Wow! That looks really good. Don't know if there is enough parking, though. Future parking to the north looks like it may be in Bedford Park and awaiting agreements. Also looks like exiting on to 71st street west may be possible to avoid traffic on Harlem. Can't wait to see this finally announced with full drawings. Nice to see two practice fields too.
That looks very cool. At first glance, here is what jumps out. 1. Roof over both sidelines that seems to cover almost all the seats. 2. Upper deck on the West side for sure. 3. East side configuration tough to tell, but presumably luxury boxes and press boxes instead of an upper deck 4. Horseshoe seating configuration as expected 5. Brick facade on the east side with archway entrance. 6. Stagelike feature on the south end that could serve as a helicopter pad in a pinch. 7. Two practice fields on site. 8. A decent amount of onsite parking.
a pathetic excuse for a roof hopefully it's engineered to keep the sound in! Section 8 will sound great with a roof like the one they have at HDC.
I am 95% in love with this design. My only gripe is that the upper level of seats is set back at the back of the lower level (a la old SF or the HDC) and not thrust forward like the club level at NSF. The sightlines from the club level are amazing and I will dearly miss them.
True. But the club level will be on the east side at Bridgeview. Those will be el cheapo seats. The roof is a full roof over both sides. I can confirm these are two of the rendering posters that are in the Fire office -- so these are what it will look like as much as can be told right now.
Cool. It would be nice to get a peak at the eastside configuration if you happen to find one on the side of the road.
I think the design looks pretty good except for that roof.... I mean that roof is pretty pathetic, guys. Hell, our roof at our stadium will look much better than that. But beyond that I think it's a good design.
Thanks for the post Liam. The guts of the stadium definately look like HOme Depot Center, but the brick facade and outside design are definately all Chicago. Good work by the Fire staff I really like it.
Huh? in what way? it completely covers the sideline portion of the stands on each side and is metal. I don't see how that registers as 'pathetic'. I don't think it looks anything like the HDC personally (not that it would be a bad thing). The general seating configuration is close but it looks a lot different.
I think it looks great but I want to see more detail on the seating before I give it a complete thumbs up.
First impression is that I'm underwhelmed. It doesn't have that "retro" look I was hoping for. In fact, it looks like another NSF: mixing the old and the new. The roof is the new part and it just doesn't fit. The bottom is the old, the brick part and there really isn't enough ornamentation on it. No tower . Roof doesn't cover all the seats. But it does use the big Rookery-like arch. Maybe when I see a scale model I'll change my mind, but right now I'm disappointed. But it's our own place so I'm not really really disappointed.
all i have to say is it's a low resolution, black and white, computer-generated rendering scanned from a printed piece. I think maybe some of you are trying to infer an awful lot about these images based on that is all.
man, that is freaking awesome looking. to that ****** from colorado complaining about the roofs, take another look. they're not just metal boards hung up to try to pass as a roof. look at how they're suspended from the back, with a psuedo suspension-bridge type thing. its a pretty cool design i don't know, but for some reason, this stadium seems like it'd be a great fit for the Fire, and i really hope they go with something like that. if they do, then the best organization in the league (i can't wait until we tear it up next year, so i can go back to saying the best team in the league) will have the best stadium in the league. and hey, maybe Chicago will finally get a wc qualifier.
I Love it. Yeah it would have been better to have a fully enclosed ground. But we all have to be realistic, that wasnt going to happen. And to end up with brick and partially covered sides. I can fully appreciate this and what the club was trying to do. Its not fully modern like Victoria Street and its definitely not an Erector set like CrewStad and its not a wok like Dallas. I like and I just hope they dont trim anything else. I love the towers over the stage. Hopefully those and the rigging that holds up the roof will be lit up at night. I even like the name on the roof. Sadly I dont see FIRE spelled out on the seats. The overall design SCREAMS Chicago from the Prairie School style architecture to the bold METAL roof. I couldnt ask for anything more. If we had unlimited funds and could build anything we want than yeah more could, but we dont. But its better than the open pit mine that DallasFC is getting and the Erector set at CrewStad and the chararcter-less Victoria Street. I'm really excited now! Thanks Liam you rock mate!
The images look great, and clearly they are missing some detail, I can't see how anyone could complain though. Either way, I think the stadium looks awesome. Hopefully it comes out as nice as this model w/o any last minute cutbacks for whatever reason. 2006 can't come soon enough! Good timing for the pics too, some good news after such a rough ending to '04.
Please folks remember, that these are simply the first renderings. If this project is anything like Crew Stadium, HDC and Frisco things will change significantly between now and final construction.
I'm glad there is something to take my mind off not making the playoffs. For me, the biggest design issue for the stadium is traffic management. If I can get in-and-out quickly off of 55 or 294, I'll love the place. If I'm stuck in gridlock, I will not. It's going to be crowded, and intimate, with a grass field just for soccer. I'm glad they are investing in the roof, because that will add to the intimacy. The facade is a nice gesture, but not really that important in my opinion. I wonder if they could build a "green monster" behind the south end to reflect sound back into the stadium. Just a big wall behind that stage. Paint a giant Fire logo on it.
so is there like a generic blue print that all the stadiums are following? variety is the spice of life...
East stand, where the enternace is. Suites are second level, club seats are first level. Stadium club is basically the whole of the upper levels in the main stand. Actually, the tower is still included (doubtful with a clock, though cause of cost as I heard). Its right above the archway. These renderings are pretty close to final. Maybe not 100% but 75% or more. They've basically started construction. But these computer renderings are lacking the detail you'd see in a artist's rendition or something -- i.e. ornament and brick (and name on seats on the sideline, which will be there as well as an 8 in the Harlem End). So I wouldn't go too goofy yet. Biggest dissapointment is the seats in the end aren't steeper pitched like Naperville. But it's better than SF and that relative dissapointment is pretty damn far down the list. I really do wonder where people get the idea this is generic or like the other MLS stadiums being built. I don't see it at all. What, they all have seats? They are all on 4 sides? They all have that rectangle of grass in the middle? How uncreative.
I think you sort of ran past my point....the view is what I am after, not necessarily being in the "club" level (although that couldn't hurt). Having a raised section of seats thrust towards the sidelines creates a pretty fantastic view, you see the full field nicely and nothing feels too far away. It does not appear that any sightline at the new stadium will approximate that and it makes me a bit sad, I will miss it. However, that doesn't mean that there isn't a whole lot about the rendering here that I like....like I said, I am 95% happy....95% is still an A.