Downtown HDR Corporate Headquarters

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 2:18 pm

Looks great bmt. It will nicely fill out the skyline from that vantage point. I think your rendering is pretty accurate for the impact that the buildings will have.

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 2:18 pm

bmt wrote:I made a model with Sketchup/Google Earth to get a crude look on how these new buildings will impact the skyline.

Here is one view:

Nice job

...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Linkin5 · Post by **Linkin5** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 2:21 pm

bmt wrote:I made a model with Sketchup/Google Earth to get a crude look on how these new buildings will impact the skyline.

Here is one view:

Nice! Can you show any other angles?

Seth · Post by **Seth** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 2:33 pm

skinzfan23 wrote:Wonder why those are the only 2 renderings released. Can we at least get one showing the main portion of the building instead of a side-shot. It is hard to tell if the top south eastern edge rises up taller than the rest of the building.

Since these are early renderings in the pre-construction phase, a lot of the details haven't been ironed out yet, and once they start getting more precise cost estimates, that will affect the final appearance as well. I'd wager that the as-built structure will have this basic size and shape and major architectural features, but that a lot of the details will be different. That's the usual life-cycle for the design of a major structure like this (and often for smaller ones too).

bmt · Post by **bmt** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 2:39 pm

A few different views:

Post by **Brad** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 2:44 pm

Great work bmt!

bmt wrote:A few different views:

Can you show this one again, but a lot lower?

More like this:

Linkin5 · Post by **Linkin5** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 2:44 pm

That is some quality density improvement!

Erik · Post by **Erik** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 2:51 pm

I have been taking a break for a while. I needed to. Ive been too negative recently, so Ive been taking long vacations from these forums so I could re-energize. Besides, I sounded like a real [expletive] and looking back on the messages from the last few months is a bit embarrassing. So it's also a bit of damage control too.

That said. The building is nice. We add a bunch of jobs downtown and Im certain the building will look more impressive than the renderings. It usually does.

So, i like it.

bmt · Post by **bmt** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 3:07 pm

Brad wrote:Great work bmt!

bmt wrote:A few different views:

Can you show this one again, but a lot lower?

More like this:

Sure thing.

mr. omaha · Post by **mr. omaha** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 3:13 pm

Nice work bmt! Not to derail anything here, but how hard would it be to add the old Woodmen of the World building and the never built Marriott hi rise? Strictly out of morbid curiosity....

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 3:17 pm

Excellent bmt!

...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

bmt · Post by **bmt** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 3:17 pm

mr. omaha wrote:Nice work bmt! Not to derail anything here, but how hard would it be to add the old Woodmen of the World building and the never built Marriott hi rise? Strictly out of morbid curiosity....

I'll put it on the to-do list.

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 3:18 pm

Erik wrote:I have been taking a break for a while. I needed to. Ive been too negative recently, so Ive been taking long vacations from these forums so I could re-energize. Besides, I sounded like a real [expletive] and looking back on the messages from the last few months is a bit embarrassing. So it's also a bit of damage control too.

That said. The building is nice. We add a bunch of jobs downtown and Im certain the building will look more impressive than the renderings. It usually does.

So, i like it.

Welcome back Erik

...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Fromaha · Post by **Fromaha** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 3:23 pm

So, based on the rendering and an average floor height, looks like it will be very similar in size to the Double Tree ~ 240'.

Hawkeye · Post by **Hawkeye** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 3:30 pm

FINALLY....another building downtown with an utterly flat, unremarkable rooftop design, replete with lots of right angles.

Whew! For a minute there, Ol' Hawkeye was worried one of the premier commercial architectural design firms in the world would go and do something unique and never-before-seen in Omaha. But alas, fears of an "eccentric" design were thankfully totally unfounded.

Being honest, as one of the few folks on here who has actually worked for a commercial real estate development company...some of the features and functionality of this building will be pretty cool. But here's the thing; except for the HDR folks, no one in town gives two hoots about the LEED-Platinum engineering that will be incorporated into this project.

For 99.99874% of people in the Omaha area....all they'll know is what it looks like. And frankly, it looks pretty much like what you would expect from a mid-rise Omaha building. Straight sides. Flat top. A few token architectural details thrown in to create some modest measure of differentiation, but that will be largely invisible to all but the trained eye.

The Omaha skyline will be more dense once this and Shamrock come to fruition. And that's good. But the skyline is about as close to a real-life, full-scale bar graph as any city in the country. And neither the new Marriott, accompanying Shamrock buildings, nor this HDR structure will do anything to change that overall impression.

But hey, at least our bar graph skyline will be a little wider!

Okay, commence the shouting down.

Erik · Post by **Erik** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 3:40 pm

Hawkeye wrote:FINALLY....another building downtown with an utterly flat, unremarkable rooftop design, replete with lots of right angles.

Whew! For a minute there, Ol' Hawkeye was worried one of the premier commercial architectural design firms in the world would go and do something unique and never-before-seen in Omaha. But alas, fears of an "eccentric" design were thankfully totally unfounded.

Being honest, as one of the few folks on here who has actually worked for a commercial real estate development company...some of the features and functionality of this building will be pretty cool. But here's the thing; except for the HDR folks, no one in town gives two hoots about the LEED-Platinum engineering that will be incorporated into this project.

For 99.99874% of people in the Omaha area....all they'll know is what it looks like. And frankly, it looks pretty much like what you would expect from a mid-rise Omaha building. Straight sides. Flat top. A few token architectural details thrown in to create some modest measure of differentiation, but that will be largely invisible to all but the trained eye.

The Omaha skyline will be more dense once this and Shamrock come to fruition. And that's good. But the skyline is about as close to a real-life, full-scale bar graph as any city in the country. And neither the new Marriott, accompanying Shamrock buildings, nor this HDR structure will do anything to change that overall impression.

But hey, at least our bar graph skyline will be a little wider!

Okay, commence the shouting down.

Was it you that chased the Omaha people from urbandsm? Some real small sibbling behavior going on in the hawkeye state.

PotatoeEatsFish · Post by **PotatoeEatsFish** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 4:08 pm

I actually really like the look of this building. Its elegant and not too bold. Could anyone tell if the parking garage was covered by glass or not?

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 4:11 pm

PotatoeEatsFish wrote:I actually really like the look of this building. Its elegant and not too bold. Could anyone tell if the parking garage was covered by glass or not?

Nothing from the views presented. There will be some kind of exterior finish or trim. Most parking garages downtown at least have that going for them. I hope the garage isn't higher than five floors. It'll look awful if they go with seven like they planned.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 4:15 pm

Also, according to the news release on their website, HDR said the 16 floor count includes basement and roof, if that changes anything...

OutoftheCanyon · Post by **OutoftheCanyon** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 4:41 pm

I'm excited for the infill but it looks like my window blinds.

Post by **Coyote** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 4:57 pm

Thanks bmt!

S33 · Post by **S33** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 5:34 pm

RNcyanide wrote:Also, according to the news release on their website, HDR said the 16 floor count includes basement and roof, if that changes anything...

They counted their roof as a floor, and they call themselves architects?

Erik · Post by **Erik** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 5:36 pm

S33 wrote:
RNcyanide wrote:Also, according to the news release on their website, HDR said the 16 floor count includes basement and roof, if that changes anything...
They counted their roof as a floor, and they call themselves architects?

Lol

S33 · Post by **S33** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 5:40 pm

I think it's very clear that HDR has decided to let some of the other projects in their profile testify for the company's creativity...

And, uh... This is a 14 story building. 14.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 5:59 pm

I wonder if the kids over at Urbandsm are laughing over this.

Spatial77 · Post by **Spatial77** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:00 pm

Well, that explains why, when I counted the floors, I came up with 13 or 14. Even if the roof has a deck on it it does not count as a floor.

S33 · Post by **S33** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:05 pm

The building isn't terrible looking, and I'm sure it will look better in person than in a drab rendering.

With that said, it's definitely not a high rise, and I'm guessing most had higher hopes for this project.

Omaha's problem is that they just don't have the economy/local corporations to build an impressive skyline. It would seem that Omaha would have to rely on private developers who want to invest in the residential market downtown, if anything substantial will ever be built. Also, we're resting on a ledge of another recession, so I wouldn't expect much for for some time in future.

S33 · Post by **S33** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:07 pm

RNcyanide wrote:I wonder if the kids over at Urbandsm are laughing over this.

meh. Their downtown sucks. Sure, their skyline is is larger, but after 5pm, that place is a desolate.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:15 pm

Well, I guess as you and Seth have pointed out, time will tell how it looks in real life.

It kind of looks like on the west end that the ridge pattern continues to the ground. Additionally, it looks as if the ridge pattern itself looks like a shell. If you look at the slats on the thin end of the building, it almost looks like a gap between the ridges and the face of the building. HDR did retrofit project in Sidney, Australia similar to that.

Suggestions from a guy who was an architect in a parallel universe include pulling the overhang up a few floors on the east end and stagger it up a little bit, and to use a mosaic-like pattern of different colored glass like they did on their 1972 campus, however, if they stuck to their super light frosty blue glass like in the rendering, it would be something different downtown...

EDIT: Also, don't forget a nifty lighting scheme. Nifty lighting schemes are awesome

Spatial77 · Post by **Spatial77** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:18 pm

I was in Denver last fall and in the LODO area there was a lot of construction with tower cranes. Four cranes had different color lights that ran the length of the horizontal booms. This would be cool to do in Omaha, especially for the College World Series and the swim trials.

: Blue, Red Green, Purple; 1-25-2016 6-14-21 PM.jpg (35.59 KiB) Viewed 2561 times

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:21 pm

Ha that would be amazing to do.

S33 · Post by **S33** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:22 pm

Spatial77 wrote:I was in Denver last fall and in the LODO area there was a lot of construction with tower cranes. Four cranes had different color lights that ran the length of the horizontal booms. This would be cool to do in Omaha, especially for the College World Series and the swim trials.

1-25-2016 6-14-21 PM.jpg

Way too creative for Omaha

Spatial77 · Post by **Spatial77** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:24 pm

With the Capitol District and HDR it really creates an impressive wall of buildings from the Tom Hanafan River's Edge Park viewpoint.

Spatial77 · Post by **Spatial77** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:30 pm

I wish they could have built I-480 in a tunnel under the Missouri River. Like they did from into Manhattan Island. The skyline would look much more impressive without the Interstate bridge. Maybe in 50 years or so...

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:56 pm

Haha, for all the height obsessed. I present WOWT's image of the rendering.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 7:00 pm

I saw that earlier! God that looks horrible. Just imagine the reaction of this forum if the OWH used the same distorted image. We'd be descending upon HDR's offices like wolves.

Tornado · Post by **Tornado** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 7:44 pm

So what are we talking here????? 240-260ft with the wall extension elements. I sure hope with all the new lighting technology today, that they incorporate a unique, cool lighting scheme for this building as it will really stand out coming in from Abbott drive and TD Ameritrade park. I can't honestly say I'm impressed by the rendering but I know it will look much better in person. This is the type of building and roof lines you get when every new develpment is built on an entire block. Until we can get some of these entire blocks divided up the sheer size of these plots is going to limit the height so much that you just can't get vertical. I think the best rendering I've seen for Omaha since FNB tower is the Lanoha design, I just love the looks of that proposal although the chance of it actually being built in that form are probably slim to none. In the end, I can't be too negative considering Omaha is getting a nice looking building on what was one of the ugliest parking lots downtown.

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 7:48 pm

Tornado wrote:So what are we talking here????? 240-260ft with the wall extension elements. I sure hope with all the new lighting technology today, that they incorporate a unique, cool lighting scheme for this building as it will really stand out coming in from Abbott drive and TD Ameritrade park. I can't honestly say I'm impressed by the rendering but I know it will look much better in person. This is the type of building and roof lines you get when every new develpment is built on an entire block. Until we can get some of these entire blocks divided up the sheer size of these plots is going to limit the height so much that you just can't get vertical. I think the best rendering I've seen for Omaha since FNB tower is the Lanoha design, I just love the looks of that proposal although the chance of it actually being built in that form are probably slim to none. In the end, I can't be too negative considering Omaha is getting a nice looking building on what was one of the ugliest parking lots downtown.

Absolutely I'm hoping for some sleek modern lighting, 'othing campy like they used to use.

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 7:50 pm

Spatial77 wrote:I was in Denver last fall and in the LODO area there was a lot of construction with tower cranes. Four cranes had different color lights that ran the length of the horizontal booms. This would be cool to do in Omaha, especially for the College World Series and the swim trials.

1-25-2016 6-14-21 PM.jpg

Looks like light sabers.

OmahaJaysCU · Post by **OmahaJaysCU** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 8:23 pm

Ketv highlighted the ford lofts to the right and pointed out that since these historic structures are still in the rendering, they might be saying. Except it's the wrong historic structure.

The amount of misinformation out there about HDR is maddening. I've met a lot of people who flat out think HDR is tearing down the Spect. I'm not saying OPAS is right but it's frustrating the perception out there.

I'm happy with the rendering. In my eyes the fact that 4 +/- blocks of surface lots between this and Capitol District are going to be incredibly dense. That will have a much greater long term impact IMO.