We need a landmark

[Luke]

I just had a thought. How about this:

Get that vacant lot on "canal corner" (the one that's over a million dollars) and build a 10 or so story warehouse wall to wall against the other warehouses on either side. Fill it with shops, galleries and eateries. A miniature mall if you will. In Dallas, the West End Marketplace is the idea i'm going for. It's cool.

To top it off (literally) have the brick tower shooting straight up out of the top of the building. That would be the anchor of Bricktown.

Side note: Could someone buy the land on canal corner AND the land across the canal from it (currently, the sloped hill) and build a building over the whole thing with room for the water taxis to pass through? That way the building could have substantially more space. It would be unique. However, it might be too big.... Just a thought.

[okcstylez]

Sounds like a great Idea would make Bricktown a hot spot for Retail in the City. The Tower Sounds great to be on top and would im sure have a great view and would be a great Tourist Attraction in itself.

[Patrick]

I've always liked the idea of constructing a building over the canal.

I think a high-rise hotel built on those properties and over the canal would be cool......the lobby could be located at canal level and the water taxis could pass right through the lobby of the hotel! How cool would that be?

Regardless, the concept could be used for any use. The brick tower shopping center sounds like a winner! Call it the Bricktower Marketplace, or something like that. The canal level of the building, where the taxis would pass through, could contain the Water Taxi offices (currently in the Miller Jackson Building), a storage marina for the taxis (similar to what the taxis in San Antonio have- complete with a maintenance garage, storage docks, and all), the ticket booth, and open space covered by the floors above for people to wait in line for canal boat rides....this would allow people to wait in the shade, out of the elements for a boat ride.

[jbrown84]

I like the idea of some sort of monument or landmark. What if it were a memorial? I've always thought OKC needed some type of memorial to the USS Oklahoma. The Oklahoma had the second most casualties at Pearl Harbor after the Arizona, but is largely overlooked at the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii. Perhaps the tower could be some sort of artistic spire shape, and the bottom could contain a memorial museum to the men who died and were wounded on the Oklahoma. If you did that it probably wouldn't be appropriate to have a revolving restaurant at the top, but you could still have an observation deck.

I don't know, perhaps simple bronze statue with a marble base in the expanded Myriad Gardens "central park" is more appropriate for a USS Oklahoma Memorial.

[HOT ROD]

I like the idea of an expanded Myriad Gardens "central park" if it were expanded westward to include festival plaza and Stage Centre. There could be large pedestrian bridges over Hudson Avenue connecting the two sides, or just put that portion of Hudson in a tunnel.

As for the landmark, I think OKC needs some sort of tower landmark. We have WAY TOO MUCH flat structures and sprawling complexes. We need something were people can look out over the city and enjoy.

Im not saying we need to copy anybody here either, we had an Oil Derrick idea which would pay homage to our OIL history (and current leadership). The landmark should be located in the park (gardens) and would be the anchor only second to the Botanical tube. However, the tower would become the anchor of OKC; the landmark that is not only seen but the landmark to SEE Oklahoma City!!!

[Patrick]

Although a few of us on this forum had suggested an oil derrick landmark, I've sense had my reservations about that. I think we'd become a laughingstock to the rest of the nation, knowing that Tulsa was once the oil capitol. I think we should brainstorm ideas for another landmark. Any ideas?

[TheImmortal]

a giant parking meter with an observation deck! Who is with me!!! hahaha. just kidding of course.

[HOT ROD]

Giant Shopping Cart?

[Patrick]

Giant Wal-Mart sign? Bentonville is too small for such a structure...since we're their testing market, why not! Just kidding of course.

[fromdust]

i heard that this guy in kc is looking to build a highrise that looks like a tornado. if hes not doing that anymore we should take his idea. its more appropriate here.

[TheImmortal]

that would actually be really interesting to see. although i'd have to say santiago calatrava would have to be the architect for the project definatly. i just wish we could have a more significant landmark downtown. but i think another thing is to consider maybe how the bombing memorial could be improved so maybe include something like this. obviously nothing huge or tall. but something innovative that would improve on what we already have. i will have to say having been to DC and many of America's memorials, i would say ours is easily one of the top 5 most beautiful memorials out there. there is nothing I love better than to take friends from out of town there and watch them be totally suprised and facinated by what it has to offer.

[fromdust]

yeah the building that looks like a tornado is cool and we should do it, but if its done somewhere else i dont want to copy. i posted this idea on another thread. along the river near downtown we could build this huge complex. residential/market or any various mix use. but this is the thing that would set it apart. we should design it in the same fashion as the hanging gardens of ancient babylon. have you seen the pics of what this place was like? awesome! if anyone were to see that on tv or a postcard they would know that what they are looking at is okc.

[Patrick]

a giant parking meter with an observation deck! Who is with me!!! hahaha. just kidding of course.

Apparently downtownguy took your idea somewhat seriously:

"At www.okctalk.com, they're talking about landmarks again. One idea, brought up in jest, is something I've pondered seriously for a while now: install an original parking meter at the spot where the first one in the world stood, at Park and Robinson in downtown OKC.

It's a part of our history, and with plans to replace the current system with high tech meters, why not have some fun and put up one original model, with the original price? Attach a plaque, explaining how OKC was where parking meters were invented. Dave Lopez, are you reading this? After you quit laughing, think about it. The corner I speak of is frequently crossed by pedestrians walking between the Memorial and the Myriad Gardens and Bricktown. We take ourselves too seriously. Remember those words, "first and only"? The parking meter would become a photo spot, and while we may worry about people going back home, laughing at photos of the city having the first parking meter, think about this: those photos will also show a very urban OKC. It doesn't get better than Park and Robinson. First National. Robinson Renassaince. Leadership Square. UMB Bank Tower.

This would take very little money to pull off, and would give the central business district a fun draw for tourists. And with tourists stopping at the meter (and they will - they love little gimicks like this) it will be easier to get them to step inside First National - and into the Great Banking Hall where the tourism department will have its new downtown visitor center.

- The Downtown Guy
www.downtownguy.blogspot.com"

[Karried]

An elevated house with a circular wire structure surrounding it depicting a tornado and giant ruby slippers sticking out - the porch being the observation deck ....... oh no wait, that's Kansas :-) sheesh, we can't even have a claim to fame regarding tornados!

[Curt]

sheesh, we can't even have a claim to fame regarding tornados!

LMAO, Karrie...dont feel too bad, Michigan doesnt have a claim to fame for it's weather either, not a good claim anyway.

[TheImmortal]

so he did, ive heard him mention it before and i really like his idea. i love finding things like that in a town im visiting. plus tourists love free amusements. i think he should look into the cost and feasability of getting it put in. Definatly a unique little idea there.

[floater]

Actually, the parking meter idea isn't bad. It is on one the busiest intersections (at least the most big-cityish -- surrounded by towers on all corners) in the city.

[sweetdaisy]

I think we should just start a PR campaign based on the extreme sport of driving on our roadways. It's action, adventure, and danger anytime you cross one of our bridges! Ooh! And our landmark could be a big pothole!! WHEE!!!

Okay, i'm being a smartypants this morning. Sorry...feeling kinda saucy for some reason.

[floater]

I like saucy

[mranderson]

I think we should just start a PR campaign based on the extreme sport of driving on our roadways. It's action, adventure, and danger anytime you cross one of our bridges! Ooh! And our landmark could be a big pothole!! WHEE!!!

Okay, i'm being a smartypants this morning. Sorry...feeling kinda saucy for some reason.

Yes. Just imagine the thrill of driving down a freeway at 65 and slamming into a car doing 50 or less. Then, if you are lucky enough to get around that car without slamming into it, dodging all the cars that whip into your lane without using that stick coming from the left side of their steering wheel. OR when you are cruising at 60 or so entering a freeway with a clear number two lane and some jerk decides not to yield to you. Then before you enter that freeway, some clown stops short on these "Texas turnarounds" because they want to skip into a parking lot instead of doing it safely and using both traffic lights.

Yes. We can call it Oklahoma City Freeway destruction derby. It destroys your car AND your mind.

[sweetdaisy]

OMG! That's soooo funny! Can't stop laughing at the visual!

I know, I know...back on the topic!

[CuatrodeMayo]

We need to think outside the oil derick/giant indian/brick tower box.

OKC is not about oil or bricks or indians, or whatever. Those are elements of what OKC should celebrate in the 21st century--Change.

How about an 800-1000 ft kinetic sculpture symbolizing the past, present, and future of OKC? It could be a tower of sweeping curves that would change shapes in the wind. I could refect and refract sunlight and change colors in the sunlight. At night, it could have an ever-changing lighting systems that would give it distinctive "moods". Something along the lines of a Santiago Calatrava design. It would represent way our city has changed and the way it is moving into the future. It could have an observation platform that is accessed by an exciting elevator ride that threads through the structure or by climbing an open stairway.

A landmark this forward-thinking would inspire the citizens of OKC and would be recoginzable to the entire world as the symbol of the Spirit of Oklahoma City.

[mranderson]

We chose the oil tower because Oklahoma does have a very rich oil heritage. The oil industry (unless you prefer the pronounciation of the term ohl-benez) is far from being a hick industry.

We felt it would be a symbol of the state that is identifiable and unique.

I do admit, however, I very much like your idea. If it is done in an ultramodern design, it may work.

[Curt]

I kinda like the giant arrows sticking out of the ground at Will Rogers airport, no joke, I like them.

[The Old Downtown Guy]

I like the landmark concept but on a more human scale. Sure, Saint Louis has its arch and I guess Tulsa will have a monumental sculpture in the near future. Should we try to keep up by construction a six story oil derrick or similar gigantic structure? I guess the Elliott designed beacon in Stiles Circle might be considered such a landmark. And, if you include the light beam, taller than any other on the planet.

We have lots of sidewalk level landmarks that were not contrived as such, but are just that; landmarks. A landmark simply tells you where you are. If the landmark is monumental like the Empire State Building, it becomes a symbol, not necessarily just a landmark.

The Murrah Memorial is definitely OKC’s premier landmark. The Chihuly sculpture at the OKCMOA is a landmark, as is the Buckminster Fuller inspired Gold Dome Bank Building at 23rd and Classen. The new Land Rush bronze assemblage south of Bricktown certainly qualifies. They are all more pedestrian in scale and are where they are for a purpose; more personal.

I’m not in favor of constructing a monumental piece to “put OKC on the map” so to speak. That would be trying too hard.