Why I Like Cincinnati (Part 1)

Architecture

Cincinnati has some wonderful architecture.  I love going around town and seeing the art of the buildings all around.  It is truly one of my most favorite parts about Cincinnati.

The Scripps Tower is Headquarters to the E. W. Scripps Company which owns over 15 newspapers, multiple local TV stations around the country, and several cable channels including HGTV, DIY Network, and the Food Network.

The Famous Union Terminal was finished in the early 30's, and has become a symbol of a bygone era of rail travel.  It now houses Cincinnati's Museum Center.

Although the Roebling Suspension Bridge isn't a building, it's architecture still adds quite a bit of character to the river front.  John Roebling later designed the Brooklyn bridge.

The Cincinnati Music Hall was dedicated in 1878.  It has been the home to the Cincinnati Opera, and Orchestra for over 100 years.  At one time it was threatened along with Union Terminal to be demolished.  Thank goodness it is still around for us to admire.

The University of Cincinnati started master renovation plan in 1992.  It's focus has been to draw top architects to redesign the campus as an architectural Mecca.  In many ways they have succeeded, and I love it.  Here is a view from Tangeman University Center looking toward the Steger Student Life building (Left) and the Stadium (Right).

St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica in Covington is one of the finest examples of religious architecture around Cincinnati.  Although Cincinnati has dozens of beautiful churches, this one is dramatically impressive.  The Cathedral completed in 1915 has multiple Mosaics made from hundreds of thousands of bits of colored glass.  It also has the largest church stained glass window in the world.  Here is a view from the alter looking toward the west end.

High enough to sky dive from? - Almost

Recently there has been plethora of new high rises proposed that are stunning the engineering world with their height. Burj Dubai is currently under construction in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This building when finished will be somewhere between 800m and 950m tall (2625-3115 ft) about 150% the height of the Sears Tower in Chicago. It is already the tallest man made structure standing. This seems stunning, but when you hear about some of the other buildings that will top that, you wonder when it will stop. Wikipedia links you to the websites of several other buildings that have been proposed. In the world of Architecture though, proposed and built are a far cry from each other.

100 years ago, The Singer building in New York City broke the record for the tallest building at 612 ft and 47 floors. Not too long after that, the Met-Life tower bested this by another 88 feet. This was bested by the Woolworth building followed by the Trump Building and the Chrysler Building. The Chrysler building topped out at about 1047 ft. When the Empire State Building was built, it set a new precedent. At 1250 feet, it held the top spot for 40 years (longer than any other). It has never been taken off the list of the top ten tallest buildings in the world.

On Sept. 11, 2001, the next record breakers collapsed into history. The world trade center towers broke the Empire State Buildings record in 1971. The Sears tower then took the title away from New York City in 1974. The Sears tower held this spot for 24 years. When the Petronas towers were finished in 1998, it marked the first time the tallest building in the world was outside the United States. Most likely the United States will never see the tallest building within its own borders again. Taipei 101 finished in 2005 currently holds the record for the tallest completed building.

There are buildings under construction in New York and Chicago that will be taller than anything ever seen in North America. These designs still pale in comparison to the towers they are building elsewhere.

A standard static-line sky dive is done from about 3500 ft. Burj Dubai when completed will be near this magic number. People jump off of Angel Falls at about 3200 ft. Some crazy person will try jumping from Burj Dubai. I wonder what type of skyscrapers will be built in 30 years? They may even start building them with a sky diving platform.

This image compares completed buildings with notable ones under construction (in red).

This is an image of Madinat al-Hareer - a major development proposed for Kuwait

Google Sketchup - CAD for the masses

In recent years, Google has created a plethora of online and downloadable programs.  Blogger is one, Google books, Google Earth, etc.  One of these programs that quickly became one of my favorites is Sketchup.

Sketchup is a Computer Aided Design (CAD) program created by Google.  Sketchup has been designed to be a fully functional CAD program that combines a wonderful ease of use with a low price tag of  $0.  I found Google Sketchup when I was getting my military training in Pensacola FL.  I just searched for freeware CAD programs and was stunned to find one backed by a company as notable as Google.  I immediately downloaded it and began "sketchup-ing."

When I first started I took the introductory tutorials and then began experimenting.  One of my weaknesses is that I would rather figure things out by trial and error than by just reading the instructions.  This made Sketchup much more difficult for me than it had to be.  It really was as easy to use as they claimed.

Don't mistake ease of use with lack of features, however.  Google packed Sketchup with tons of features including easy texture application, shadow and fog control, style and backdrop settings, and integration with Google Earth.  There are few features in the Pro (bought) version that are not in the free version.  All the features are for various uses from simple scribbling of ideas to movie-set creation complete with scene and shot control.  Google Sketchup has made a stunning program to make CAD available to virtually anyone.

You may have even noticed some of the benefits of Sketchup without even knowing it.  People have used Sketchup to create plans for furniture.  Sketchup has also been used in architectural renderings of future buildings, such as the freedom tower being built on ground zero, etc.  Even the set of the movie "Good Night, and Good luck", directed by George Clooney, was completely designed using Sketchup.  Probably one of the most viewed uses of Google Sketchup however has been its creation of the 3d Warehouse.

The 3d Warehouse is the place for all the Sketchup-ers in the world to upload their designs.  It is a great way to get feedback on your ideas, and a great place to download excellent designs by others.  Whirlpool has uploaded every model in their lineup for people to "try out" when using Sketchup for re-modeling ideas.  As people upload quality renditions of real buildings, they are then added to the database for Google Earth.  In recent editions of Google Earth, 3d Warehouse support has been added.  This has made the Google Earth experience so much better.  You can also add your own designs to your personal copy of Google Earth.  This is great to kind of get an idea of how jealous the neighbors might get when you upgrade to a double-wide.  All told, the 3d Warehouse has added a new dimension to CAD.

Simply put, Sketchup is Amazing.

After several months I created this "house," and this afternoon I downloaded the Arc de' Triomphe.  If you have any desires to design a dream home, remodel your house, create a movie set, do some novel landscaping, etc., then download your copy of Sketchup.  It is the ideal program for the average Joe to do any of these things and more.