It may seem like the massive and sometimes controversial Innerbelt Bridge project has been in the works since Elliot Ness called Cleveland home, but design planning is reaching its final stages. Tremont residents and others with questions or concerns about what this behemoth will look like, particularly where it touches down on city streets, should not miss the Ohio Department of Transportation's next public meeting.

"The lion's share of the design work is already committed," says Chris Garland, executive director of Tremont West Development Corporation, which has worked with ODOT on this project for several years. What remains are "the more subtle aspects," like placement of lighting and the type fencing to be used on the Abbey Road bridge, which will remain the neighborhood's connection to downtown.

Design options, and a survey, have been posted online. But Garland stresses the importance of attending the meeting, December 13, 5-8 p.m., at Pilgrim Church Fellowship Hall, 2592 W. 14th St. Various design options will be displayed, and ODOT officials will be on hand to answer questions. "Just because you don't see something [in a design] doesn't mean it won't be included," he notes. His message to residents has been, "The most important thing is to show up."




Source: Tremont West
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

Creative signs are making a comeback in Cleveland. Dramatic signage not only perks up a neighborhood visually, it makes them more competitive by helping indie retailers stand out from national chains. For proof, look at East Fourth Street.

It's not that they want people to get sick, but University Hospital's Ahuja Medical Center in Beachwood is poised to capture a sizable patient population when it officially opens in January 2011.

Part of the attraction to patients obviously will be the quality care, but the 144-bed hospital also will likely turn heads with its technology. And not just for the comprehensive imaging center or state-of-the-art catheterization labs.

With input from physicians, nurses, employees and patients, Ahuja recognizes that people want high-tech amenities -- whether they're lounging in a hotel room or recuperating in a hospital bed.

Wireless internet runs through the hospital. Each private room has a flat-screen TV and a daybed so that a loved one can stay with the patient. Green and holistic design also play a vital role. Natural light is used to a maximum, and a healing garden provides a calm, inspirational place for patients and visitors to pause. These features not only look pretty, they are designed to promote healing and a positive outlook.

It isn't just the patients who will be well cared for at the new medical center; staff comfort and well-being also have been given top priority. For example, the seven-floor hospital features a step-sensitive design that will reduce fatigue for nurses and staff.

Details such as these will doubtless help draw in medical professionals, staffers and patients. When it opens, Ahuja Medical Center will employ about 400 people, and within two years, that number could more than double. Current open positions range from pathologists and ICU nurses to CT technologists and a food operations manager.


SOURCE: University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center
WRITER: Diane DiPiero

Through the Poultry Project, Lakewood resident Kelly Flamos has taken on the unimaginable tragedy of the African AIDS epidemic. She is helping one child at a time with the assistance of an unlikely flock of angels -- chickens.

University Circle's Uptown project took a major step forward last week when the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Cleveland board approved plans for a new home, a dramatic, six-faceted, $27 million structure of highly reflective stainless steel and glass to be built at Euclid Avenue and Mayfield Road.

The new building should make quite an impact on visitors to the busy intersection: "Viewed from the exterior, the building will appear as an inventive massing of six geometric facets, some flat, others sloping at various angles, all coming together to create a powerful abstract form," MOCA promises on its web site. "Clad primarily in mirror-finish black Rimex stainless steel, the façade of the new MOCA will reflect its urban surroundings, changing in appearance with differences in light and weather."

The four-story, 34,000-square-foot building will provide MOCA about 40 percent more space than its current home, in the Cleveland Playhouse complex at 8501 Carnegie. The main gallery will be on the 6,000-square-foot top floor, which will be equipped with movable interior walls.

"Flexibility is key to a program that, like ours, embraces aesthetic, conceptual, and cultural diversity, and displays works in a great variety of mediums and genres," says MOCA Director Jill Snyder.

The building was designed by Foreign Office Architects of London, whose team includes Cleveland-based Westlake Reed Leskosky. The MOCA building is FOA's first museum and first American commission. Groundbreaking will occur in December.

Uptown, a $150 million residential and retail development, is a collaboration between private developer MRN Ltd., and University Circle Inc. and area institutions. MRN is the company behind the East Fourth Street restaurant and entertainment district in downtown Cleveland.



Source: MOCA Cleveland
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

In a spirit reminiscent of progressive outposts like Seattle, Cleveland is becoming a national leader in deconstruction, a movement that treats vacant homes across the region not as an eyesore but a post-natural resource.

The marriage of high-tech design and high-end dining is proving a win-win for diners, local restaurateurs and Epstein Design Partners, a Shaker Square-based design firm.

Thomas Paine would be proud. At a time when it seems like every new idea is first floated online, Plain Dealer architecture critic Steven Litt has chosen good old-fashioned paper as the primary vehicle for his impassioned paean to beautiful surroundings, Designing a Better Cleveland.

"To the extent that Cleveland fails to make the most of public and private investments in buildings, highways, bridges, streets, parks and waterfronts, it will waste opportunities, fail to compete effectively with its peers and damage its economy," Litt writes in the introduction. "Everyone, in other words, has a stake in good design."

Litt calls the slim, gorgeously designed booklet "a mini-primer on the ways in which citizens, developers, planners and designers can raise standards of civic design in Cleveland." But it's clearly also meant to inspire.

"Economists may disagree over whether excellent architecture and urban amenities such as streetscapes, bike trails and waterfront parks are a cause or consequence of economic vitality," he writes. "Regardless, it never makes sense to spend a dollar on mediocrity when the same dollar can buy excellence. The reality is that great design demands greater effort -- on the part of clients, designers, government agencies and citizens. Cleveland continues to be plagued by a chronic sense of low self-esteem and by the notion that trying to improve the city through better design isn't worth the effort.

"THIS VOLUME REJECTS THAT VIEW."

The book grew out of Spectrum: the Lockwood Thompson Dialogues at the Cleveland Public Library, and was facilitated by Cleveland Public Art.

Since the book's inroduction in the PD, Cleveland Public Art has received nearly 200 calls requesting copies, according to executive director Gregory Peckham. "That seems like a good benchmark when it comes to the interest of the public about the subject of civic design," Peckham notes.

Designing a Better Cleveland is also available online as a PDF.



Source: Plain Dealer
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

Scott Colosimo had a dream to produce a stripped-down '60s-inspired motorcycle that looks like a million bucks but costs less than $5,000. Guess what? He pulled it off, launching a growing company called Cleveland CycleWerks.

Domokur Architects, based in Akron since 1979, has expanded into Cleveland via a merger with Tremont-based Michael Augoustidis.

"We like the neighborhood," says Linsey Domokur, who handles business development, "and we like having a Cleveland presence." The new office, at Starkweather and Professor, will house three new hires, including a specialist in the healthcare industry.

The firm's healthcare portfolio includes the Geneva Medical Center addition at University Hospitals, Akron City Hospital's Palliative Care Pavillion and Chardon Surgery Center. The firm has also designed several buildings for the J.M. Smucker Company in Orrville , the Cleveland Metroparks' Canal Way Visitors' Center and the Conneaut Public Library.

Domokur also opened a Chicago office in September.




Source: Domokur
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

Once upon a time, automobiles were built inside the 65,000-square-foot former factory at 6555 Carnegie Avenue. Or so current owner Giancarlo Calicchia surmises from elevators large enough to move finished cars from the upper levels to the parking lot outside.

Today Calicchia, an accomplished sculptor, sees a new use for the long-dormant building — a center for artists' workspaces and offices. He and architect Paul Beegan are busy designing that future, while preserving the towering columns, tall windows and "great views of Cleveland" left over form the building's industrial past.

"We're also looking for new companies that may be related to art or design and want to be closer to downtown," Calicchia adds. He's already talked with a book publisher and a film company, as well as many artists, and hopes to have at least portions of the building ready for use by next summer. He can be reached at 216-402-2009.

Calicchia's works can be found around the city and state, from the Cleveland Museum of Art and The Avenue at Tower City to Miami University. His Athleta & The Witnesses sculpture garden was installed at Kent State University in July.


Source: Giancarlo Calicchia
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

The Euclid Corridor project is completed. The Towpath Trail is knocking on downtown's back door. The long-planned Medical Mart and convention center are nearing shovel-ready status. Dan Gilbert's downtown casino is a deal away. And a revived Flats blueprint is being unfurled. This is the moment that green-space advocates have been dreaming about for years.