OnTheCusp.org

Never mind... it might have balconies!

The Star has another article this morning on the city's decision to choose the JW Marriott hotel development over the proposal for the InterContinental. I guess all of us bloggers and editorialists can be happy now. Ted Evanoff, reporter for the Indianapolis Star talked with Jon Coddington, head of Ball State University's architecture school, who said "One doesn't necessarily have to have good architecture. It just needs to be distinctive architecture." He later goes on to say, "If it is brick, the windows can be recessed a bit. This looks better. You can have balconies. That engages one's imagination. You can stand in the street and look up and imagine what it's like to be in a room looking over the river."

How dreamy!!! We may actually be able to stand in the street and imagine what it might be like inside! That sounds soooo AWESOME.

But wait, that's not all. Coddington goes on to say that they could even plant flowers and shrubs and give it even more of a sense of being a 'special place'.

I can see the new promotional material now. "Mr. Big Businessman, bring your convention to Indianapolis. We've got new shrubbery!"

All of this exciting news still fails to answer the key questions:

• Why are we compromising on exciting design (that is happening in cities all around Indianapolis - read article for some specifics) to finish construction before the 2010 Final Four when we have had numerous Final Fours here over the past 10 to 15 years that have all been very successful?
• Why would the Marriott, according to Ruth Holladay's inside source, hastily throw together a proposal that could be worth upwards of $250 million and involve around $50 million of city money?

But seriously, who really cares. According to Steven Mannheimer, professor of informatics at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and former architecture critic for The Indianapolis Star, "The proliferation of electronic media has made our culture increasingly an interior culture. My students live their life through computer screens rather than walking around a public square."

So why go outside at all? Maybe if there was more interesting things to look at in this city I would actually stop blogging and start looking!

In defense of the Marriott, I am pretty certain the sources sited above were those of the Star and not people the developers put up to defend their decisions. Should the Marriott team want a venue to express their side, you are welcome to do it here on OtC. If myself and other like-minded individuals are going to call Indy a home for the foreseeable future, I really, really want to be on your side.