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Originality


rusthebuss

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Does anyone think this area has orginiality or do you think this area bites of others?I seen in Richmond they bit the River Walk from S.A. Texas

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Area as in Virginia as a whole? Area as in Hampton Roads or Richmond? Depending on which you may be referring to there are several different answers.

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Well as far as Hampton Roads in general I cannot say I have seen anything too "original" yet, but i don't think its this areas fault. I believe that the lack of originality has a lot to do with the absolute stranglehold that CMSS architects has on the Hampton Roads markets. 9 out of the 10 buildings proposed as of late has been designed or inspired by CMSS. Such a lack of diversity in architects lends to this area having a sort of bland "sameness" to it. That being said, both the Westin and the new Granby tower have been designed by different architects and they are absolutely astonishing in how different they are from anything else in this area.

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Well as far as Hampton Roads in general I cannot say I have seen anything too "original" yet, but i don't think its this areas fault. I believe that the lack of originality has a lot to do with the absolute stranglehold that CMSS architects has on the Hampton Roads markets. 9 out of the 10 buildings proposed as of late has been designed or inspired by CMSS. Such a lack of diversity in architects lends to this area having a sort of bland "sameness" to it. That being said, both the Westin and the new Granby tower have been designed by different architects and they are absolutely astonishing in how different they are from anything else in this area.

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Yeah you are right, Granby and Westin look not only different and better, but now far ahead of the competition. Trader's Tower and the Armada Hoffler Tower are nice but aside from being designed by the same architects, don't they both lack "urban" design and more of an office building that decided to be higher than the 5 story standard at some surburban office park? I think SunTrust's Tower is the best looking high-rise in the area if you ask me.

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i don't mean the buildings i'm talking life style, restaurants, the people. You know when travel to DC you remember the restaurants, the clubs, and i guess the buildings do have effect. I think we need things to attract people to this area that is different and orginial. Va Beach is modeling their town center around the one that is in Reston, Va. I think we need to model our own style and have restaurants that people will want to come back to this area. That the restaurants will only be in this area.

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When we're talking restaurants, DT Norfolk & Ghent has a plethora of original non-chain restaurants. The No Frill Grill, Freemason Abbey, The Blue Hippo, 456 Fish, The Painted Lady, and Alice Mae's, just to name a few. All of which add some originality to the area that could not be found in other cities.

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i don't mean the buildings i'm talking life style, restaurants, the people. You know when travel to DC you remember the restaurants, the clubs, and i guess the buildings do have effect. I think we need things to attract people to this area that is different and orginial. Va Beach is modeling their town center around the one that is in Reston, Va. I think we need to model our own style and have restaurants that people will want to come back to this area. That the restaurants will only be in this area.

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I don't think downtown is copy-catting anyone knowing that Granby st and Ghent are filled with more one-of-a-kind restaurants than national chains. As for Town Center...

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i don't mean the buildings i'm talking life style, restaurants, the people. You know when travel to DC you remember the restaurants, the clubs, and i guess the buildings do have effect. I think we need things to attract people to this area that is different and orginial. Va Beach is modeling their town center around the one that is in Reston, Va. I think we need to model our own style and have restaurants that people will want to come back to this area. That the restaurants will only be in this area.

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Well, as much as i like towncenter i have to say that they do not have any original resturants, clubs, etc. They are all national chain like entities and i must say if i have one complaint about towncenter, it is that.

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They are all national chain like entities and i must say if i have one complaint about towncenter, it is that.
National chains aren't all bad, they show that the area is getting national attention. But when your downtown, or in this case Town Center, is being built with nothing more than chains there's a problem. There has to be a correct mix between chain & local to shake the "fake downtown" feel out of it. When I dine at the Town Center, and I do frequently, I get a strong sense of being in a manufactured environment. Kind of like at Busch Gardens, only it's a downtown and not a country.
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National chains aren't all bad, they show that the area is getting national attention. But when your downtown, or in this case Town Center, is being built with nothing more than chains there's a problem. There has to be a correct mix between chain & local to shake the "fake downtown" feel out of it. When I dine at the Town Center, and I do frequently, I get a strong sense of being in a manufactured environment. Kind of like at Busch Gardens, only it's a downtown and not a country.

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Its great that Town Center (and the Power Plant in Hampton) has bought in a lot of national chains that did not have a presence in the area before. While these establishments have character, however these chains lack a character trait that you would find, say for instance, on Granby St.

Virginia Beach needs to take a look and learn some lessons from City Center at Oyster Point and Port Warrick in Newport News. Port Warrick has the mix that willy mentioned. A majority of the establishments there are local.

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Town Center is copying Reston that is why there is no orginiality in the design of the town center. It also takes local people to take a chance to build this type of restaurant and we have to bring in people who want to stay beyond the military. To plant roots in the area to have generation after generation here.

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