This is still my favorite project in OKC. When the construction is complete, do they have plans for the land where the "placeholder" museum? With the museum complete, that land would be perfect for an event center/restaurant.

^

All plans show that spot as just vacant land. However the old warehouse to the east will be renovated as part of this project.

For some reason I thought this was going on the smaller lot where the placeholder is. I guess this one is better, but even more annoyed about Rand's push back on the Broadway apartments. Do we know if the old Saxum space is spoken for yet? I never thought much about how that place looked on the inside, but having toured their new space, I gotta think their old space is pretty cool as well.

Huge public art display coming to Automobile Alley (http://www.okctalk.com/content.php?r=524-Huge-public-art-display-coming-to-Automobile-Alley)

Oklahoma Contemporary Museu, with a temporary showroom on-site and their permanent new home well under construction, is set to bring a large-scale public art display to a neighboring park in Automobile Alley.


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/whiteout2.jpg


The project will be the third in a succession of large displays in the Campell Art Park near Broadway and NW 12th by the museum, following Orly Genger's Terra and Tomas Saraceno's Cloud City. Both brought a large number of visitors over extended runs.

Soon, artist Erwin Redl will execute Whiteout, a massive installation that was first commissioned by Madison Square Park Conservancy in New York. Redl has done other instllations around the world.


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/whiteout1.jpg


Whiteout will stretch 40 feet by 80 feet and will be 12 feet high. A huge overhead structure will be erected with hundreds of suspended light globes which will illuminate the ground in a distinctive grid and move with the wind.

Installation is planned for this fall.


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/whiteout3.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/whiteout4a.jpg

this will perfectly illuminate the empty dealership across the street. Too bad the main facility will not be completed then - would make fore a perfect foreground for pictures.

Didn't get a picture, but steel is rising here.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary092218a.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary092218b.jpg

That's moving along !

Plans revealed for Oklahoma Contemporary Studios (http://www.okctalk.com/content.php?r=551-Plans-revealed-for-Oklahoma-Contemporary-Studios)

Steel is rising for the new home for Oklahoma Contemporary Art Center and now design plans have been revealed for studio space on that same campus at NW 11th Street and Broadway Avenue.


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary101018a.jpg


An existing 9,839 square foot brick building located to the east of the main museum is set for an extensive renovation that will see it repurposed complete with a lighted outdoor sculpture gallery.

Inside, features will include a weaving studio, sculpture work areas and a large ceramics area with indoor and outdoor kilns.

Like the main building, the renovation was designed by Rand Elliott and will be constructed by Smith & Pickel Construction and calls for the building to be completely cleaned and painted with a new roof, windows and doors.


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary101018g.jpg


The studios will host workshops, lectures, and classes for a diverse audience and complement the museum as part of the $26 million campus just north of Automobile Alley in central Oklahoma City.


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary101018.jpg


Work started in May and the center is set to open in 2019 and seeks to become a “creative commons” for the community to gather, create and experience art.



http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary101018b.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary101018c.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary101018d.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary101018e.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary101018f.jpg

How exciting! Pete, do you know what is going on with this building next door and the land nearby with all the dirt. 14955

A future MAPS project to either trench or elevate the train tracks ought to be considered for the downtown area.

If railroads weren't such a slothy nightmare to deal with maybe. even if we passed a maps initiative for that, they'd scoff and say "when we're good and ready, good day."

If railroads weren't such a slothy nightmare to deal with maybe. even if we passed a maps initiative for that, they'd scoff and say "when we're good and ready, good day."
They’re doing it here in LA. They had a ribbon cutting ceremony for a trenching project in the San Gabriel valley. It has made a huge difference and is money well spent.

I'm just looking at the precedent to date in dealing with the railroads here in OKC. Not a thing has been by anyone else's schedule but theirs.

The railroads are subsidized by the U.S. Government.

Railroads need to take what they can get while the gettin's good. This is an area where IMO the city should take the upper hand. Try teasing them with some offers.

How are the railroads currently subsidized by the U.S. Government? I consulted to CSX and Norfolk Southern for years and to my knowledge and the assertions of railroad senior management, they most certainly are not.

They’re doing it here in LA. They had a ribbon cutting ceremony for a trenching project in the San Gabriel valley. It has made a huge difference and is money well spent.

And in general, railroads are less cantankerous about grade separation projects; they typically benefit both the city and the railroad, as fewer grade crossings mean better safety for train crews and for the general public as well. Grade separation also typically reduces maintenance costs, as they no longer have to maintain crossing signals and the like.

Whiteout by Erwin Redl now installed at Campbell Art Park:

yn6SDdraT4o

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/campbell101118b.jpg

This looks really cool in person. We were walking by the other night and he was sitting there with his laptop doing final programming. Seemed like a nice guy.

A future MAPS project to either trench or elevate the train tracks ought to be considered for the downtown area.

I doubt the taxpayers would go for that, it's not that big a deal.

I doubt the taxpayers would go for that, it's not that big a deal.

A cheaper solution would be to pay to move BNSF’s operations building to the north side of the yard. Most of the times the trains are stopped there to swap out crews at the building behind OnCue. This takes about 10 minutes for the new crew to do their safety checks and what not. If this building were moved closer to 36th, the trains wouldn’t stop on the downtown intersections as often.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary110318.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary110318b.jpg

Last beam is up:
https://twitter.com/LukeOKC/status/1075509000953847809

Here is a photo with the Christmas tree:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary121918.jpg

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary010519.jpg

I doubt the taxpayers would go for that, it's not that big a deal.

I would be more in favor of eliminating any at-grade crossings of the railroad throughout the metro. Downtown is fine.

What’s up with the land between the Oklahoma Contemporary and Broadway Park?

What’s up with the land between the Oklahoma Contemporary and Broadway Park?

Most of that is owned by the museum but there is a small office building just north of Broadway Park that is under separate ownership. Until they moved to the old Journal Record building (now the Heritage) it was the HQ for Saxum PR.

15161

Cladding has started

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary022619.jpg

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary030319a.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary030319b.jpg

Realized Whiteout ends at the end of March, wondering what's the best place to see it from? Seems like it'd be kind of underwhelming from ground level, but not sure if there are public places high enough around it to get the full effect (not sure if the video above is from a drone or someplace that mere mortals can go).

Realized Whiteout ends at the end of March, wondering what's the best place to see it from? Seems like it'd be kind of underwhelming from ground level, but not sure if there are public places high enough around it to get the full effect (not sure if the video above is from a drone or someplace that mere mortals can go).

I unfortunately don't have a good answer to your question other than confirming that it is underwhelming from ground level.

I unfortunately don't have a good answer to your question other than confirming that it is underwhelming from ground level.

Ha, well, thanks for that, though, it does help, I'd hate to pass it up thinking "Eh, can't see the patterns", then have someone come back after it's over saying "It's so great at ground level, you shoulda seen it".

Ha, well, thanks for that, though, it does help, I'd hate to pass it up thinking "Eh, can't see the patterns", then have someone come back after it's over saying "It's so great at ground level, you shoulda seen it".

I think it would have been better at ground level if they had used larger lights. I'm sure it looks much cooler from above, so it kind of seems like a missed opportunity that they didn't put a temporary 2-3 story observation deck in the area. Not sure how realistic that would have been in terms of cost, though.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary042219a.jpg

From Sunday:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary051919a.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary051919b.jpg

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary060819a.jpg

I drove by this weekend and it reminded me of the OK County Jail. I understand the end product won't look like this. Just thought it was interesting at this stage.

First panels of reflective cladding going up.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemp072119a.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemp072119b.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemp072119c.jpg

hmmm the panels up in that pic aren't what I had imagined. hopefully it will come together and look better than that pic leads me to believe. those panels look pretty cheap to me. like basic tin.

hmmm the panels up in that pic aren't what I had imagined. hopefully it will come together and look better than that pic leads me to believe. those panels look pretty cheap to me. like basic tin.

The panels are heavy gauge clear mill-finish aluminum. They have been custom-fabricated by ArtForm and are extremely stout.

Hopefully hanging these up doesn’t take long. I’m ready to see it

Surely they have done a reflectivity test long ago, and it isn't gonna blast 600 degree heat into the Volvo showroom at 5 PM in the summer? Hate to have a "Vdara Death Ray" on our hands. :cool:

Celebrating contemporary art by cooking Volvo salespeople alive.

Celebrating contemporary art by cooking Volvo salespeople alive.

They'll be soon moving to Edmond (dealership is being built) but the light reflections should be interesting for neighboring businesses.

This may have already been discussed. Are there no windows on the upper floors?

They'll be soon moving to Edmond (dealership is being built) but the light reflections should be interesting for neighboring businesses.

interesting there were no objections to this unlike how Rand had so many ridiculous, biased objections about everybody else's development in AAlley. ..

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemp080419a.jpg

From Saturday:
15564

Looking at it up close, it's just corrugated metal. Nothing shimmery about it, going to look like a cheap steel building, even though it's a multimillion dollar facility.
15565

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/contemporary060819a.jpg

Street level shot from Saturday of the building in the lower right of Pete's pic (2 NW 11):
15570

This looks, shall we say, not great in person compared to the renderings.

I think it looks just like the rendering... maybe better. Oh, wait.. it isn’t finished? Oh, I mean the renderings showing it partially completed. Looks fantastic.

They'll be soon moving to Edmond (dealership is being built) but the light reflections should be interesting for neighboring businesses.
Hopefully it won’t be like this....
https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/visual-arts/2018/10/25/museum-tower-glare-put-the-nasher-in-the-hot-seat-seven-years-ago-arts-patrons-still-wonder-when-we-ll-see-a-fix/

The finish isn’t a polished shiny finish. It should be less reflective of the sun than windows or even a polished stone or other surface. And with the corrugated nature of the cladding, it should diffuse the sunlight too.

I drove by and I thought it looked pretty cool. With a finish like that, I don’t think it’s fair to judge the Look until it’s completely done

I love corrugated metal buildings in places it doesn’t fit so sign me up.

From today:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/okcontemporary090419a.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/okcontemporary090419b.jpg

Opens spring 2020 according to this article:

https://oklahoman.com/article/5640900/oklahoma-contemporary-arts-center-to-open-in-spring-2020-with-blockbuster-exhibition-bright-golden-haze

Yeah, pushed to March.

Not surprised as they had been saying January and you can see by the photos they still have a lot of work to do.