New Haven Independent

Posted by: Eastshoreguy | May 27, 2008 3:35 PM

Nice dress the hospital CEO is wearing. Somewhere out there, there is a 1968 Volkswagen missing it's seat covers.

Or perhaps she is going for the whole Texas Mormon wife look. I hear thats all the fashion rage in NYC this year. Check out and you tell me?

http://slog.thestranger.com/files/2008/04/ap_culturedress7_080415_ssh.jpg

Posted by: Anstress Farwell, New Haven Urban Design League | May 27, 2008 5:51 PM

The building is truly head and shoulders above every thing that has been built in this zone for the last 50 years. Kudos to Svigals, Behnisch & Partners, and YNHH for this project.

Posted by: facChek | May 27, 2008 6:20 PM

East shore guy,

I agree, but more like a 1968 cadillac.
Lynn Fusco is running a strong second by five years.

Get a wardrobe consultant for the Belmont Stakes, girls.

Posted by: Outtaorder | May 27, 2008 9:15 PM

Here you have two hardworking women who head sizable corporations and the most value you can add to the discusion is to pick on their wardrobes.

Posted by: Beverly Hills 06515 | May 27, 2008 10:48 PM

Those multicolored windows will help camouflage the panes that are missing due to random gunfire. Nice touch.

Posted by: Frank Lloyd Right | May 28, 2008 6:24 AM

This building looks like a haemorraging carbunkle. Just walking past it will make me fear catching something that wafts out from its labs. Very clever of the 2 ladies making themselves look like Texan cultists to draw attention away from yet another architectural disaster. Another year or so at this rate of development and New Haven will lose all its character as a unique New England city. It will become just an extension of New Jersey and bad taste. Tony Sopranoland.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | May 28, 2008 10:56 AM

Just plain funny!!!!

But I agree with Frank Lloyd Right that we are really doing a number on the charm of the city. I believe in development and hope for even more (to be honest) but I also think there is a right and wrong way. The exterior of the building like many of Yale's new buildings are lacking what makes new haven so unique. Maybe even so responsible street scape work can save this site.

Posted by: Ned | May 28, 2008 1:01 PM

Why are all of those people wandering aimlessly in the streets? Where are all of the cars?

Posted by: Kyle | May 28, 2008 3:32 PM

I would agree that at first glance the design fits more clearly within the language of contemporary architectural discourse than within the character of New Haven. Do people have strong feelings as to the nature of that character? Could anyone define it?

There is some explanation of the project at http://svigals.com/portfolio_flash.php?ID=63&mID=1&cID=1&proID=1. This architect has done some extraordinary work, as well as designing the FBI building on State Street.

Posted by: dylan | May 28, 2008 3:44 PM

While I'm not always sure what the fascination with colored glass structures is (is the Gold Building on Church Street really something worth emulating?), I'm glad to see the modest hight of the building, along with the loading docks being accessed from underneath the garage via the highway, and the prescription for retail on the first floor.

Not that I don't have faith in Svigals, which I do, but I hope Marna Borgstrom realizes there's more to landing retail and restaurants than just providing a space in a good location. The design at street level is key, and far more than just aesthetic.

Finally, I wish there were a bit of variation on the park street side, at street level at the very least. 270 feet is mighty long, and could get very dull (of course it's better than what's there now), considering most buildings on chapel street are between 20 and 50 feet wide.

That said, I'm thrilled to see this break ground. Let's hope those working the lab can walk to work.

Posted by: dylan | May 28, 2008 4:37 PM

Kyle,

Agreed about the contemporary nature of this design. As for the nature of that character, I guess I'd have to be harsh and generally call it inhuman facelessness. But perhaps I'm showing my biases too much.

More to the point, I know the FBI building on State Street has one its share of accolades, But is it really that wonderful? What does it do for the passerby (that is, assuming one would want to walk by it in the first place)? Ironically enough, I don't think one even feels safe walking by the FBI building. Much of contemporary architecture has forgotten how it relates to the public realm, which is any successful city's greatest asset, not the buildings that reside in it. Pat Pinnell spoke at one of the Wine Dine Designs about how buildings relate to human proportion, and that is really what has been lost on much modern architecture and why it so often comes up short.

Posted by: nfjanette | May 28, 2008 6:46 PM

...and completes the legacy of the mayor's tenure as destroyer of rational traffic flow that would have bypassed the very intersection at which the Yale med student was killed. By allowing this and, more so, the Pfizer building on the other side of the street, all traffic passing from the highway to the west must contest with already high local city traffic full of vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians. Allowing through-traffic to pass under the garage - as originally planned - would have been better for all concerned. Even if such traffic entered and exited on the very next block (current Pfizer location), it would have removed the speedway effect from the critical intersections at Park and York streets.

Posted by: -fairhavener- | May 28, 2008 9:07 PM

I agree with nfjanette.

Also, I don't know too much about about clothes fashion, but I know a great deal about architecture and architectural fashion and I have to say that that building (rendering) already looks 20+ years dated and it isn't even built.

And, as someone already pointed out, I like how there are so many people depicted walking about, but not a single car in one of the busiest of vehicular arteries. As if a rendering is going to change reality. Oh, that's right, it's publicity.

Architects take note:

GENERAL NOTE:
If you are going to go modern or Modern, go for it. Don't wish washy copy some thing that was only kind of cool twenty plus years ago when you were in school. If you ain't got what it takes, stick with historical replication.

Posted by: anon | May 28, 2008 11:24 PM

NFJanette, if you dumped the speedway effect out on Howe Street instead of where it currently goes (onto York, where it has been going for the past 50 years), you would achieve the following two things:

1) Dump the problem onto someone else's neighborhood.

2) Forever ensure that the areas at Howe/Dwight and Frontage remain empty lots (instead of the $100 million of development about to break ground there this summer), since nobody would want to build there ever again.

3) Eliminate the possibility for new development along Park Street (e.g., the $150 million dollars of completed or in-construction buildings along that street).

The solution isn't to build more highways. It is to get rid of Route 34 altogether, and create streets that put people first again. Visit newhavensafestreets.org, I don't see how anyone could be opposed to the points they are calling for.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | May 29, 2008 1:00 PM

Ned
To funny I thought the same thing....and ohhh I want to live there it looks like pleasantville.

I drive by the site everyday...one positive I do have to say is the building is hiding that god ugly looking hospital building.

Posted by: nfjanette | May 29, 2008 8:54 PM

NFJanette, if you dumped the speedway effect out on Howe Street instead of where it currently goes (onto York, where it has been going for the past 50 years), you would achieve the following two things:

1) Dump the problem onto someone else's neighborhood.

I disagree; the problem is created when the volume of through traffic intersects with the local city/med-school/hospital traffic.

2) Forever ensure that the areas at Howe/Dwight and Frontage remain empty lots (instead of the $100 million of development about to break ground there this summer), since nobody would want to build there ever again.

Obviously not true since Pfizer and the hospital built on lots in an even worse traffic situation per my description above.

3) Eliminate the possibility for new development along Park Street (e.g., the $150 million dollars of completed or in-construction buildings along that street).

Same answer as above. Can you offer any proof of your assertions?

The solution isn't to build more highways. It is to get rid of Route 34 altogether, and create streets that put people first again. Visit newhavensafestreets.org, I don't see how anyone could be opposed to the points they are calling for.

I didn't suggest more highways, but rather better management of the interface between the existing connector road and the major artery that carries traffic to and from sections west of downtown. The ideas put forth to dump connector traffic onto local streets is foolish and contrary to the living proof we currently suffer with in the current implementation.

Let's be clear: the same current volume of traffic - or more - is going to pass through this area to and from points west. Do you really want that traffic hanging around idling at traffic lights and snarling even more intersections? That doesn't seem like an improvement to me!

Posted by: Esbe | May 29, 2008 9:10 PM

Oh, my God, Anstress Farwell of New Haven Urban Design League likes a proposed building! I always hoped that I would live long enough to hear that.

As for me, like some others I think it looks like "old-fashioned modern," but I then again am not very up-to-date on this stuff -- maybe it is retro-hip.

Posted by: -fairhavener- | May 29, 2008 9:52 PM

"Obviously not true since Pfizer and the hospital built on lots in an even worse traffic situation per my description above." nfjanette

I was going to say the same thing. I'm glad I waited and let you defend that position. The whole thing is a mess. They should have put the connector in a channel through the center and built over it all the way to the Blvd. I can't believe no one ever thought of that. Who could turn down such a good solution?

Regarding the building, "...maybe it is retro-hip." esbe

Hardly.

Posted by: bugupit | May 29, 2008 10:40 PM

Fairhavener: I have seen the plans of what was to be constructed, the project for which the Oak Street neighborhood was torn down. I believe the garage was built to accomodate the road underneath. Rt 34 was to go under the garage and angle up to street level about one block west of the garage. The $tate project never got built.
(or perhaps I am mistaken, perhaps the garage was built after this highway plan was abandoned -- but I think not...) That's right, duh, why do we call it the "Air Rights Garage"? Because the state had the right to build the highway underneath. I believe the land was transferred to local control a long time ago.

Posted by: anon | May 30, 2008 7:48 AM

Those of you wanting an underground "channel" highway all the way out to Derby have no conception of how much it costs to build (and maintain) highways like that. The bill for less than one mile of depressed highway at I-95 on Long Wharf (which carries much more traffic than CT34) came out to $500 million. Which is why they aren't doing it.

Posted by: robn | May 30, 2008 8:41 AM

The mayor has signed onto the UDL's cockamaimie plan to tear down the connector and replace it with a surface road.... anything that makes local traffic back-ups worse will be something they use to justify this pork-barrel project. With a surface road, the high volume of connector traffic coming in from I-91 will back up even worse than now and that back-up will spill into East Rock neighborhood. Thanks a lot UDL! You're effectively trashing the future of one of New Haven's best neighborhoods.

Posted by: Edward_H | May 30, 2008 9:19 AM

NED
Why are all of those people wandering aimlessly in the streets? Where are all of the cars?

No one can afford the 12$ per gallon gas will cost by time this is completed.

Posted by: anon | May 30, 2008 2:37 PM

NFJanette, some responses to the three points you made above,

1) Wrong. The problem is still dumped on someone else's neighborhood. If you moved the off ramp, the off ramp would be at Howe or Dwight instead of at York. People live there too.

2) Wrong. Pfizer and the Park Street Bldg were feasible because they are across from the hospital, linked by pedestrian bridge. Buildings at Howe and Dwight would not benefit from that kind of proximity. Also, did you actually look at the plans for an off ramp at Howe/Dwight? It was planned to take up the entire block. That means that development on that huge parcel would have been impossible.

3) Wrong. Those buildings along the former connector right of way would be much more expensive if you had to platform over a highway in order to build them. And the point of the Park Street Building is that there is a huge underground pharmacy with a loading dock for the entire hospital. If the highway ran through there, that situation would not have been possible.

Posted by: Ned | May 30, 2008 3:50 PM

ROBN: "connector traffic coming in from I-91 will back up even worse than now and that back-up will spill into East Rock neighborhood." Unfortunately, that is already the case. I91 exit 6, Willow St., is the new 34 expressway. Canner and Cold Spring are also affected.

Unfortunately, wealthy suburbanites are not affected by the price of gas, nor are they burdened with traffic noise and pollution (except in as much as the atmosphere is "shared" by everyone). Here's a project for the mayor - find a way to charge tolls at I91 / I95 exits in New Haven, sell a[n] (expensive) pass for using certain exits during rush hours, or maybe change exit 6 to a carpool only exit (3 or more people per vehicle) during morning commute hours. Station a cop/plate reader/ Violator van at the Willow St. exit ramp and start writing tickets for any infraction that would generate revenue for the city. Stop building parking garages - there's no future in it. Connecticut's transit policy is seemingly hopeless - "nuke and pave".

Posted by: anon | May 30, 2008 10:09 PM

Ned, with enough momentum at the grassroots level, those situations can be changed. If citizens just plain stop accepting the current situation, without backing down, it can change. Sign the safe streets petition new haven and get everyone you know, including your aldermen, to come out in support of it.