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In light of today's uncertain economic climate and the troubling state of the real estate market, it is a challenging environment to sell residential condominium homes. I have teamed with Accelerated Marketing Partners to conduct an auction of 40 homes at Vetro. It is difficult to break the stalemate between buyers and developers with respect home prices. By having an auction, we are providing a transparent sales process that enables the buyer to determine the market value for the homes. We trust the market to conduct their due diligence and are willing to accept the price that they deliver on Auction day. We want Vetro to be a fully sold and stable building for our homeowners and see this auction as an opportunity to achieve that goal. The Chicago Tribune wrote about the Vetro auction today and our move to jump-start sales in Chicago.http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-thu-developer-auctions-feb12,0,3047266.story
Vetro Real Estate Auction Sat., March 7 at 1 p.m. W Chicago Hotel – City Center, located at 172 West Adams Street in downtown Chicago.
Sales center & model homes are open daily through March 6 at 611 S. Wells in the Printers Row district. Call 312.675.0601 or visit http://www.vetrochicago.com
The concept of New Urbanism is on the rise in metro areas across the country. While advocates have been touting its benefits for several years now, rising gas prices just might help New Urbanism gain the momentum it needs.For those not familiar with the concept, New Urbanism is a way of designing more self-contained communities so people travel less and can use alternate means of transportation for their daily needs. New Urbanism starts with a busy central business district, like Chicago’s Loop, with surrounding areas designed to minimize the challenges of transportation from high density to low density. Communities are walkable and bicycle friendly, encouraging less driving but still accessible by car. The key is to accommodate all types of transportation.You see this concept growing in Chicago’s River South neighborhood – where Vetro is located – as the community becomes more pedestrian-friendly thanks to cores of businesses, services and entertainment. For example, the abundance and variety of shopping and services along Roosevelt mean residents don’t have to leave the neighborhood to get their errands done. The community also scores high marks for public transportation options. New Urbanists cite studies that people are most likely to take mass transit if it’s within a quarter-mile of their home. Within this radius River South residents can catch six different El lines, a suburban commuter train, and several bus lines.With rising gas prices and concerns about the environment, developers can band together to do their part by planning communities that encourage a New Urbanism lifestyle. Our customers will thank us for it.
I am an architect, a builder and a developer. When I designed and built my house, the GlassHouse, in 2002, one of my childhood dreams came true. When I was a kid, I always said I would build a “green” house, and this was before any real environmental inklings existed about housing, it was strictly a house in the color of green, my favorite color. And I think I said it was to have all the gadgets that the Jetson’s house had…that was back when I was about 10 years old. After graduating from IIT’s School of Architecture in 1989, I worked for David Hovey and got a first hand look at two of his own ultra-contemporary homes; first on Elm Street and then helping build his 2nd house on the lake. I learned about Mies’ Wolf house. I visited Mies’ Barcelona Pavilion and Farnsworth house. I met Michael and Patty Hopkins personally and visited their fantastic home many times. I love Richard Roger’s Zip House; Norman Foster’s personal un-built residence; all of Richard Meier’s homes (many I visited); and also Richard Horden’s and Tadao Ando’s work (my wife and I visited 10 Ando buildings in one day thanks to the Shinkansen and eager cabbies). There is a lineage of these “modern” homes that stretches from the 1920’s and continues to today. We are all constantly dreaming of dwellings and how we’d like to live, not only me or these and other architects mentioned here, but also everyone. Humans have been doing this “dreaming” since caves and huts were first used and invented. Provide shelter, security and foster growth…that’s what a house is for. Technology in homes has always been the most advanced it possibly it could be at any time (cavemen included). This quest for advancing the house concept seems to have stalled (today) except for an elite group of modernists. We need to continue to dream and push technology so everyone can have shelter, security and foster growth, but in a way that expresses our epoch. What does the house of tomorrow look like?
The GlassHouse is a perfect family home and is a pleasure to live in. It looks smart and modern and acts smart and modern. It is a piece of art as much as it is real estate. My wife and I will design and build a new house. We will build an environmentally effective house, using technology and concepts I have been studying recently. We will utilize geo-thermal, solar panels and other energy concepts to make a zero-energy house; the idea is to produce more energy than we use and sell the extra energy back to the grid. Every house will be doing this in 10-25 years. To be a leader in environmental design and show people “which way is forward”. We will utilize recycled materials like reclaimed wood and the sides of shipping containers (I’d also love to incorporate airplane wings, if my wife Justyna lets me). The idea is to build a new house every 7-10 years or so. Each one is an experiment and a physical expression of what I am interested in and want to learn about. I have a team of engineers and consultants who will help me makes this new house the most advanced it can be.
The new house will be called the LoveHouse…love of family and love of the environment. The new house will accommodate everything my family and I want and need in an environmentally friendly way. We will embrace each other and the earth too. We all must.
I am so proud that the GlassHouse won the 2008 American Institute of Architects Interior Architecture award.
My original GreenHouse idea became in reality the built GlassHouse, and now I am dreaming about the LoveHouse.
The City of Chicago’s motto is "Urbs in horto,” which translates as "city in a garden.” You understand exactly what it means the minute you see the untouched green spaces along the lake front; the enormous, colorful containers of plants along the downtown streets; and the rooftop garden on City Hall. These details never fail to amaze out-of-town visitors from more suburban and rural areas who think that they have the market on greenery while cities are all steel and concrete. For the most part they’re right – Chicago is pretty unique in its quest for green spaces, but more cities are following the lead. You can see the renewed importance of green reflected in the way developers are designing their communities. It’s true that few urbanites have a yard to call their own – and that’s traditionally because land is at a premium, so parking spaces often take precedence over park spaces. But I don’t think it should be that way, and many other developers are starting to change their minds too. Landscaping provides an aesthetic and environmental value that can’t be measured in dollars and cents. It’s the reason we designed Sienna in Evanston with one acre of landscaping so residents will have a secluded sanctuary that’s a peaceful and quiet diversion from city life. And it’s also the reason we paid careful attention to adding environmentally friendly landscaping to aquaterra in Mesa. A little green space goes along way to balance the stress in our daily lives and the stresses on the environment.
There’s something missing when you walk into so many American buildings today. Think about it. When was the last time you really felt a sense of arrival? The last time you really felt the energy of the building and the people in it? The last time you instantly understood a structure’s unique personality and the things that make it special? I learned a lot about creating that sense of arrival through working with John David Mooney – the world renowned artist who designed Blue Espresso, a light installation for the lobby of Vetro – to do just that. People might incorporate paintings or architectural detail in striving to achieve a sense of arrival, but few succeed. According to John David, it’s because just using art isn’t enough; a piece has to be integral to the design and relevant to the people and environment. He believes that blending art, architecture and urban planning can transform and public domain. And looking at his installation in Vetro’s lobby, I believe it too.
I’ve always been intrigued by glass – so intrigued I built my family a glass house and developed an even larger project, Vetro, with 104,000 square-feet of it. And while we architects today use several styles of glass mostly for aesthetic purposes, we nevertheless continue to experiment with the material. For example, the unique use of glass at Vetro results in a special design. If you look at the building, and focus on the different colored panes of glass, there’s a certain vertical rhythm to the structure. Every third floor appears “super-clear” from the outside, and every fourth floor is tinted a slightly darker blue. The look of the glass from the inside, however, is perfectly clear; residents see no difference when they look outside. It’s an amazing effect from the inside and out.The fact that glass’s qualities change with the seasons also captured my imagination. Unlike many materials, it offers a reflective surface in the summer, as it attempts to keep the enclosed area cooler, but in the winter, glass can be more absorptive, trapping warmth from the sun. It’s an added bonus that we appreciate in my home. Of course, for me the most exciting thing about a glass building is the feeling of occupying open-space, at floor four or 40. There are no boundaries, no intrusive borders, edges or barriers, and you can let nature in just as it is.
Respecting the environment is an essential part of high quality design, so as we planned aquaterra my team – including project architect Fujikawa Johnson Gobel Architects, Inc. – got a taste of the LEED™ certification process. It’s amazing to see just how many “little things” can combine to make a building friendlier to the environment. So, for example, at aquaterra we’re:• Using building materials made with recycled products and recycling as much construction site waste as possible.• Selecting roofing and paving materials that help reduce “heat island effect” – a phenomena that occurs when urban and suburban temperatures are two – 10 degrees higher than nearby rural areas.• Minimizing light “trespass” and glare from its buildings and site, improving nighttime visibility and making life better for our nocturnal neighbors.• Installing controllable lighting and thermal systems; using low emitting paints, sealants, carpets and other products; and positioning windows so residents enjoy the maximum amount of natural light.• Including low flow toilets and efficient fixtures that will help aquaterra residents and businesses reduce water consumption anywhere from 20 – 30 percent. • Using energy systems that meet LEED standards, performing with the highest degree of efficiency in tandem with insulated windows to make indoor climate control easier.• Creating a pedestrian-friendly community that encourages residents to leave their cars behind.While incorporating these elements doesn’t require huge amounts of time or money, the result is a community that will give more than it takes from the environment. And we think our residents will literally be breathing easier because of it.
