Comments on: The spire formerly known as Fordham

By: Sam

Sam — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 16:52:44 +0000

Nobody is even remotely suggesting that Calatrava is not a master architect and structural engineer – he is a pure genius. However, his remarkable skills have nothing to do with this project’s profitability – or, more specifically, lack of profitability. As currently designed, the spire will undoubtedly lose hundreds of millions of dollars. The numbers will simply not even come close to working, so that is why we should all expect a complete redesign, which of course unfortunately begs the question of whether Calatrava will want to continue to be involved…

By: Santiago Calatrava

Santiago Calatrava — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 15:16:50 +0000

Dios mio, how dare you question ze Masterpiece! It will be ze world’s greatest project.

This is an outrage! I am ze ultimate architect of ze universe. Si, si, there is no comparison! Ze insolence will not be tolerated. No no no no no no

By: pk

pk — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 13:40:23 +0000

Nothing against Calatrava. Good luck to him. He is indeed very experienced -at public sector and institutional work -not speculative gambles. It’s a much different animal.

By: LaLuce

LaLuce — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 04:45:59 +0000

Calatrava is an experienced structural engineer as well as a great architect. He has a good idea how it will be built, while still providing units of the size and type people will buy. Last I saw, the amount people were willing to pay per square foot for this building was in excess of $1,300. As it gets more known, that number could go up more. In any case, the developer will find a way to make money on it. This guy knows what he’s doing… and, as a result we’ll get a piece of true architecture in this city as opposed to the crap condos that are going up on every block that I have no clue why anyone actually buys.

By: The Spire, Formerly Known as the Fordham Spire at ChitownLiving

The Spire, Formerly Known as the Fordham Spire at ChitownLiving — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 22:49:36 +0000

[...] Get the full Spire scoop over at YoChicago. [...]

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 22:43:20 +0000

It is a stunning, elegant design and would be a worthy new icon of the city. Nearly anything the human imagination can imagine could physically be built with unlimited resources or a centrallly-planned economy. However, as resources are clearly finite, and thankfully this is a free market supply-and-demand based economy, this tower needs to be able to make an economic return for the developer. This is kindof how it works here. Great initial vision may be a necessity for the production of an architecturally great skyscraper, however great vision won’t get it built – only a vigorously vetted financial pro-forma will do that. Jack – you say “if it was not viable shelbourne would not have bought it”. That’s a fairly ridiculous statement. Look at Shelbourne’s website – go ahead, examing their portfolio of real estate developments and acquisitions. Does it appear that their previous experience in any way would prepare them for what is proposed as potentially the most ambitious and risky megaproject in Chicago history? Of course not!! Everyday, experienced and successful real estate developers and investors, as well as investors across every financial asset class that exists make the wrong call, the wrong bet, the foolish move that lose $ millions, if not $billions. We’ll see how this deal ends up, but it’s highly likely that given the evolving risk-return profile of this project, the basic design will not, in fact, remain intact.

By: jack

jack — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 22:02:26 +0000

I wouldn’t call taking the effort to actually design a decent building instead of the normal crap put up in this city a waste of volumne. it might not happen exactly as designed, but the basic design will remain intact. if it was not viable shelbourne would not have bought it.

By: pk

pk — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 21:56:09 +0000

No one said it’s impossible, merely impractical. A long span cantilever has incredible thickness whether it’s steel or concrete. That’s a lot of material and a lot of incredibly expensive waisted volume. This isn’t some government boondogle. It’s needs to pencil out financially.

By: jack

jack — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 21:40:02 +0000

there will not be columns in many units as someone described. the whole structure will essentially be cantleevered off a circulation core at the center. that is the only way to allow every floor plate to rotate. It has been done before and the reason it is not ridiculed coming from calatrava is that being an engineer his projects are always well thought out and designed to work unlike many of the local people in the city. It is not as simple as a box, but it is not impossible to build.

By: John

John — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 21:29:15 +0000

From the angle provided in the picture, the spire reminds me of San Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid — only taller and after being run through a giant threading nut.