The "South Area" has been bricked and the wall is starting to look like a stadium or Coliseum. The trees that remain to the south are leafing out and are blocking the view of the wall better than I thought they would. So far it looks OK but they have yet to add the electric rigging. I try to remind myself in most places a substation would be surrounded by a cyclone fence.
The BWL put up some of the first poles for the substation. They may be the tallest part of the station and they are tall, I would say at least 8 stories. There is a bit of an old stone wall near the new steam pipes just to the south on the river bank where they cut down all the trees. It may have been part of the Jenison house's[the house the moved up to become The Scott Center] garden. In 100 years that site has gone from a beautiful residential neighborhood to a totally industrial site. If anyone would like to see the old wall you can see it from the River Trail, you better do it now if you want to see it, it is near their steam pipes so they will probably destroy it soon.
Seems like the wall is about finished and the rigging inside looks like a supersized mad scientist's laboratory. A lot of the structure is visible above the wall, perhaps when they plant the trees that will help in the summer anyway. I guess it could look a whole lot worse but it is a substation and still looks like one.
Yeah, there was no realistic way to make this look good, just ways to make it look less bad. The only bright side I can see is that a substations usable life isn't terribly long and changes in the way the grid works may make it obsolete even sooner. At that point it would make for a nice redevelopment opportunity to link downtown and REO Town.
That is a good thought, right now I think the wall already looks like a stadium or ballpark it actually reminds me a bit of Fenway Park, so it is interesting to think ahead to what could be the next phase of that corner's history.
So, they broke ground on the new gas-fired power plant that will replace the coal-fired Erickson and Eckert plants. And we're finally given it's name: Delta Energy Park.
The Great Wall now has a Green Wall too. The BWL recently planted one of the wall sides on the western edge with a nice looking display of plants forming a sort of modern painting done with flowers. The whole project is looking good although they have planted fewer trees than I would like to see and they are small. It will be a long time before they throw any shade on the sidewalks. That used to be one of the best things about that part of S. Washington when you finally got to walk in the shade. They have placed a number of plaques noting what used to be there around the wall, that seems kind of ironic to me.
I took a look at the new substation project yesterday and I found it pretty nice. The walk to the sunken garden is shade covered with a wide sidewalk going slightly uphill with nice lighting above and below. The windows where they say you can get a peek at the electric works inside are too high to really "peek" through, that's OK I didn't want to see the rigging anyway.
The garden looks good on its new hilltop, it does seem kind of strange to see the garden wall reconstructed so exactly out there in the sunshine with no trees around. The view up the river is nice [the GM lot will be covered from view by trees soon] and feels very high above the other bank. The garden was just planted so it will be a while before it looks like the old garden. The walk leads right to the Cooley Gardens, that the garden will see a lot more visitors and the green art wall on the western wall is really cool. I think they could have planted more trees in number and maturity but that is about the only negative thing I noted. I will use this walk as a new route downtown crossing at Capitol Ave. In all, not so bad considering what could have been built up there.
I think given the circumstances it hasn't turned out horribly. The equipment being visible over the wall is nowhere near as jarring as I thought it would be and the whole thing seems fairly well done. I still think it's a poor location for a substation but they did about as well with the design as I could expect them to on a realistic budget.
It is the highest bank on the north side of the river a building of any height would have been prominent on the skyline. [if they had to build something there] maybe the proposed hotel across the street will add to the skyline from the same hill.
Comments
The "South Area" has been bricked and the wall is starting to look like a stadium or Coliseum. The trees that remain to the south are leafing out and are blocking the view of the wall better than I thought they would. So far it looks OK but they have yet to add the electric rigging. I try to remind myself in most places a substation would be surrounded by a cyclone fence.
The BWL put up some of the first poles for the substation. They may be the tallest part of the station and they are tall, I would say at least 8 stories. There is a bit of an old stone wall near the new steam pipes just to the south on the river bank where they cut down all the trees. It may have been part of the Jenison house's[the house the moved up to become The Scott Center] garden. In 100 years that site has gone from a beautiful residential neighborhood to a totally industrial site. If anyone would like to see the old wall you can see it from the River Trail, you better do it now if you want to see it, it is near their steam pipes so they will probably destroy it soon.
Seems like the wall is about finished and the rigging inside looks like a supersized mad scientist's laboratory. A lot of the structure is visible above the wall, perhaps when they plant the trees that will help in the summer anyway. I guess it could look a whole lot worse but it is a substation and still looks like one.
Yeah, there was no realistic way to make this look good, just ways to make it look less bad. The only bright side I can see is that a substations usable life isn't terribly long and changes in the way the grid works may make it obsolete even sooner. At that point it would make for a nice redevelopment opportunity to link downtown and REO Town.
That is a good thought, right now I think the wall already looks like a stadium or ballpark it actually reminds me a bit of Fenway Park, so it is interesting to think ahead to what could be the next phase of that corner's history.
So, they broke ground on the new gas-fired power plant that will replace the coal-fired Erickson and Eckert plants. And we're finally given it's name: Delta Energy Park.
The Great Wall now has a Green Wall too. The BWL recently planted one of the wall sides on the western edge with a nice looking display of plants forming a sort of modern painting done with flowers. The whole project is looking good although they have planted fewer trees than I would like to see and they are small. It will be a long time before they throw any shade on the sidewalks. That used to be one of the best things about that part of S. Washington when you finally got to walk in the shade. They have placed a number of plaques noting what used to be there around the wall, that seems kind of ironic to me.
I took a look at the new substation project yesterday and I found it pretty nice. The walk to the sunken garden is shade covered with a wide sidewalk going slightly uphill with nice lighting above and below. The windows where they say you can get a peek at the electric works inside are too high to really "peek" through, that's OK I didn't want to see the rigging anyway.
The garden looks good on its new hilltop, it does seem kind of strange to see the garden wall reconstructed so exactly out there in the sunshine with no trees around. The view up the river is nice [the GM lot will be covered from view by trees soon] and feels very high above the other bank. The garden was just planted so it will be a while before it looks like the old garden. The walk leads right to the Cooley Gardens, that the garden will see a lot more visitors and the green art wall on the western wall is really cool. I think they could have planted more trees in number and maturity but that is about the only negative thing I noted. I will use this walk as a new route downtown crossing at Capitol Ave. In all, not so bad considering what could have been built up there.
It is the highest bank on the north side of the river a building of any height would have been prominent on the skyline. [if they had to build something there] maybe the proposed hotel across the street will add to the skyline from the same hill.