The Marriott Hotel in River North has enlisted Studio Gang to help spruce up its outdated ballroom space on Michigan Avenue. A lone rendering of the project was posted at Skyscraper Page by none other than spyguy. Gang has crafted a luminous, flower-shaped ballroom perched atop the hotel that would preside dramatically over the corner of Ohio and Michigan. The design goes a long way toward improving the existing building's interaction with street level, though we'd still like to see additional fenestration on the floors above. Cue the local community group, SOAR, which laid out some of its misgivings with the proposal in its fall newsletter. Chief among them: the overhangs onto neighboring streets. "We encourage setbacks, not overhangs, over the public way. Overhangs contribute to a closed-in feeling on The Avenue, blocking light and vistas for everyone to enjoy," the newsletter goes on to say. Other quibbles: too much light emanating from the ballroom to nearby buildings and potentially disruptive lane closures required for construction. SOAR did go on to praise the inclusion of a green roof and the overall creativity of the design. Let's hope it doesn't end up getting too watered down, as the Mag Mile could certainly use more such avant-garde architecture.
·User spyguy at Skyscraperpage.com [SSP.com]
·SOAR Fall Newsletter 2012 [SOAR]
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