Buffalo Rising Online

Right on Al-alo

Whoa! Is there any more info on that rendering? Is that calatrava?

If they decide to do it and expect it to bring in people from outside of the region, they better make it first-class and putting it in fortress like grain house ain't going to cut it...

the proposed bulding looks AWESOME btw...

Wow - kind of impressed

Buffalo has the tendecy of "screwing up a free lunch" - granted this is not free, but we need this

The building pictured is by Calatrava the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències in Valencia, Spain - its not a rendering

I didn't see "lawsuit filed" in the timeline. Was this just an oversight?

Thanks for the reality check RealityCheck. I'm sort of bummed now though.

Id like to see the same momentum for a new convention center at the Ohio Basin, for the bicycle museum, for the move of the Niagara Aerospace Museum to Buffalo, to the Presidential (Cleveland, Fillmore, McKinley & Roosevelt) Museums and the reconstruction of key historical narratives of our great city like LaSalles Griffon, Perrys Navy Command Ship defending the Great Lakes, Fort Porter, etc.

I hate to be negative (no really), but I think there is something intellectually dishonest about using an image of another institution's existing building in one's publicity. No one would be more thrilled to see a Calatrava building in Buffalo than I would, so I am happy that someone at BWEC has the sensibility to steal this design instead of something else, but this doesn't bode well for this enterprise.

I really wish that BR would make it clear when a site plan or any sort of rendering is either not the project itself or is merely conceptual. I know that in this case the pilfered design come directly from BWE but it seems like posters on here are always confused as to what is and what is not an actual project rendering.

well if they are in the beginning stages of a program development it doesn't hurt to get ideas about the class and quality of world renowned buildings to apur peoples interests and have some ideas researched before hiring an architect. If they put up the a pictures of a grain silo, or some bland museum they wouldn't get the same kind of feeling. Obviously the views from waters edge are some of the strongest weather related views you can get. Storms fronts, the gusts of wind and snow whipping over the ice etc etc This building, while not their design, is hinting at the kind of structure that they might invision once they have a better understanding of what needs to happen and where.

I would only call it dishonest if they didn't somewhere on the original banner post where the building is and the architect.

Yes. Items like a pirated rendering lend suspicion to the 'breakneck pace' described in the article. It is absolutely imparitive that this center become the premier venue of its kind. No doubt other cities (New Orleans) are working on similar ideas. Sure the Buffalo Zoo is nice for the people who live here, but the San Diego zoo actually draws tourists (who may not be interested in 1920's architecture) from other states.

Hi sbrof. I don't disagree that it is fine to get an idea of what something might look like as long as it is very clear that the rendering presented is conceptual. Over and over people get into these long discussions about site plans or a design that isn't even being considered for a certain project. It is great to stimulate discussion and interest but people should really know the actual state of affairs. I may have missed something but I don't see anything on the BWE flyer saying that this design is for a museum somewhere else.

Finally, I like this design but I think Calatrava is a little overdone these days. He is like Michael Graves and his Target housewares. Overdone and not terribly cutting edge any longer....

The fact that the image is not a rendering or proposed design for the museum and is in fact an image of an already built museum should have been disclosed - as presented it was highly misleading as evidenced by the reactions of fellow readers above. As far as Calatrava goes, I agree with Texpat he's a bit overdone and also I'm sure overpriced maybe we could find someone of Toshiko Mori's caliber for the design!

Texpat and RealityCheck are right on.

also, an open design competition could be nice. It would generate publicity, educate the Buffalo public about the state of architecture, and produce a wide range of innovative proposals for a highly qualified jury to choose from.

I don't really care much for this idea. I'd rather see a group trying to put together funding for a world class aquarium on the waterfront.

Say good bye to the Buffalo Museum of Science...

a building remenicent of snow drifts would be grand ;)

This a cool unique idea. Especially with eveyone talking about global warming/extreme weather these days.

Could sponsership/naming rights from say "The Weather Channel" or Discovery Channel be obtained?

In anyways could this be tied in to local universities (UB's earthquake center) etc?

This is a great idea. We need to capitalize on what we have. We all know Buffalo has weather.

This would be an oustanding attraction on the waterfront. Imagine a room that simulates a blizzard. You put on your winter gear, enter the room and BAM, a blizzard.

Al Roker would have a blast! :)

GET IT DONE!

So I don't really get the why the people from BWEC decided to use the top picture (picture of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències in Valencia, Spain) sort of in a random fashion. Do they really think people in Buffalo are that stupid to think that this is some sort of a "suggested plan" for the weather museum? Have they even contacted the architect for his permission to use the photograph without identifying it properly? This whole endeavor, in my opinion, looks like a highly amateurish production poorly organized by a highly unqualified group of people.

This is just %$#$%^& stupid!

I just wish that Buffalo could be as forward thinking technologically in private sector industry as we are backward looking preservationists. Dont get me wrong, I think there is alot to save, restore and reconstruct but there is also alot of modernity to learn, embrace and apply as well.