Chicago is somehow compelled to the "tower on the podium" (TOP) model of highrises these days, more so than other cities, for multiple reasons. Washington, DC, while as car-avid as Chicago, is somehow able to create more below-grade parking. Why? I'm really not sure.
NYC has minimized its parking requirements, thus you don't see much of the TOP model there. Other cities? Well, perhaps Miami is also building TOP, but lets get serious here 
Many of my friends on this forum, such as Oshkeoto, absolutely detest this new form that has emerged--and rightfully so. Others don't seem to mind as much. Blair Kamin was once quoted as saying that in Paris when you look up you see windows, but in Chicago--a parking garage. I tend to view this issue similarly to Oshkeoto, but let me play devil's advocate here, if just for a moment.
No matter how well disguised, a garage creates a certain dead zone that one can't deny. People mention Jane Jacobs and "eyes on the street".
But lets step back for a minute. Perhaps we are looking too deeply into this. Perhaps we are feeding into eachothers' architectural "paranoia", if you will, that Chicago is somehow slipping to a lower standard and creating uglier and more "suburban" structures.
But is it also possible that our sense of these things is far too acute? After all, don't ground-level retail and ground-level lobbies adequately function as "eyes on the street"? And how often are the people upstairs really keeping their "eyes on the street" anyhow? Regardless, lets think about the vast majority of urban dwellers--do they really care? They are unlikely to really give a shit--it's what is offered to them at street level that really matters. And when they actually do look up, they see a really tall building that creates a sense of enclosure and say "wow" whether there is a parking podium or not.
Cities are a product of their times, and no matter how hard Chicago may try to contrive something differently, it is just going to build what it feels pressured to build. All we can hope is that there is a strong aesthetic sense and an attempt to do right by its citizens--ie the pedestrians.
And can't we also say that this rather unique TOP design in Chicago may become a part of its celebrated, that's right--celebrated, architectural vernacular for future generations? Lets face it--it's the quirky and distinct designs that signify a particular time in history that attract us to older architecture--that's why many of us feel we are adding nothing to our city's collective architecture by building so many traditional-looking townhouses and highrises.
Just as many of us see these old, rough, dirty brick industrial lofts as somehow "charming" potential converts to residential lofts, I also see the ugly byproducts of our current building boom as "charming" opportunities for redevelopment by future generations. I imagine a day when some of these garages undergo small makeovers, perhaps by creating more windows, and become occupied by lower-income people such as artists--and eventually become converted to residential or office uses.
Does anybody see where I'm coming from? Perhaps people have differing viewpoints?> |
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