DART Central Station

[DMRyan]

Steel is going up on the canopy supports.

[DMRyan]

The glass curtain wall is already going up on the south side of the building. It's way more green in color than I thought the glass would be, but it looks nice. There's not a lot of these greenish blue colored glass windows around downtown for being such a commonly used element on many modern buildings. I wish we could see it getting used on a much taller building than this someday. Maybe the Bank of America Building can be reclad with a more modern appearance someday.

[DMRyan]

So, what do you think about the new glass cladding on this building? Downtown Des Moines doesn't really have a lot of bluish/green glass on buildings, so this adds a more modern element to the streetscape. This building is short, but the fact that it incorporates unique shapes and is situated at the edge of the steep drop off where taller buildings start will make this very visible when viewed from the south.

[hawk61401]

So, what do you think about the new glass cladding on this building?

Love it! I'm thrilled that it's not a square box - brick building with little boxy windows. This building will look cool at night. It will be a new project for the flickr.com buffs in Des Moines.

[Mastermind]

So, what do you think about the new glass cladding on this building? Downtown Des Moines doesn't really have a lot of bluish/green glass on buildings, so this adds a more modern element to the streetscape. This building is short, but the fact that it incorporates unique shapes and is situated at the edge of the steep drop off where taller buildings start will make this very visible when viewed from the south.

Do you have an example of this blue-green glass you speak of?

[DMRyan]

The glass on DART Central Station looks like the glass on the Pappajohn Higher Ed Center.

[Mototail]

Harkin: Feds award $2.1 million to buy new DART transit buses in Des Moines

http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/ ... es-moines/

[mirage1]

incredibly, Harkin, in today's paper, says he is glad that money is not coming from central Iowans....it is coming from the federal government.

Tom needs a little informational conversation at this point. Maybe graphs will be included.

[DMRyan]

An April 2012 update of the project from my familiar angles.

[DMRyan]

The metal spine connecting the covered shelters to the main structure has really added some architectural interest to this.

[iowacountyite]

Doesn't it seem like considering the location of this project and the convenience that it would offer; dont you think SOMEBODY, might develop the desert south of the courthouse and/or EMC garage area?

[BenRoethig]

that would make sense.

[casbern]

that would make sense.

Although, I'm not sure exactly what would be a good fit here. With all this bus/car traffic it'd be interesting to see who'd consider these areas as potential prospects.

[MusicMan]

I can't figure out why they put the big DART sign on the Northeast corner of the building. They only way you see it is from an angle if you're driving down Cherry (since 6th is one way going North). Why wasn't the sign put on the Northwest side so you can see it driving south on 7th?

[DMRyan]

Doesn't it seem like considering the location of this project and the convenience that it would offer; dont you think SOMEBODY, might develop the desert south of the courthouse and/or EMC garage area?

A convenience store with liquor sales would do nicely on these parking lots...

[SFO2DSM]

In al seriousness, that's probably a decent spot for a gas station. There aren't any close to it at all.

Doesn't it seem like considering the location of this project and the convenience that it would offer; dont you think SOMEBODY, might develop the desert south of the courthouse and/or EMC garage area?

A convenience store with liquor sales would do nicely on these parking lots...

[DMRyan]

Nah, keep that stuff on the fringe of downtown. There's a BP station at SW 9th and DART Way, and another seedier station at SE 1st and Jackson.

[Mastermind]

Nah, keep that stuff on the fringe of downtown. There's a BP station at SW 9th and DART Way, and another seedier station at SE 1st and Jackson.

That QT on Ingersoll too. Thats my go to, downtown station. I think any fastfood would do very well here.

[DMRyan]

Update on DART Central Station. I think this is looking pretty slick, almost better than what the renderings indicated.

[DMRyan]

The ribbon cutting for this project is coming up soon, on October 23rd. It doesn't officially get put into use until November 23rd.

This thing is looking pretty futuristic. I love the lighting scheme at night, and I think they're planning on including 4 pieces of public art throughout the project.

[hawk61401]

This thing is looking pretty futuristic. I love the lighting scheme at night, and I think they're planning on including 4 pieces of public art throughout the project.

The flickr bugs will be all over it. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhardecopf ... otostream/

The 4 pieces of public art will have a common theme. I would love to see something literally big and bold like The Traveling Man at DART's Deep Ellum rail station in Dallas. http://premviewer.blogspot.com/2010_10_31_archive.html

[hawk61401]

This thing is looking pretty futuristic. I love the lighting scheme at night, and I think they're planning on including 4 pieces of public art throughout the project.

The flickr bugs will be all over it. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhardecopf ... otostream/

The 4 pieces of public art will have a common theme. I would love to see something literally big and bold like The Traveling Man at DART's Deep Ellum rail station in Dallas. http://premviewer.blogspot.com/2010_10_31_archive.html

I forgot to add that Troy Corliss from Truckee, CA. is one of the commissioned artists. Here is an example of his public art since 1998: http://www.troycorliss.com/Art_PublicArt/Main.html

This is pure conjecture on my part ... Corliss does suspended sculptures like this one at the Suisun City Library, Suisun City, CA: http://www.troycorliss.com/Art_PublicAr ... intro.html So, I'd think that the height of the interior of the Dart Central Station would be ideal for this kind of sculpture.

[DMRyan]

A link to an article about the grand opening, with a few photos of the interior and exterior. Sounds like they've implemented a lot of sustainbility measures on the project, including a gray water, rain collecting cistern, and solar panels.

While sketpical of the design at first, I must say that the swooping white metal beams along the roof line are a little architecturally iconic. It's definitely grown on me.

http://www.kcci.com/news/project-econom ... olute=true

[otter]

I tried my hardest to get a very modern, big, bold artist to be choosen but was out-voted. I was trying to get an artist who would make an iconic piece that would really be a destination piece that would make people want to stop, just to see the art, but couldn't get enough people behind me.

Troy Corliss is doing a large, glass hanging piece which is prairie grass which I beileve you should be able to see from the outside as well as the inside, up the stairs.

We have another lady from waterloo area, maybe now chi town, which did the inside floors. It is an abstract map of Des Moines.

David B. Dahlquist, which did the high trestle bridge and other area pieces, did the back wall of the station. It will be back lite and have moving lines. He came up with this by taking a couple pencils and started writing Des Moines in different fonts. Might be hard to tell at first or second glance but that is the inspiration.

Last I heard he was also going to do one or two poles along the east side of the building. Not sure what the final decision was, but I believe those are the 4 spots you will notice the artists.

[hawk61401]

I tried my hardest to get a very modern, big, bold artist to be choosen but was out-voted. I was trying to get an artist who would make an iconic piece that would really be a destination piece that would make people want to stop, just to see the art, but couldn't get enough people behind me.

Appreciate all of that, otter. I'm in tune with you. I didn't expect anything as big and bold as the Traveling Man that I posted earlier but was hoping too for something iconic. I can't say I am too excited about the 4 pieces but maybe those other voters were thinking about the $300,000 budget.

[DMRyan]

Good info on the public art selected for this otter! I'm curious to see this thing entirely operational at night. From an aesthetic perspective, this building is much more striking at night, just seeing how they've got the thing lit up.

The renderings always showed a couple of small wind turbines. I don't know how feasible this would've been if winds are routinely blocked by buildings, or if there's any type of wind tunnel effect in this part of downtown, but they appear to have gone away from that idea for the time being.

Hopefully they'll be able to fill that commercial space for rent. Having a coffee shop there would only compete with the Amici across the street, but having a deli or quick grab-and-go prepped foods store seems like the best option to appeal to the masses.

[DMRyan]

FINAL UPDATE:

This project is pretty much complete, and will open in just a few weeks.