Public meeting to take comments about UAlbany's big, new ETEC building
There's a public meeting Wednesday evening to take questions and input about the new Emerging Technology and Entrepreneurship Complex (ETEC) building that UAlbany is planning to construct on the southwest corner of the Harriman State Office Campus. The meeting is from 6-7 pm in SEFCU Arena (Hall of Fame Room), with free parking in the arena lot.
The purpose of the public meeting is for an environmental review of the project, and questions and comments from the public will be logged for the record. We hear that UAlbany officials will also be there to informally answer questions about the project as best they can.
As mentioned, this is a big project -- a four-story, 243,000 square feet buiding with a price tag of $184 million. (You might remember its announcement this past February.)
Blurbage from the project's (really long) supplemental environment impact statement doc for the project:
The ETEC Project will serve as the new home of the University's College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity (CEHC), as well as the home of the University's nationally recognized research and instruction in atmospheric sciences. The building will be designed to be a hub of innovation, co-locating researchers, instruction, entrepreneurs, and investors, providing the technology transfer and commercialization resources to drive economic growth, create jobs, and enhance New York's competitiveness in key industries. The ETEC Project is planned to give business access to various programmatic research clusters, providing advanced research facilities and fostering strategic partnerships in an environment that cultivates industry collaboration, accelerates commercialization and fuels future research.
That doc addresses projected impacts on things like storm water runoff, green space, and view. For example, the doc projects the new building will prompt an additional 805 vehicle trips per day.
The public comment period is open through December 30. Update: If you'd like to submit a comment via email, the address is: peggy.mcsorley@suny.edu.
Also, here's a new-to-us bit: The plan also includes a new pedestrian boulevard to link the UAlbany campus with the site on the Harriman campus. It will include traffic signals on the Harriman ring roads to stop traffic for crossing pedestrians.
Look up
A larger version of that new rendering and a site map are in large format at the top -- click or scroll all the way up.
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Comments
Oh my my........If you tried your hardest you couldn't possibly come up with a more hideous looking building than this.....all I can say is WOW...have we not learned anything from past mistakes with regards to such horrendous "brutalist" architecture? Absolute GARBAGE......if I were an architect I would be embarrassed and ashamed.
... said BS on Dec 13, 2016 at 6:32 PM | link
Build it! It's nice to see UAlbany attracting more educated people and their money to the area.
... said Neighborhood Curmudgeon on Dec 13, 2016 at 6:49 PM | link
@BS
Be careful what you wish for. If they redesign this building, chances are it will end up looking like all of the horrible Patroon Creek/Albany Med buildings that have been built over the last 10-15 years. There seem to be only 2 architectural styles in Albany these days - modern/brutalist (i.e. SUNY Poly) and the suburban office park style favored by Columbia/BBL.
As ugly as this is, I'll take it over the other option every time.
... said Kman518 on Dec 14, 2016 at 10:44 AM | link
While it more or less fits in to the dismal and depressing buildings on both campuses, this looks like something out of the wrong side of a James Bond movie. It's actually funny how bad this is. It's like they deliberately tried to make the building look as if it had ill-advised additions slapped on by a Soviet despot. What's scary is that often the rendering looks better than the final product. What gets built will likely be even worse.
... said JayK on Dec 14, 2016 at 10:57 AM | link
While I’m typically critical of the recent architectural offerings in the region, I’m actually digging this one. While simple, it seems to be trying something different in an understated fashion. Maybe the rendering isn’t capturing it, but I think this building would get more buy in if they soften it with blue glass, rather than the very monotone grey tinted windows against grey metal (something like the building in the following link: http://www.glazette.com/Glass-Knowledge-Bank-94/Spandrel-Glass.html).
My chief gripe is that the state, in concert with SUNY, didn’t take a more comprehensive look at the State Campus and place this on present asphalt versus the current proposal to knock down more green space (which comes with environmental costs, let alone diminishing the natural feel of the State Campus). Additionally, the State Campus’ present sprawling network of parking is presently being taxed with the consolidation of state agencies to this location, and this project would have lend itself towards some forward thinking by building up from present parking (say, maybe Lot H right behind the proposed sight) and build a parking garage next door (say, maybe Lot G), which could accommodate the new parking needs, shore up parking lost by building on an existing lot, and accommodate for future parking demands all in one swoop. With the east side of the State Campus being privatized and put back onto city tax rolls (if Cuomo doesn’t bastardize the efforts with too much top-down micro-managing, as he did in the first RFP to develop this parcel), there will be even less parking options; I just don’t see how this location can function without a parking garage in the near future.
With that said, the pedestrian access points being implemented alongside this project, specifically traffic lighting, I hope spurs similar changes elsewhere on the loop. It is a royal pain having to cross the loops to get to public transit, since vehicles are prioritized over pedestrians. Sometimes, I have to stand there a good 5 minutes before I can safely cross. Additionally, the incorporation of the bus system, specifically rapid bus transit, into the State Campus will also serve as a synergy for reducing parking demand. I’m a committed bus user, and love walking, despite the wait time to cross the campus loops, but I’ve rubbed shoulder to shoulder with many peers who use the bus for a while, love it, but bemoan that there isn’t frequent access within the State Campus and stop using the service; one principally needs to walk 5-10 minutes to Western or Washington for pick-up, which deters only the most determined (or those who have no choice). I think dedicated, frequent service would bring a lot of State Campus workers back into the CDTA family.
... said Rich on Dec 14, 2016 at 12:02 PM | link
A mix of the 60's brutalist architecture seen in the rest of the campus with a modernist flare. Love it. It has class and style and appears functional. Like Kman said, I'll take this over brick facade prefab panels any day.
"If I were an architect I would be embarrassed and ashamed."
Maybe leave the architecture to the architects then?
... said Paul on Dec 14, 2016 at 9:31 PM | link
Paul, I'd take the ugliest possible fake brick over this architectural abortion.
"Maybe leave the architecture to the architects then?" When they have to live with the garbage they create, sure. Until that time, it's on us to speak up, since we actually do have to live with it. (Keep in mind this can go too far - see: Troy.) Personally, I can no longer give architecture much respect even as a discipline. Even the most accomplished professionals are now basically just playing with computer games to create awful buildings that detract from everything that surrounds them, up to and including entire cities at times.
I speak generally, though, not specifically about this mess here. This isn't in a real place with any importance - it straddles two depressing campuses away from where people live, so it matters far less.
... said JayK on Dec 15, 2016 at 9:48 AM | link