Anyone have good pics of the BOK Center

[RecycleMichael]

quote:Originally posted by Tulsa Twister

I think its the most beautiful arena constructed yet. Ultra-modern and very functional.

I don't know if I would go that far, but I agree it is beautiful to me. I go past it all times of day or night from all directions and just love the look of the early morning or sunset on the structure. The glass wall is inspiring and the view from the inside of the downtown skyline is stunning.

Last Saturday I gave a talk to the Crosbie Heights neighborhood association just west of the arena across the expressway. The houses along Nogales near the Baptist Church have beautiful views of the arena framed by the rest of downtown.

[MDepr2007]

quote:Originally posted by Tulsa Twister

I think its the most beautiful arena constructed yet. Ultra-modern and very functional.

The only complaint that i have is the area around it. Destroy or renovate those old federal buildings and put up something more appealing. Wasnt there plans for a new major hotel downtown ?

And when someone wants to put a new style in a neighborhood, everyone is up in arms about the look not matching the rest of the area.
It's confusing sometimes around here[|)]

[bacjz00]

For the record, I love the design of the building.  It's beautiful.That said, I have yet to hear any official comment on the stains appearing below some of the panel/glass seams.  Can someone close to the team comment?

[AMP]

Maybe it will look different after a good ole Oklahoma Hail Storm hits it.

I still think that building is Ugly!  Close up or far away.  

How long it will take the taggers to paint the ground level walls?  

And how long till the Metal Vampires begin to steal the groud level stainless steel panels to cash in at the local scrape metal outlet?

[citizen72]

quote:Originally posted by bacjz00

For the record, I love the design of the building.  It's beautiful.That said, I have yet to hear any official comment on the stains appearing below some of the panel/glass seams.  Can someone close to the team comment?

Many times it is the result of leaching of some of the properties of the sealant used to seal seams and joints. Stainless steel is far from being stain free. In time the staining should abate, but it also could get worse depending on the type of sealant.

If you observe carefully you will see this same staining in the same areas on many buildings around town.

[bacjz00]

quote:Originally posted by citizen72

quote:Originally posted by bacjz00
For the record, I love the design of the building.  It's beautiful.That said, I have yet to hear any official comment on the stains appearing below some of the panel/glass seams.  Can someone close to the team comment?

Many times it is the result of leaching of some of the properties of the sealant used to seal seams and joints. Stainless steel is far from being stain free. In time the staining should abate, but it also could get worse depending on the type of sealant. If you observe carefully you will see this same staining in the same areas on many buildings around town.

A great explanation.  I suppose a good follow-up would be, "Should this be acceptable?"

[Nik]

quote:Originally posted by Tulsa Twister

I think its the most beautiful arena constructed yet. Ultra-modern and very functional.

The only complaint that i have is the area around it. Destroy or renovate those old federal buildings and put up something more appealing. Wasnt there plans for a new major hotel downtown ?

I agree completely, and I felt this way before the building of the arena. Those whole Civic area just looks awful. But as Mr. Bates pointed out in another thread, the architectural was applauded when it was all built in the 50s/60s. Times change.

[carltonplace]

Most likely once the sod is down and the dust settles that problem will go away.

[citizen72]

quote:Originally posted by bacjz00

quote:Originally posted by citizen72

quote:Originally posted by bacjz00
For the record, I love the design of the building.  It's beautiful.That said, I have yet to hear any official comment on the stains appearing below some of the panel/glass seams.  Can someone close to the team comment?

Many times it is the result of leaching of some of the properties of the sealant used to seal seams and joints. Stainless steel is far from being stain free. In time the staining should abate, but it also could get worse depending on the type of sealant. If you observe carefully you will see this same staining in the same areas on many buildings around town.

A great explanation.  I suppose a good follow-up would be, "Should this be acceptable?"

Acceptable?  No it shouldn't but there are only so many choices available for sealants and caulking. To my knowledge nearly all of these contain the same propensity towards the leaching characteristic.

The hope always is that the building manager instigate a viable maintenance program for the exterior surfaces of the building. With constant cleaning and maintenance the unsightliness of the leaching should be very much retarded. We should hope.

[jackbristow]

quote:Originally posted by Nik

quote:Originally posted by Tulsa Twister

I think its the most beautiful arena constructed yet. Ultra-modern and very functional.

The only complaint that i have is the area around it. Destroy or renovate those old federal buildings and put up something more appealing. Wasnt there plans for a new major hotel downtown ?

I agree completely, and I felt this way before the building of the arena. Those whole Civic area just looks awful. But as Mr. Bates pointed out in another thread, the architectural was applauded when it was all built in the 50s/60s. Times change.

Yes they do, and that is the reason that architecture needs to be facilitated in a way that can span generations.  Stick with what is solid and will last, not what is trendy and fancy at the moment.  That is Tulsa's constant curse, we always are trying too hard to be progressive, the old Civic area, Oral Roberts University, University Heights, they all are eyesores now, whereas the Boston Ave Methodist Church and the many art deco skyscrapers and University of Tulsa buildings have stood the test of time and are just as impressive as they have ever been.  We should have just kept to that style, but we didn't and now we have an arena that "didn't turn out like it was planned."

I'm excited that we got the arena, and I will be excited to attend events there, but I'm a little disappointed that we seem to have made the same mistake here that we made with the Civic buildings.

[citizen72]

Jack, I couldn't agree more. New development should respect its environment and that is not to say the past should be copied. Doing something too different than the developments surroundings can be detrimental when viewing the total community. It will and does make the existing structures look old and shabby. As architects that is one of the things we try to stay away from.

But now an again we have some architectural cowboy ride into town and present his monument to himself. Then everyone bows in reverent devotion to his "forward" thinking vision. It is quite obvious our cowboy was very insensitive to the existing environs and we will have to live with the result from now on.

[citizen72]

quote:Originally posted by bacjz00

quote:Originally posted by citizen72

quote:Originally posted by bacjz00
For the record, I love the design of the building.  It's beautiful.That said, I have yet to hear any official comment on the stains appearing below some of the panel/glass seams.  Can someone close to the team comment?

Many times it is the result of leaching of some of the properties of the sealant used to seal seams and joints. Stainless steel is far from being stain free. In time the staining should abate, but it also could get worse depending on the type of sealant. If you observe carefully you will see this same staining in the same areas on many buildings around town.

A great explanation.  I suppose a good follow-up would be, "Should this be acceptable?"

Here is a sealant reference that I found in my library storage. In the article it does a good job of discussing exterior sealants and their properties.

http://www.bsdsoftlink.com/library/guides/div07/079200.htm

Leaching of sealants is also discussed.

[USRufnex]

I disagree.  I happen to like architectural cowboys...  

But I can certainly have a good time as a local citizen complaining about it, and judging by the view from the old lady on Brady, that arena looks more like my pic at the top of this page than the closeup views of the actual facility... [8D]

But I remember when the same kinds of things were said about the Myriad Botanical Gardens in OKC back in the day.... it was an impossible design because of the Oklahoma heat... it was a colossal waste of taxpayer money.... from a birdseye view, it looked like a giant syringe shooting taxpayer funded heroin into downtown OKC... I heard the rumor that the guy purposefully intended it to look like a giant syringe from the sky cuz the designer was a drug addict... [}:)]

Compare this "iconic" arena by Cesare Pelli to the Ford Center, Alltel Arena and the Intrust Bank arena being built in Wichita... rinse... repeat...

Take a seat and enjoy the ride.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by citizen72


The hope always is that the building manager instigate a viable maintenance program for the exterior surfaces of the building. With constant cleaning and maintenance the unsightliness of the leaching should be very much retarded. We should hope.

This IS Tulsa we are talking about...

[USRufnex]

... but I do wish this had been built in the East Village/East End instead of next door to the old arena...