The drought this year must have made a definite impression on local architect Bill Atwood. He appeared for the fourth time before the city Board of Architectural Review on February 19 with a starkly different design for a proposed six-story, mixed-use building that would take the place of the Under the Roof building on W. Main Street—and just about everything about the building’s exterior was related to harvesting rainwater.
 A rendered view toward W. Main Street from 10th and 1/2 Street of Atwood’s proposal for the Under the Roof site. |
It’s one of the more bizarre looking buildings to come before the BAR, with a rather typical front façade covering a building that looks like some beached war vessel. Water towers crown the top like Prussian helmets and beaks extend from the 10th and 1/2 Street side like protective spikes. It’s all part of a system to keep more water from hitting the ground.
“We had been looking at green roofs and whatnot,” says Ashley Cooper of Atwood Architects, “but we feel like as far as this area is concerned that water is the big issue and that’s one of the first places to start with building design.”
Atwood seemed to acknowledge the oddness of his latest creation in a letter to the city included in the staff report: “After many months of observation and research we feel that Architecture today and tomorrow needs to change beyond the Frank Gehry ‘looks for looks’ sake,’ to energy efficient, water saving, perma-culture sensitive machines.
“Our Architectural culture today must change today to generating new forms reacting to very functional demands creating new Architectural machines.
“The discussion begins here.”
Indeed, the discussion did begin there, and it will need to continue there. The BAR liked the rainwater harvesting idea but had some issues with the form. They suggested pulling the “machine” to West Main rather than hiding it behind a faux-historic façade. Some thought the water towers were obtrusive, and that the beaks ought to be more sophisticated. Any outcropping that extends that far will probably require an air rights easement with the city.
“We thought the meeting went surprisingly well, and we’re working to evolve the design,” says Cooper. She says they would like to resubmit an update this week.
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