Bridge Park, April 2018

City planners either (1) have not read the work of Christopher Alexander, or (2) have read it and disregarded it.
I was eager to sketch the stages of this development early on. As it took form, my interest waned. Could not the investment have purchased a bit of beauty?

Wish List: Roger Scruton’s The Aesthetics of Architecture.
Update: How to Build A Skyline at Human Scale, by Roger Scruton.

Bridge Park construction

The purple column has been covered with a brown material, allowing the yellow and green to be clearly heard. I wonder if the varied colors of these materials signifies something.

The skeleton of a building in the foreground has appeared. The buildings across the river, to the left, are taking definite shape in pale blue.

Much of the Bridge Park development is being built on the grounds of the old Bash Recreation golf course. I had the privilege of meeting Herbert Bash, Sr.,  in the late 70's.
******

Watercolor pencil, wet and dry, over watercolor. Still working in the Pentallic Nature Sketch journal. 

Had a great visit to Plaza Art's Kenwood store, in Cincinnati, yesterday. Wonderful prices, coupons, and selection. Friendly staff know their stock.

Bridge Park

Another hurried sketch of part of the Bridge Park construction. The windows in the near end seem to have glass now.

At first, I thought: they could not pay me enough to go up in that crane.  Then I thought: I wonder how much it would take?

Bridge Park construction

You can now see a building rising across the river, below the horizon trees on the left.

A few weeks ago, large trees sprang up in the new median and along the road; streetlights appeared. These hundreds of condos and apartments are aimed at single people and couples, including empty nesters, who want a walkable neighborhood with eateries and a park nearby.

I hope the construction and increased population density don't harm the river's ecosystem.

Bridge Park construction

The tall gray elevator shafts have grown wings of purple. The intersection roundabout will open next weekend.  Trees in "alligator bags" have suddenly appeared in the median and the middle of the roundabout. The orange barrels are slowly fading away.

Bridge Park towers, mid-June

"There is abundant evidence to show that high buildings make people crazy." 

Alexander, Ishikawa, & Silverstein in A Pattern Language, p. 115.

Hotels

An extended-stay hotel is being built on the southwest corner of  Route 161 and Frantz Road. (Salvi's restaurant, formerly on the site, has been torn down.) This is the southern frame of the construction being done.
Looking west, with Embassy Suites in the background.

Bridge Park construction site

A number of buildings are going up on the northeast corner of Route 161 and Riverside Drive, just east of the Scioto River. A roundabout is taking shape southwest of the buildings. The square blue tower going up on the left is actually gray cinder block, continuing upward to four or five stories high. Maybe it will hold the elevator shaft. The building in the middle--behind the eah mover--is dark interior space between white-edged planes of floors and ceilings. The light building to the rear on the right, with outer walls, has made the most progress. The smaller piles of earth have become one large pile off to the eastern edge. The main site is level, lighter soil.  Darker, rough clods tumble down the outer sides.

Do they use GANTT charts for this? If so, how many does it take? How big are they? Just thinking of it is a little overwhelming.

This was an experiment, with watercolor added on site, then color pencil (blended with alcohol) applied at home. The orange plastic fence blurred into the orange and white barrels.  This view may be too complicated for the timeframe I had.  (Previous attempt to sketch.)

Construction, Bridge Park

This scene interests me because the buildings rise, and the piles of dirt move, every day. (It also shows areas for practice and improvement in texture and perspective.) Looking north.