04 February 2008

Old and New Foundations at SCPA

 

Partial old stone foundation in the foreground, near the sidewalk and the new concrete foundations for the basement classrooms of the new SCPA.

I have met many older people who said they went to school at a building on this corner. I think the old school was torn down in the 1950's.

I don't like how much wasted space there is between the new basement wall and the sidewalk. City buildings should generally come right up to the sidewalk IMO.

UPDATE:
Below are two drawings of the SCPA under construction. First is a roof top view site plan which demonstrates that the design turns away from the park and fronts both the school entry and the theater entry on Central Parkway. However not only is the north side ruined, notice also that a parking lot is located at 12th and Race and a very wide loading dock driveway and door is located on the Elm Street side, thus ruining 3 out of the four sides.

 


The beautiful view the new SCPA offers people at 12th and Race:
 


This design just makes me want to cry.

4 comments:

Radarman said...

You can expect a truly undistinguished building that disregards its surroundings sneers at the environment in general. The designers are Indianapolis architects picked for political correctness rather than ability. An example of their wretched work is the Hays school at Court and Cutter which looks like a cross between a penitentiary and an arsenal.

CityKin said...

I have not studied the plans for the new SCPA as I should have, but from the small drawings I saw on a website and the construction so far, I believe you may be correct.

Kevin LeMaster said...

Horrid.

Radarman, you are dead on about Hays. That doesn't look like a place to educate children. Where the hell are the windows? Are we preparing these kids for life in prison? What kind of message does that send?

You used "penitentiary" and "arsenal". I always thought it looked like an oversized township maintenance shed.

CityKin said...

Cole and Russel the local architect have a mixed record also. One project of theirs that is a collection of mistakes is the new townhouses on Jefferson Avenue, just north of Cory.