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I am withholding judgement as well. If I voted now, it would get the "its not my cup of tea" vote. Too blocky, too grey, too much concrete. Maybe it will look specatular when its done, but I sort of doubt it.

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I was on the fence with this until my 5 year old daughter, with all of her youthful honesty, asked me this weekend while at Festival...

"Dad, is that a prison? It looks creepy."

Enough said. That is not the impression that I would have hoped for.

I don't like it anymore.

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Just as an aside, here are four art venues as part of a Southern city's Arts Master Plan, which includes two museums, a PAC and a cultural center. Wondered how people felt about these designs.

529654558_1e10849c14.jpg

(click for a larger image)

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I think this will be an excellent location for the Art Museum. It will benefit the museum and the local shops on Monroe Center. Currently the museum is kind of in a no-man's land and this will give them much needed exposure. Same thing will happen with the UICA. From the looks of the street level store having their lights on during Festival, I think this will be a nice storefront to add to the many vibrant storefronts that have opened lately on Monroe Center. The best part will be the entrance from the park. Once the construction crews move their stuff we'll see the great plaza that will lead up to the building. It will really be a monumental site to see from the corner of Monroe Center and Monroe. I voted that I liked it because I think the detailing of this building is exeptional. I'm not fond of the conrete mess on CC's campus. The museum has very clean crisp corners and have nice contrasts with the glass and the metal panels. I'm really anxious to see the place lit up at night!! :camera:
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My personal design taste doesn't care for the deconstructivist example in the lower left corner.

However, you start to get into the realm of discussing architecture as art as part of the collection of the museum itself. Therefore I say, most anything goes.

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