10-story Hampton Inn to break ground in Bricktown

It's too bad that they allowed the substandard concrete garage get built when the developers were prepared to build all brick exterior. It would never fly in today's Bricktown. But such is life.

I like this hotel's architecture much better than the Residence Inn simply because of the flat roof... It's a much better fit for Bricktown, and it will look fine in upper Bricktown. Can't wait to see 10 stories of construction rising up above the streets there!

I've always thought brick was far more urban-looking than those so-called urban projects in places like Dallas or Miami.

It really is. But it's very traditional, but I would always so to just go with what's always worked instead of coming up with these cooky designs no one will like besides architecture enthusiests (such as Victory's W Hotel).

But the deal is that brick is Bricktown, and it lasts longer and looks better, especially better than faux stucco.

Just like everything down here is done in limestone, especially the Lueders limestone and red tile roofs. I hate red tile roofs, they need to leave them in San Antonio. I like the fact they are doing things in brick it fits with the style and has a permanence. I do think on the fringes of Brickton might be a good place to explore some more modern styles and materials.

I like the W Hotel (saw it in Saturday) but then I am one of "those" architectural types.

I'm an architectural enthusiest type myself, but you have to come down to Earth at some point and think about what the grex phernalia (sp?) would think.

When I lived in Dallas the area where the W is was nothing but empty lots or crumbling buildings and area that you really didn't want to be in, so I would say it is an improvement.

I do believe in design within context and too much modern stuff is an attempt to offend for the sake of offending. That is why I think on the periphery of Bricktown might be a good spot, especially between Bricktown/Deep Duece and the Medical Center area.

For the record, the developer of the parking garage and the hotel is Power Alley Management or something like that, and they're based up in Madison, WI.

I also like the combination of modern and historic styles in Bricktown- let's face it, we'll never be able to build a new building that matches the character of Miller Jackson and the other original warehouses. If it's not old, it will not look old. So why not add modern flair, such as JDM's clocktower, and mix it with the historic style.

There is a lot of modern stuff going on in fringes of Bricktown, even on historic buildings like the formerly ugly, now weird 222 E. Main building. If done a little more moderately than that project I think modern touches add a lot to Bricktown's character, showing that it is an old place that has been made new again.

So the LOOK of the EIFS is fine... It's just the structural qualities of it. But, if properly maintained, isn't it a viable material?

I think we can appreciate that the Hampton is perfectly traditional-looking.

If EIFS is maintained then it can be a decent material, I don't feel like it should be used as a fenestration material but more as a decorative element like it is used on the Walgreens stores. There is a cmu block wall as the exterior wall of the building and the EIFS is just trim. When installed improperly or not maintained it can look horrible, if you wan to see an example of that just look at the Mayfair Plaza shopping center and especially by Souper Salads. It is both of those cases.

Now there are polymer coating systems used for concrete tilt-wall construction which can finish out and look like stucco or EIFS. After all, EIFS is meant to be a cheaper version of stucco. We do tilt-wall office and warehouse buildings so I am getting an education on those. Tilt-wall is what makes up the majority of commercial structures here in Texas. We have a project under construction in San Antonio which has brick on the bottom 2 floors, a cast stone cap and the top floor the stucco finish tilt-wall. It isn't the best of renderings but here is the only one that I know of on the net. It shows somewhat what the look is suppose to be like.
LaArcata PDF

But does white tilt-wall look any differant from white EIFS? I know certain materials will look differant in certain colors...

Finshed out they can look the same. It is the same basic polymer coating for concrete or EIFS although there are different adhesion agents. In most projects you can see a mix of concrete walls and EIFS soffits and the colors appear the same and the finish looks the same.