Journalhttp://www.therevitalist.com/journal/en-US2008-07-25T00:51:21ZSquarespace Site Server v5.0.0 (http://www.squarespace.com/)Seattle's New Arctic Hotel: "I Am The Walrus"http://www.therevitalist.com/journal/2008/7/16/seattles-new-arctic-hotel-i-am-the-walrus.htmlJeffrey Oakman2008-07-16T20:43:19ZProjects - Case Studies

The Arctic Club, a turn-of-the-century treasure in downtown Seattle, reopened this month as a new grand hotel. The building, replete with signature walrus heads encircling the facade, is a stately and playful monument to the riches amassed in the Klondike gold rush. If, as Robert Service once wrote, "the Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold", these tales were once recounted in the Arctic Club's Alaskan marble lobby by the folks who had witnessed them first hand. The Northern Lights Dome Room is the building's most spectacular feature, however -- a ballroom that seats over 200 people with a gilt and glass ceiling lit to resemble the northern lights. These interior rooms and the facade are protected under the historic landmark designation and have been well-restored.

Restoration and rehab took over two years. The Revitalist got a sneak preview just before the building opened in early July.

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]]>Architectural Ethics?http://www.therevitalist.com/journal/2008/7/11/architectural-ethics.htmlThe Revitalist2008-07-11T18:26:04ZDesign PreservationDoes architecture define our own personal views? As Pogrebin argues in his article, “I’m the Designer. My Client’s the Autocrat”, all architecture has ulterior motives in many spheres—be it financial, political, religious—architecture is not architecture without contextual purpose.

Still, many architects believe they can separate themselves from the context and design simply for the sake of design. Consider many of the great buildings throughout history—most encompassed some political or religious ideal. Even within the movement of humanism, powerful merchants used the archetypes of the time to raise their status and power. We could even argue that much of significant architecture, which remains, is such because of its surrounding context. Perhaps it even remains because of its context—consider the basis of preservation initiatives.

But, the ethics of designing for a nation or person whose actions or beliefs you are fully against still remains. As China and Dubai suck in many of the major architects of our day, few architects remain who stand for national ideals through refusing to accept enticing international commissions. The reward is too great and the loss of integrity undervalued. (Image: CCTV in Beijing, Rem Koolhaas; This is where China will screen and censor the Olympics before they're broadcast to the world.)

So, what do ethics mean in design? Is it more ethical to design in the hope of engaging societies through architecture to help them move in the right direction, or should architects refuse services to nations who are not in accordance with their own nation’s values? But perhaps design transcends ethical boundaries. Just consider the following: if Bernini had refused to design for the Vatican or Postnik for Ivan IV, would architecture have progressed to where it is today?

]]>Listen, my children, and you shall hear, of the midnight ride of ... the wrecking ball?http://www.therevitalist.com/journal/2008/6/27/listen-my-children-and-you-shall-hear-of-the-midnight-ride-o.htmlSarah Hansen2008-06-27T18:54:17ZPreservationIn 1801 in Canton, Massachusetts the first copper-rolling mill was founded by none other than Paul Revere. In its hey-day this mill produced both the dome of the Massachusetts State House and the hull of the USS Constitution. While the copper rolling days of the Revere & Sons Mill are long behind us, its future existence is being questioned. In 2007 a Chicago-based developer, Napleton Acquisition LLC, purchased the mill and nearby J.W. Revere Barn, and in May submitted a request for a demolition permit after a zoning change was rejected by the planning board. Specific plans for the site and unclear reasons for potential demolition are leaving many uneasy. Find out more about the situation by clicking here, and more about the history of this site by clicking here.

]]>Where All are Winners: Film Tax Creditshttp://www.therevitalist.com/journal/2008/6/27/where-all-are-winners-film-tax-credits.htmlJeffrey Oakman2008-06-27T16:45:22ZLocal events Tax Credits AHF News EconomicsMuch has been made recently of the film-production tax credit arms race going on in this country. Film location decisions for the most part are not sentimental; they're bottom-line decisions, driven by costs of labor, transportation, etc. According to Glenn Rifkin of the New York Times, almost every state has a tax incentive program designed to attract the film industry, and these are getting more and more lucrative as competition heats up: In New York City, filming enjoys a 35% benefit, and even California, despite its Hollywood home-court advantage, is looking at a larger incentive program. Massachusetts raised its tax credit to 25% last year, and has seen a remarkable increase in filming in the state.

If it's all a money game, critics say, the escalation in subsidies may be stripping out all of the benefits of attracting movie business. Not so in Massachusetts. Steady film business helps sustain the creative economy jobs that are so critical to the vitality of metro Boston and the State overall. But it is outside of metro Boston that other benefits of the film tax credits are more obvious. This summer, several movies are being filmed in the Merrimack Valley. Film companies appreciate the lower costs there, and their patronage of local businesses, restaurants, hotels, etc. is a huge economic benefit to the communities.

Towns like Lowell, Haverhill, and Lawrence, with their gritty urban settings and grand historic industrial architecture, offer great sites for filming -- local resources that the tax credit helps the cities leverage. The movies and TV shows bring to town not just money, but also a chance for the towns to market themselves. Just last week, AHF licensed with Disney to film part of a new futuristic action movie outside Washington Mills Building #1, our new loft apartment building in Lawrence. The movie is filming at a number of other nearby sites as well. It can’t hurt the Merrimack Valley to have A-list actors like Bruce Willis and Rob Lowe spending time there.

In Massachusetts, film credits are supporting good jobs and bringing film business to the state’s industrial towns that can benefit from it. Everyone wins with the mutual benefits to both the community and filmmaker.

]]>The Moon's the Limit...For Nowhttp://www.therevitalist.com/journal/2008/6/20/the-moons-the-limitfor-now.htmlThe Revitalist2008-06-20T18:10:16ZPlanning GreenIn Philadelphia, Walnut Street Capital, a development company, has commissioned Kohn Pedersen Fox architects to build the Center City Tower, what could be the tallest building in America and the second tallest in the world. Amidst fierce competition, cities such as Shanghai and Hong Kong threaten to strip Philadelphia of this title though. Currently, Dubai is building a structure which will surpass even Taipei’s 1,670 ft. tower--the tallest in the world.

In the new modernist equation, height seems to equal strength, solidarity, fortitude—everything that symbolizes power. As China tries to compete on the world stage, their buildings are becoming taller and more eye-catching, be it good or bad. Everywhere, cities are crawling up into the sky and claiming “unlimited” vertical real estate.

Still, Philadelphia may have one claim to fame. Their 1,500 ft tower will attempt LEED Gold Certification. With gardens on two floors, this megalith may be somewhat livable. The structure will house offices, retail space, and a hotel.

]]>Building material salvaging: when it's bad, it's really bad!http://www.therevitalist.com/journal/2008/6/18/building-material-salvaging-when-its-bad-its-really-bad.htmlsmcdonnell2008-06-18T16:00:19ZHaving recently seen/read of two examples of building materials salvaging that distressed me, I thought I share my observations. First, whole building salvaging in Holyoke, MA.

The images above are before and after shots along Valley Mill Road, between third level canal and the Connecticut River. At the site a salvage company called American Deconstruction has been dismantling entire 19th. c. industrial buildings for their building materials,ie used brick, hard pine timbers and decking. The photo shows palletized brick ready for shipping to Louisiana. In this case the buildings were attractive to the dismantler because the roof was tight and hence the wood free from rot- sounds perfectly plausible except that, I would argue, with the buildings removed, Holyoke is left with bare, dirty old industrial land, of which they have plenty, without any re-useable buildings- the buildings added value to the site.
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the above picture is of the context - a nice, well scaled, 19th c. village, soon to be demolished in the name of 'urban renewal', or private property rights, and the city left with what? As an aside, the large church, bottom center, was demolished recently as well.
second, illegal copper pipe stripping from foreclosed buildings in Lawrence, MA:
Picture%205.png Copper salvaging has become collateral damage in the ongoing foreclosure crisis- apparently local men target empty and foreclosed-on property, and enter and strip out the copper and then deliver it to metal recyclers. In the case of the above image, the Lawrence Police received a tip from a recycler and were able to catch the thief with his loot.
As you can imagine, a home with the copper pipe stripped is pretty hard to re-occupy, exacerbating the already bad situation.

]]>Holyoke Suffers Major Losshttp://www.therevitalist.com/journal/2008/6/10/holyoke-suffers-major-loss.htmlkcicchetti2008-06-10T14:51:04ZPreservation large_HOCT%20Fire%201.jpg

Sad news for the City of Holyoke as one of the city's earliest paper mills smolders after a devastating 9-alarm fire. The Parsons Paper Co. on Sargeant Street, a 300,000 sf mill which takes up three city blocks, was abandoned in 2005 with $1.8 million in back taxes on the books- Sunday night it erupted in flames for reasons yet unknown. In a city with an amazing core of historic fabric but with a struggling economy, this is a major loss on many levels. What is interesting and even more sad is that we recently became aware of an advocate who had some creative ideas of how to put the Parson Paper Co. Mill back into service. We hope that this loss will serve to inspire more intensity in preservation and re-development efforts for the remaining historic building stock in Holyoke.

]]>Brutalism revisited?http://www.therevitalist.com/journal/2008/6/2/brutalism-revisited.htmlThe Revitalist2008-06-02T19:29:31ZPlanning Design PreservationIt seems like the question of whether a particular structure is worth preserving will always be addressed as the thirty-year mark approaches and it becomes eligible for the lists. Though some buildings are recognized as being eligible for and needing preservation even prior to this milestone, many buildings are not even considered until many years later.

Post-war structures face quite a bit of opposition as many of them are not viewed in a pleasurable light by the general public. Perhaps the reason for this distaste relates to our relatively calm current state—contrasting the origin of Brutalist design in period when society found the appearance of defensive strength and fortitude beautiful and comforting. The head of the Columbia University preservation department provided this as an argument for the preservation of Boston’s City Hall in his keynote address at the Campus Heritage Symposium in Boston in October 2007.

The United States is about to open up their embassy in Berlin—a project highly contested by the Germans for several reasons. First and foremost is the controversial site, but the Germans are offended greatly by the way the new US embassy on the Pariser Platz engages or refuses to engage in dialogue with the Brandenburg Gate and other important historic German buildings surrounding the site. It comes as a slap in the face for the US Embassy building to “fold its arms” against Germany though the US refutes this interpretation of its intention.

Brutalist buildings were accepted during their period and many even loved for a short amount of time. Now, it seems the US is responding to bombings at the Kenya and Tanzania embassies and the September 11 attacks (follow this link to read about new guidelines which were considered during the building of the German Embassy), so its defensive stance is not without reason from an American standpoint. Still, the building was not built on American soil, so the German interpretation has validity as they are the people directly affected by the solid placement of the US embassy.
Ironically, the US has now erected a wall which stands against the same site where Reagan declared to Gorbachev, “tear down this wall”.

]]>Great news: LEED v.3 released May 19 for public commenthttp://www.therevitalist.com/journal/2008/5/30/great-news-leed-v3-released-may-19-for-public-comment.htmlsmcdonnell2008-05-30T14:25:42ZGreen Preservation AHF NewsOn May 19th the US Green Building Council released V.3, I think they are calling it LEED 2009.
I learned about this from Wendy Nicholas, Director of the Northeast Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She also directed me to a posting on the National trust blog by Barbara A. Campagna, AIA LEED AP of Graham Gund Architects.
As a developer trying to do preservation redevelopment, I would like to think I am building in a sustainable and responsible fashion but have been frustrated that the emerging best standard for green buildings, the LEED standard, has not been attainable for preservation projects such as ours. We recently did an analysis of a 75,000 mill redevelopment effort and determined that the added cost of basic LEED certification was between $7.50 and $10.00/ sq ft. We could not conclude that there was any demonstrable benefit to income. Worse, we received an equal point score for re-using a building or having covered bike storage. Our buildings are usually 120+ year-old brick and timber mills in downtown settings.

]]>We're Back!http://www.therevitalist.com/journal/2008/5/28/were-back.htmlThe Revitalist2008-05-28T17:47:02ZAHF NewsNow, with added energy, “The Revitalist” is back from vacation and ready to go. With pleasure, we welcome five new editors who will bring great new insight to “The Revitalist”. Please check back weekly for updates.

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