wolverine

Yeah it's amazing how varied the windows are. That really takes a lot of patience. The penthouse looks incredibly realistic too.

It's depressing to lose the headquarters title for a company that has been in Michigan for over 100 years, but that's business. Our state is in difficult position of balancing a budget that requires raising taxes, especially on businesses and corporations, however this creates an economic climate that is unsuitable for large companies like Comerica. Their areas of growth are occuring down south, so from their viewpoint, it makes sense to move. We won't be losing too many jobs. Like any bank, they operate regional offices, so jobs will remain, but still it sucks to lose Comerica has a home grown company in the state of Michigan. It was also the largest bank in Michigan. I feel it's only a matter of time before Comerica gets eaten up by some other bank, so maybe this is just an early end for Michigan's claim on this corporation.

Downtown Detroit is doing well for a city of its size, although it could use a few larger companies. Typical class A office vacancies are low, but there is space available here and there throughout the CBD. Basically its average in comparison to other cities. However, there is a lot of vacancies in class B or lower buildings. Many of them are being converted into more suitable uses like residential, while a few others remain abandoned. While downtown Detroit is pretty stable, the rest of the city is a different story. But the suburbs are doing well, although Michigan's recent economic recession has resulted in some office vacancies and a cooling of the housing market.

Wonderful. One thing Maxis failed at was creating buildings with zero setbacks on each side. I love these wall to wall buildings to create realistic DENSE cities.

I wish my renders would look that good. I have no clue how those people do all that lighting stuff. I can't even get daylight to look right. I wish there was tutorial out there on how to make the lighting look professional. Then again, I guess this is why there are trained professionals to do this stuff.

I think it looks great. Nice work!

Originally posted by: marcszar As you're laying out your portfolio in InDesign/Illustrator/etc, remember to limit your use of graphics other than the content you're presenting. If there's anything reviewers/architects hate, it's glitzy graphics surrounding the presentation material, since they take attention away from your work. Simple sans-serif fonts for titles/descriptions and maybe a black line/bar or two separating text from images should be enough for your portfolio layout. Ghosted background images, fancy fonts and graphics, too many colors, etc are big no-nos. I didn't consider all of this when I had to submit my portfolio for architecture, but I made it somehow. (I'm a second-year student now.)quote> Excellent points

I discussed the matter with Jason about him applying to the University of Michigan. I'm graduating from the program this year, but I was on part of the admissions board last year reviewing portfolios, although I'm not this year because I don't have time. Jason won't be formulating a full fledged proposal, rather a creative suggestion for the Statler block. He will be assembling BASIC ideas of structure, egress, massing, facade, and programatic layout. It doesn't have to get into the real technical stuff, just logical placement office/residential space, lobbies, bathrooms etc. The reason why he is doing it is to present his abilities to the admissions board in the realm of technical drawing and design through a variety of mediums, like AutoCAD, 3ds, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. The admissions board will not downplay any project. They'll take anything from a painting of a sunset, to a detailed and annotated wall section. It's all about your creative and technical abilities that will show you are capable of success in the program. I know the community here will not like this, but Jason I'd officially take a break from the BAT (which it looks like you've already done) until you get your portfolio in. The time goes fast! Additionally, I'd be interested in seeing your layout when you start putting it together. To ensure the office gets it, I'll ask you to turn it in live in person. It's better this way since they've lost stuff.

Looks excellent! There were many seed companies and mills around SE Michigan prior to the massive industrialization that took over. Ann Arbor was a booming agricultural center back in the day. Most of the original buildings in the city center remain, but have been converted into lofts, office, or entertainment space. I noticed the Millenium club recently repainted/restored the flour sign on the side of the building. That wall has now kept the same painted logos for almost 100 years! I'm glad it hasn't changed since.

^ No kidding. Jason, your map looks very realistic of Detroit in 2050. The whole city will be demolished by then. I kid.

It was a seed company I think. I'm going to have to dig around for those photos.

Looks good, I walked past that building yesterday.

^ Thank God. Thank you cecil. Finally someone around here with the same taste in music as me. I like your sig too. I got Common's album poster framed up in my apartment And my other two favorites I bought from OkayPlayer As for what I'm listening to now, it's on iTunes pictured to the left. Representing my local rapper Obie Trice.

I was just looking at the list and noticed the old GM headquarters. I forgot that was being BATed! I think baldy is pretty busy these days though. The upper levels don't seem all that tough to BAT, but the bottom levels are a different story.

Shall we post a list of all works that have been in progress...or lost. or will be in progress someday in the future. Oh the list is so long. Anyone remember barrysandersproject.com? That site was actually looking pretty good, but never got finished, and the bills didn't get paid. lol

^ Great photo effects cecil Here's a picture of me studying all night. Typically I wouldn't do this at the beginning of the semester, but everyone in our apartment building had to move out the day before because someone accidentally mixed bleach and drain-o (creates nerve gas which will kill you) There's still a light scent of chloramine fumes in air. EDIT: now you know where I got my avatar from.

Woooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah............................. Amazing!

True. But to be honest, I'm not sure how long the shutters stayed on the windows following the riots. They could have remained until Motown Records moved to LA. I'm interested to see what the lower level looked like shortly after the buildings construction, but I'm having a difficult time finding images of the building after it was completed.

Very nice! I know we've talked about having this building in the game for some time. Yeah, the incline is pretty subtle. But isn't the whole lobby level? I believe there's a large base it sits on that compensates for the elevatioin change. So technically the building actually sits level. I have a few nice shots of the roof of this building. The mechanical penthouse has an appearance that it is floating which you can't see form the ground all that well. It's also up to you whether you intend to put the Bank 1 or Chase logo on it. If you are going to scale the current facade up vertically, go no more than 5-6% It's pretty close based on zoomed in areial photos.

Yeah definitely leave out the garage doors. You can see on the second story, there's a window mullion near the top. I would model the 1st floor windows just like the 2nd story windows. You can see they put the garage door "barrel" just above where that mullion would go. BTW, those metal doors were installed I believe just after the riots. I think that's about the only clue I have to dating the above photo. There's some good pictures of the back on flickr I think. I also have one from the freeway. I can try and dig it up for you this weekend.

Excellent work on the tower, nofunk. The ribs look great, but I'm sure there are better people here to answer to that. I like that you are doing the motown records buildings and sanders. Both were excellent Detroit landmarks For those who don't know, the loss of these two buildings is absolutely horrifying. Both were integral to Detroit history. They gained just a few parking spaces, yet there were hundreds of acres of open space behind them. The mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick thought they were unslightly. Why he chose to have them demoed, I don't know. Many great artists recorded music in that building during its heyday... the supremes, Steve Wonder, Jackson Five, and Marvin Gaye. It symbolized a groundbreaking shift in music, and was a great part of Detroit's black history. Next door was the headquarters for Sanders Confections. It also housed their prime Candy Store. Another huge part of Detroit history lost. During the demolition, people watched as valuable signed records and documents flew out windows and were scattered across the nearby freeway. Demolition was highly questionable as the buildings contained asbestos, and there was a risk of it becoming airborn. There were also unsafe dust clouds that spread across the freeway that made visibility for drivers difficult. Both were architecturally beautiful. The Donovan Building was designed by famous architect, Albert Kahn. Both were also in excellent structural condition, and their facades were in tact. Renovation would have not been costly as other abandoned structures. I tried to get in and retreive valuable documents just before the demo crew moved in. To prevent people from doing the same, they welded shut all of the doors. I had pried off a board on the lower level, but I got caught throwing a cinder block through a glass window. I was immediately asked to leave the property. I couldn't be around the site during demo because I had to work, so I wasn't able to pick anyting up valuable unfortunately. Anything I would have retreived I would have dontated to the Detroit Historical Museum, so don't take me for a criminal! But sometimes you have to overstep the law to do good.

Man, it's been quiet on the BSP front. FYI, I've still been working on Ford Field, just a bit slower. I have some left over business to take care of with work, and I'm nearing the end of the application process for graduate school. I was putting together my portfolio which I will be submitting to the admissions committee soon when I came across this: I had never really thought of using it in the BAT, but I suppose I could. The only problem is that this building has no back to it. I'd be willing to carry through on this one since it might not take a significant amount of work to finish. BTW, JasonCW, give me the okay when you are ready to take on retexturing that warehouse in Toledo I created. I hope for it to be an angled lot.

Gawd, I'm such a minority here in my tastes of music Talib Kweli - The new Liberation album

Congrats guys! Hey, there's even a bit of a shoutout to Ann Arbor in there!