urbanMSP

It looks to me like they wanted fewer floors of parking so they bloated it out on either end and played them off as little balconies. Not that the balconies look bad as long as you're the one on top.

I'm not referring to the parking is cantilevered, that makes sense, I mean this weird awning structure that extends almost out to the LRT...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y9ff56ff7gehu6i/awning.jpg

I just thought it looked really odd because it is such a contrast to the awning of the LRT platform. It's the visual equivalent of eating green beans and ice cream.

I seem to remember seeing something a few months ago about building a second (presumably disembark only) platform for the northbound LRT trains on the north side of 5th. Presumably this is a part of that project. I'm glad they managed to work with Opus to just attach it to the building instead of building a separate support structure adjacent to it, but agree that it's strange that it's so visually inconsistent with the LRT awning.

I think that we need to see some other images of how this design works. It is great to hear the opinions. My opinion is that one shouldn't try to "appropriate" context and "tack it on" to one's building. That LRT canopy is so expressive that I don't see an easy way to use that as context in a nearby building. Example: when KPF did that new university building across the footbridge from Gehry's Weisman, they didn't say, "Hey, let's do a curvilinear, abstracted skin!" Instead, they did a design that fit the program and responds to the context without MIMICKING it. KPF smartly played off of the classic columns of the buildings on the mall but expressed them using a polished/reflective metal that pulls from the Weisman. An LRT stop by nature has an opportunity that most buildings don't and that is to be VERY expressive and unique (in the manner of a traditional "folly" - a standalone piece of architecture). It is ill-advised (in my opinion) to appropriate very expressive design for the reasons above but also because it diminishes the original. Sorry to do get into architecture theory but Jencks said (paraphrased), "Architecture gets meaning by contrast or by similitude." To borrow very expressive architecture diminishes that expression as the rest of the context would then become homogenous if borrowing went futher. Long story longer, this canopy should express the architecture of the building and have affinity with THAT, instead of expressive design nearby and they should inform each other by contrast. My $.02.

Taken yesterday.

From down Nicollet a few blocks:


From Hennepin:

I can't wait to start seeing some glass go on it. It still seems so stern. I always want moar glass Downtown.

I did not find the Nic or the new Exel building listed as proposed or under construction on the Skyscraperpage.com.

Are there more floors to go on this building?

Does anybody know what those colored panels, on street level, are going to be? They've shown different colors in different illustrations. The color combination, illustrated on the most recent renderings, is a bit horrible... but fall-like. I wonder if they are going to be some type of lighting effect... possibly color changing LEDs or something?

This has to be close to topping out. Anyone have a current count?

In that last pic I count 19 floors above the podium, so maybe 23?

I counted 23 today when I was downtown.

So topped of 23 plus 3 with the parking floors makes 26?

5 floors in the base, 21 in the tower...26 total. I think they are working on the 25th floor right now...so one more to go.

Good then they can finish the base before the snow comes falling down on them.

From this morning:

it's really a welcome sight to see a tower crane on the skyline like that. building an actual taller structure. this building is filling a gap, providing bulk. would've liked to see a few more stories but oh well.

I take that the half completed story is the last one except for the crown?

Could 4Marq have potentially been built at the same time as Nic on Fifth because of the proximity of two tower cranes? Curious as to whether or not there would be an issue if 4Marq is to get off the ground before Nic on Fifth is completeted because of the proximity of the two.

There may be an issue depending on how deep the Nic foundation is on the east side of the property. The two cranes probably aren't an issue. BTW - why is the 4 Marq page locked? It appears to be locked and I haven't seen any updates for a while? Did I press the wrong button and locked myself out?