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A first look at the plans for our new Chicago office
- riffic 3y agobetter than demolition but many are concerned about preservation: https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2023/12/08/thompson-center-demolition-construction-plans https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2023/12/08/thompson-cent... https://www.reddit.com/r/architecture/comments/17ahso9/demolition_of_thompson_center_facade_atrium_for/ https://www.reddit.com/r/architecture/comments/17ahso9/demol...
- xnx 3y agoIt's good to respect and appreciate existing quality buildings, but this must be weighed against the risk of a city becoming a museum.
- cozzyd 3y agoPreservation as it was was not a feasible option for this building...
- captainoats 3y agoThe Thompson Center has been dilapidated for a long time and used a tremendous amount of energy to heat and cool. It needs to be replaced.
- carabiner 3y agoThis is funded by advertising dollars and hijacking the attention of humans. I'm sorry but I can't admire or celebrate this. It's all dirty money.
- xyzelement 3y agoI am genuinely curious - what is it that you do for a living that lets you have this judgement? EG, I've been a non-advertising customer of Google for literally decades and from Search to Chrome to Gmail to Maps to Docs to Android it's given me great value.
- carabiner 3y agoSomething not funded by the adtech that is devouring the world.
- kwoff 3y agoI don't think that's even necessary. Most of us are forced to survive under conditions we have almost no control over, so it's natural to not admire/celebrate those who do have the control and prioritize shareholder profits instead of everyone's quality of life.
- xyzelement 3y agoThat sounds like a double standard - you feel entitled to judge the work of other people according to your morality but you're not willing to expose to us why your own labor is virtuous.
- phone8675309 3y agoParent poster didn't submit a link talking about their work like it should be the focus of the entire world. Release your work for scrutiny and then it will be scrutinized. If you're publicizing it then you've asked for scrutiny, and the people doing the scrutiny aren't required to be scrutinized in return.
- 3y ago
- hedora 3y agoWhy are they investing in more office space? There’s a national glut, and this building could be put to better use.
- ramesh31 3y ago> Why are they investing in more office space? Buy low, sell high. They've done the same strategy in New York.
- whywhywhywhy 3y ago> this building could be put to better use Such as?
- hedora 3y agoIt’s at the intersection of a bunch of train stations. Retail? Residential? Commercial for people other than knowledge workers?
- kgermino 3y agoThey’re not building new office space. They’re converting an office building into… an office building. At worst this is neutral for the glut. And it’s actually a bit better than that, because IMU the glut is in lower quality buildings while demand for higher quality offices is still high.
- mrieck 3y agoIf you've been over there lately, it's more like they're converting a zombie-apocalypse mall into a Googler campus. It was already dirty and decaying pre-pandemic, but now it looks exactly like something out of 'The Last of Us'.
- freitzkriesler2 3y agoFor government buildings it actually looks good. Compare that to Boston's government center abomination, this is refreshing. I'm glad Google is refreshing it and at least doing something to maintain it.
- ghaff 3y agoBoston City Hall is pretty much the nadir of Soviet-looking Brutalism.
- SoftTalker 3y agoNo reason a government building should be anything but functional. Expensive, hard-to-build, difficult-to-maintain design is tax money spent for no benefit.
- pseudalopex 3y agoAre brutalist buildings less expensive, easier to build, and easier to maintain?
- SoftTalker 3y agoI can't answer that, but I think governments should use standard office buildings like everyone else. No need to spend extra money on appearances. In many cases they do. The local IRS office, Social Security office, state governent offices etc. are located here in standard office park type buildings. It's fine. The city offices on the other hand are in some historic rehabbed 19th century space that was expensive to refit as it was never meant to be an office building, it's terrible from a heating/cooling efficiency standpoint because it wasn't built with that in mind, it has a much larger footprint than necessary because it's a two-story, sprawling complex, and it's on land that would otherwise be very valuable for other business or residential properties, so there is a tremendous opportunity cost in terms of property tax that could be collected from that location. But it looks nice.
- cozzyd 3y ago
- CPLX 3y agoWait they bought and are hyping up the State of Illinois building, that everyone use to call a giant glass toilet? Now I've seen everything. That building was a laughingstock of design when I was a kid, I had family members that worked there. If I recall correctly it also had a habit of popping glass panes out of the upper levels and having them rain down terror on unsuspecting pedestrians in the atrium.
- throwup238 3y ago> That building was a laughingstock of design when I was a kid, I had family members that worked there. What did they think about working in that building? I'll admit it's not the prettiest thing I've seen (and I can appreciate even brutalist buildings) but I don't see what's wrong with it. I imagine there'd be a lot more natural light
- CPLX 3y agoCompletely unworkable climate control and wild temperature swings. Blinding light at certain times of day that made it impossible to work. And of course the previously mentioned glass issue. I think it killed a couple people while under construction as well. It's got quite the history.
- amluto 3y agoIt does seem odd to build a building out of that much glass in a climate like Chicago’s.
- clint 3y agoWeird, I've always thought the Thompson center was a beautiful building and one of the best downtown. Many people I know also think the same.
- CPLX 3y agoIf you're looking down on it from one of the surrounding hi-rise office buildings it's indistinguishable from a toilet.
- kelseyfrog 3y agoWhat will happen to Jean Dubuffet's Monument with Standing Beast[1]? 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_with_Standing_Beast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_with_Standing_Beast
- cozzyd 3y agoIt is being donated to the Art Institute.
- zappb 3y agoI wonder if the DMV will still have a presence there.
- imbnwa 3y agoThey already closed that office. You have to go to the Secretary of State facility over on Lasalle and Randolph.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]