Repainting of Epcot Central Plaza?

Slowjack

Slowjack

Well-Known Member
The more I've thought about this, the more I realize what a mistake was made removing the concourse walkways and removing/covering the windows. The walls of glass made the mammoth buildings approachable. Yes, the original paint schemes were a bit sterile but that didn't matter because you weren't so much looking at the buildings as you were looking in or through them. Guests walked through the air-conditioned buildings instead of walking around them, and in doing so, passed the interior exhibits and stopped when they saw something interesting. If you were outside, you saw the people inside and wondered what they were seeing and doing. Walking between walls of glass surrounded by parkland (as you were in the early days) just plain felt better than being walled inside a convention space.

Seeing these pictures of the way it was reminded me of how much has been lost. Don't get me wrong -- I don't want to see the return of the Astuter Computer Revue or the touch-screen taxi game from way-back-when. But regardless of content, why not return this part of the park to a state of beauty and elegance?
 
articos

articos

Well-Known Member
Slowjack said:
The more I've thought about this, the more I realize what a mistake was made removing the concourse walkways and removing/covering the windows. The walls of glass made the mammoth buildings approachable. Yes, the original paint schemes were a bit sterile but that didn't matter because you weren't so much looking at the buildings as you were looking in or through them. Guests walked through the air-conditioned buildings instead of walking around them, and in doing so, passed the interior exhibits and stopped when they saw something interesting. If you were outside, you saw the people inside and wondered what they were seeing and doing. Walking between walls of glass surrounded by parkland (as you were in the early days) just plain felt better than being walled inside a convention space.

Seeing these pictures of the way it was reminded me of how much has been lost. Don't get me wrong -- I don't want to see the return of the Astuter Computer Revue or the touch-screen taxi game from way-back-when. But regardless of content, why not return this part of the park to a state of beauty and elegance?
Click to expand...
It's the difference between being in an open setting and being walled in. One is relaxing, the other, not as much.
 
aladdin2007

aladdin2007

Well-Known Member
marni1971 said:
Get rid of that too then. Mousegear can sell plenty of pins. We didn't want the Futurechoice Theatre anyway.

Its a plaza. A meeting point. Heavily trafficked. The heart of the park. Open it up. Landscape it. Paint and decorate it respectfully.

And for gods sake finally fix the fountains PA system once and for all.
Click to expand...

Agree it really does seem like more of a mess now with the new paint, the purple poles and junk need to go.
 
dstrawn9889

dstrawn9889

Well-Known Member
like maybe it is a basecoat before they chrome everything? isnt the future all chrome?
Chrome2.jpg
 
S

Sneezy62

Well-Known Member
MarkTwain said:
True. The designs of Innoventions and MouseGear are largely at fault here for putting solid walls up against the interior windows, when Communicore/Centorium took more care in ensuring transparency and vsibility from the plaza. And that's largely the problem with this whole painting project in general, or by extension even with Epcot as a whole: trying to solve a big problem with some paint when in reality a much deeper solution is needed.

I actually think there's a lot that can be read from this repainting project. What's interesting to me is that in many contexts, this paint scheme would be considered very interesting and appropriate - like I said my architecture office works with these kind of paint schemes quite often (we're a liberal bunch of designers though). I showed the pictures to two friends in my office (over lunch break, take it easy ;)) and at first they were generally positive. When I said it was the centerpiece of a land called "Future World" and should ideally look futuristic, their responses changed more to an "...Ewww." And I think that speaks volumes. A color scheme like this might be great for a trendy outdoor mall or a children's museum, but for a land themed to showcasing the future this doesn't really work.

It's as if the Imagineers forgot what park they were designing for, or as if they assigned the color scheme assignment to a person with general color sense but who didn't have a background in what Innoventions Plaza was actually about. Or, more likely, as if Imagineering as a whole didn't know what the plaza should be about, and looked to the major presences of MouseGear and Innoventions for an answer, and decided maybe the area *is* a shopping mall or children's museum. In any case, like most Epcot projects, the repainting is oblivious to any larger, overarching design scheme for Epcot, assuming one exists anymore at all.
Click to expand...

Nailed it. It looks like a cheap rehab of a children's museum in a city short of funding. If it was in Detroit or St Louis one could look at it and say job well done. Not in Epcot. No offense to The fine folks of Detroit or St Louis intended.
 
BoarderPhreak

BoarderPhreak

Well-Known Member
Omnispace said:
It was built for the Millenium celebration. It was intended to create a sense of excitement. (One can't really deny that it has a circus tent-like qulaity.) And visually it is a vertical element in an otherwise flat and horizontal plaza. I suppose that the former trees used to provide some verticality to the plaza when looking south but I read somewhere that the trees weren't doing well in the difficult soil conditions. (Anyone know more about that?) But when you consider that the "tent" was built specifically for something that happened over 14 years ago, perhaps it's time to come up with something fresh.

One good thing that I like about it is that it creates a focus to the plaza and the kiosk actually creates a nice structure for people to congregate around in what would otherwise be a wide open space. (People like to congregate at "edges".) I remember waiting by the fountain one afternoon to meet-up with a friend and there was lots of people hanging out and enjoying the space that I'm not sure would be there otherwise. But then, it looks like it was a nice plaza back when they had the trees and reflection pools so the "tent" pretty much compensates for paving over a greenscape back in the 90's. One change begets another....
Click to expand...
Correct, and exactly my point... It should've gone the way of The Wand. ;)

It does add a necessary vertical element to the plaza. As it was back in the 1980s it was just too open, and there was no shade. The sail does provide some of that, at least. But I think it also blocks the view of SSE, which should be the primary focus in that area, especially now that Communicore is a wasteland.

They should take more elements from Project Gemini, incorporating more green space - which would provide more (and necessary) shade, seating and congregating areas, etc. It would also serve to downplay what they felt they needed to do to Innoventions to "dress it up" with that hideous paint job.

I doubt removing the trees had anything to do with "difficult soil." It's no different there than anywhere else in EC. What may have been an issue however is all the cement in the plaza - which absorbs and retains all the heat of the sun, drying everything out.
 
Omnispace

Omnispace

Well-Known Member
Slowjack said:
The more I've thought about this, the more I realize what a mistake was made removing the concourse walkways and removing/covering the windows. The walls of glass made the mammoth buildings approachable. Yes, the original paint schemes were a bit sterile but that didn't matter because you weren't so much looking at the buildings as you were looking in or through them. Guests walked through the air-conditioned buildings instead of walking around them, and in doing so, passed the interior exhibits and stopped when they saw something interesting. If you were outside, you saw the people inside and wondered what they were seeing and doing. Walking between walls of glass surrounded by parkland (as you were in the early days) just plain felt better than being walled inside a convention space.

Seeing these pictures of the way it was reminded me of how much has been lost. Don't get me wrong -- I don't want to see the return of the Astuter Computer Revue or the touch-screen taxi game from way-back-when. But regardless of content, why not return this part of the park to a state of beauty and elegance?
Click to expand...

Excellent points. I've thought about why they made the changes they did back in the early 90's. Having the two concourses with their internal walkways definitely made the area much more permeable -- both visually and physically. The outer pavilions of Future World were much more accessible. The only real critical issue with the original layout is that the concourses competed with the plaza for being the focus of Future World. No doubt someone felt that the Plaza should be the focus and we see the results of that today. Also, closing-up the buildings allowed for the exhibits to be designed for a controlled environment so that theatrical lighting can be used more effectively. It's a somewhat lazy approach but at least one doesn't have to deal with that messy sunlight changing things all day long.

Also, despite what a nice clean design it was, I think Disney was tired of their Communicore buildings being compared to this....

2008.129.019.jpg


...which really isn't a bad thing.
 
Omnispace

Omnispace

Well-Known Member
wdwmagic said:
One hope for improvement is that I understand this project will run through to the summer. With the speed they are going at with paint, they will be done in a few weeks. That leaves time to do more with other things.
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It will be interesting to see what happens when this new paint scheme meets the neon green at the Innoventions entrances.
 
Omnispace

Omnispace

Well-Known Member
BoarderPhreak said:
Correct, and exactly my point... It should've gone the way of The Wand. ;)

It does add a necessary vertical element to the plaza. As it was back in the 1980s it was just too open, and there was no shade. The sail does provide some of that, at least. But I think it also blocks the view of SSE, which should be the primary focus in that area, especially now that Communicore is a wasteland.

They should take more elements from Project Gemini, incorporating more green space - which would provide more (and necessary) shade, seating and congregating areas, etc. It would also serve to downplay what they felt they needed to do to Innoventions to "dress it up" with that hideous paint job.

I doubt removing the trees had anything to do with "difficult soil." It's no different there than anywhere else in EC. What may have been an issue however is all the cement in the plaza - which absorbs and retains all the heat of the sun, drying everything out.
Click to expand...

Interesting that you should bring up Project Gemini. While I felt it broke up the Communicore buildings too much, I agree it did a great job of adding lots of trees and natural features. The late-70's modernism of the buildings, with the massive columns and rounded edges, has a heavy, grounded character. Since Disney seems to be all about rockwork lately, adding some appropriate rockwork to the areas around the buildings could bring some nature to the area -- make it feel a bit less sterile and urban. Then the heavy character of the buildings would be more justified, (they are of the earth), and you could get interesting juxtapositions where the natural boulders and a rugged environment interact with the modern architecture. But that's me. I love the interaction of nature with the built environment.

Also, something in the realm of Ned Kahn's work would add an intangible, ethereal quality to the buildings/plaza as well as some visual motion.



Ned Kahn >>>>
_
 
Figment2005

Figment2005

Well-Known Member
wdw71fan said:
new paint scheme is being called Kaleidoscope... just fyi...

Meanwhile, this is the first thing being done on this project.. I'm not necessarily a fan of the new look, but it will look much better once all portions of it are completed.
Click to expand...
Can you go into any more detail?
 
note2001

note2001

Well-Known Member
wdw71fan said:
new paint scheme is being called Kaleidoscope... just fyi...

Meanwhile, this is the first thing being done on this project.. I'm not necessarily a fan of the new look, but it will look much better once all portions of it are completed.
Click to expand...

Hm, Kaleidoscopes involve mirrors... that I could get on board with IF they make it look clean and not confusing. Still not a fan of the browns.
 
CDavid

CDavid

Well-Known Member
Clamman73 said:
Hopefully this paint job is part of a greater scheme that we don't know about yet which ties it all together.
Click to expand...

aladdin2007 said:
True hopefully there is a bigger plan that just hasnt been implemented in full yet. :cool: hopefully.
Click to expand...

If this is the first part of a larger project and it already looks this bad, do we really want to see any more?



wdw71fan said:
new paint scheme is being called Kaleidoscope... just fyi...

Meanwhile, this is the first thing being done on this project.. I'm not necessarily a fan of the new look, but it will look much better once all portions of it are completed.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information. I certainly hope it looks better when completed (just how could it look any worse...), but this isn't much of a beginning. Why so radical a paint scheme, or why even change it at all?
 

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