trainplane3
Well-Known Member
That first one is old:
And seeing as to how the other ones say "Epcot Center" and "Future Choice", none of this art is new. Probably just better quality then what we've seen.
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Creations Shop opening this summer
- Thread starter wdwmagic
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And seeing as to how the other ones say "Epcot Center" and "Future Choice", none of this art is new. Probably just better quality then what we've seen.
Haymarket2008
Well-Known Member
Yeah there is no new concept art in his latest post. All pre-1982. Which I find odd....
TikibirdLand
Well-Known Member
A circle is symmetrical. Yet, they pulled down Communicore leaving an "arc". I'm glad I'm not on InstaChat
Well, Communicore never actually met at the Northern and Southern ends. Communicore was technically two arcs.
TikibirdLand
Well-Known Member
True. But, that's closer to a circle than what they've got now...
retr0gate
Well-Known Member
I'm an architecture student myself. Reading Zach's instagram posts is giving me too many flashbacks to sitting in on 3+ hour critiques while listening to other students as they try to drum up an explanation for their projects. On one hand, I can appreciate the justification for such a simple design. There's a lot of thought that goes into the spatial qualities of the building. On the other hand, it sounds like total BS - trying to make something basic sound more interesting than it actually is. Something I feel happens way too often with modern design. Architects design buildings like this for other architects. "Less is more" is a major design principle in many of the buildings we see built today, and while it can work at times, the average tourist is not going to care about the symbolism behind the flooring or the parti of the building itself. I think it's absolutely wonderful that they're considering such small details, but they ruin any chance of people taking it seriously by slapping Mickey Mouse all over the damn thing.
In short, it's a nice, sophisticated design that I believe works for a modern day EPCOT. I think it's a much better use of the space than Mouse Gear ever was. As much as I loved Mouse Gear, I always thought it felt out of place given its location. This was a step in the right direction, but at the end of the day it's just another copy and paste Disney gift shop. The art looks nice, but from what we've seen there's nothing really bold or iconic about it. They've clearly put a lot of thought into the design, it's just a shame that it likely won't show in the final product.
In short, it's a nice, sophisticated design that I believe works for a modern day EPCOT. I think it's a much better use of the space than Mouse Gear ever was. As much as I loved Mouse Gear, I always thought it felt out of place given its location. This was a step in the right direction, but at the end of the day it's just another copy and paste Disney gift shop. The art looks nice, but from what we've seen there's nothing really bold or iconic about it. They've clearly put a lot of thought into the design, it's just a shame that it likely won't show in the final product.
jt04
Well-Known Member
Well said.
I want to believe they have their eye on a longer term plan the culminates in about 2032. Oct 1st 2032 specifically. Perhaps that is an optimistic assumption.
aladdin2007
Well-Known Member
well said and I agree,,,,I can't help but think though he is trying to justify the mess they made and what they are doing by using original Epcot concept art to look good, which really bugs me. They don't have enough solid plans for the area (they keep changing their minds by the day) to really show what they plan to do so he has the audacity to pull out original concept art and use that instead.
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lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Those are words, but then again this is a guy who non-ironically used the term “vertical columns”.
Parti is not really a small detail. It’s an underlying organizational scheme, and in the case of CommuniCore it organized not just those buildings but all of Future World, giving a pattern to its objects in space. Even if great care is being put into this one building, it’s larger whole is being knocked down and sliced apart. There’s no point to a center in World Celebration when it is an amorphous blob.
Epcot82Guy
Well-Known Member
This 100%. There was such care in the original design from a layout and flow standpoint. With so many of these Epcot projects, I can't help but think someone in California is designing them from one, straight on perspective without actually sitting in the space. It's literally like living in the world of the Instagram shot - forgetting people could walk in every direction and see the massive banana clips in the girl's hair.
This is literally like tearing down half of Main Street USA on one side. You could AT BEST create some type of asymmetric balance. And that's tough to do.
Well, to armchair this... they *could* redesign the toadstool Festival Center to match the footprint of Communicore West with the ground floor being a wide open breezeway with the Northern end covering the beginning of Journey of Water (storm clouds and waterfalls from the ceiling!). Then the second and top floors could be used for conventions, festivals, and viewing areas.
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
I think it's a bit different here. Most people already have a visual reference for what a generic "Main Street" should look like, with buildings on both sides. Future World / World Celebration aren't attempting to emulate anything, so asymmetry could theoretically work, and I certainly don't hate the general concept of more streamlined, futuristic architecture leading into World Discovery and more organic architecture woven together with denser vegetation leading into World Nature. However, from the aerial concept art we've seen so far, I'm not entirely convinced it will be successful visually. I'm willing to give it a shot from the ground once it's done, though.
What confuses me (as a complete non-architect, mind) is, assuming there was some sort of mandate that they reduce CommuniCore space by half and introduce the festival building, why they didn't maintain the symmetry by chopping off the southern extent of both structures beyond the breezeways and centering the festival building where the Fountain of Nations once stood. They could've still fit Journey of Water into the southwest area and things like the popcorn kiosk into the southeast. In my mind, this would've also had the additional benefit of allowing them to phase construction more effectively by leaving CommuniCore east and the surrounding paths completely open while they constructed Creations Shop and Club Cool in the west. Then, once that was finished, they could've shuttered the east to work on the new table service restaurant. No need for a temporary MouseGear, and it would've really improved traffic flow.
jt04
Well-Known Member
If Future World was originally designed with a dozen uniquely designed purpose built pavilions and Imagineering decided to add a mirror image of the largest of those buildings, people would be complaining it was cutting of half of the area and creating a claustrophobic crater. With no breezes.♨
Bocabear
Well-Known Member
I don't get your point...They tore down buildings, they are adding nothing...
All they are doing is going back to the original EPCOT John Hench building... The Centrum looked like what they are doing... Mouse Gear was a cartoony overlay.
Zach is blogging as if no one ever saw the brilliance of the original buildings and that he and his team are creating something when in fact they are just removing lousy overlays and freshening it up. It should have stayed like this...
Just wait, he’ll conjure up a delusional point eventually. From his last visit in 1981 when EPCOT Center was being built.