FISERV FORUM THREAD - Open House/Block Party 8/26

[drew881]

We should call them building reviewers and every week they should roast a stranger's home in the Life section.

This would be the equivalent of the theater or music critic attending a 3rd grade recital and letting the damn of criticism open the floodgates on 8 year old recorder players. I’m down...

[CountMe3Outs]

There have been much more ghastly facilities built here in the recent past...



Be grateful the seating configuration of Fiserv Forum is among the best around, and learn to embrace the quirkiness of its exterior.

[stellation]

They review all kinds of things from big buildings to renovations to small developments to public spaces.

Great so it's exactly as I imagined.

Those things happen much more frequently than you think.

Not gonna tell you how to city, but architecture criticism is a valid and important role for any municipality.

[Pachinko_]

all they need to do is paint the roof faux-zinc

[emunney]

Great so it's exactly as I imagined.

Those things happen much more frequently than you think.

Not gonna tell you how to city, but architecture criticism is a valid and important role for any municipality.

Sure but imagine being one.

[trwi7]

Those things happen much more frequently than you think.

Not gonna tell you how to city, but architecture criticism is a valid and important role for any municipality.

Sure but imagine being one.

I bet you would get called a buttress a lot.

[stellation]

Those things happen much more frequently than you think.

Not gonna tell you how to city, but architecture criticism is a valid and important role for any municipality.

Sure but imagine being one.

Imagine spending thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars on university courses that equate to 75% architecture criticism!

[doublejman69]

I think once the lots north and northeast of the arena are developed that should mask the white arches to the ground level.

[paulpressey25]

I think once the lots north and northeast of the arena are developed that should mask the white arches to the ground level.

Unfortunately once those lots are developed we'll lose a little bit of the massive perspective of the building when viewed from street level a few blocks away. Planners may want to watch elevations of new buildings to come.

[crkone]

all they need to do is paint the roof faux-zinc

Just throw some epoxy on it, like a garage floor.

[emunney]

Not gonna tell you how to city, but architecture criticism is a valid and important role for any municipality.

Sure but imagine being one.

Imagine spending thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars on university courses that equate to 75% architecture criticism!

And that would be the fun part! Imagine the city you serve putting up it's once-a-career downtown construction project and it's... not very good.

[MickeyDavis]

From todays JS

The demolition of the Bradley Center is underway, and, rather than a wrecking ball, the building is being "deconstructed" one locker and luxury suite at a time.

Starting this week, dozens of Habitat for Humanity volunteers and workers have swarmed the former home of the Milwaukee Bucks.

They're unbolting equipment, furniture, fixtures and other items that are then priced and trucked off to one of three Milwaukee County Habitat ReStore shops.

Among the first artifacts to land in ReStores: lockers from the visitors' locker room priced at $125 each and clearly marked as coming from the Bradley Center.

"These are ready for someone's mudroom or for someone's garage," said Jake Weiler, deconstruction services manager for the Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity.

Other items include Milwaukee Admirals lockers — bench-style chairs with storage underneath for $65 each. Upper storage cabinets are $30. A fancy light fixture is $55.

Chairs from the arena's theater boxes are sold in "runs" at $30 per chair, so a six-seat section is $180.

Habitat workers have a binder with photos and prices for each type of item that will be salvaged. The pieces are carted into a lobby area, identified and priced, and then loaded onto a truck.

Habitat expects that it will be allowed to remove items from the locker rooms for the Bucks and Marquette University Golden
Eagles men's basketball team. Final details haven't been worked out and prices for those lockers are not set.

A walk around the Bradley Center provided a bittersweet look at how the building won't be around for long — and how recently it was rocking. The air conditioning is off and the sound of power tools and workers calling out to each other ring through the empty halls.

Luxury suite No. 302 was stripped of seats, counters and plumbing fixtures. A visitor had to step around chunks of drywall and boxes of plumbing parts.

A nearby theater seating suite had quartz countertops leaning against a wall. Nearby were sheets of paper reserving seats for a guest, presumably from the arena's final event, a Bon Jovi concert.

The former Admirals locker room was picked clean as well, with battered, unfinished drywall where the lockers stood.

"Wow, this is where we would have post-game interviews," said Bucks communications coordinator Eric Kohlbeck, looking about the empty shell. "Pretty amazing."

Weiler estimates that Habitat will raise at least $50,000 from the Bradley Center equipment sales.

"Every dollar that we raise there we're using to build homes with," he said.

The work at the Bradley Center is one of the numerous deconstruction projects that Habitat undertakes every week.
It's a well-organized, speedy operation. The Bradley Center visitors' locker room, for instance, was taken apart in a matter of hours.

Habitat workers can remove what the organization needs from a single-family home in less than a day, Weiler said.

"We can be doing a kitchen one day, a bowling alley another day," Weiler said. "I blocked off the entire month for just the Bradley Center."

The Bucks control the Bradley Center as part of the deal that led to the $250 million in public financing for Fiserv Forum, the team's new $524 million arena just to the north. The last Bradley Center event was held at the end of July and the grand opening of the new arena was a month later.

Equipment and fixtures from the old arena were donated by the Bucks to Habitat, Milwaukee Public Schools, the electrical workers union and other organizations. The Bucks estimate that the salvaged material is worth in excess of $1 million.

[gyp]

A walk around the Bradley Center provided a bittersweet look at how the building won't be around for long — and how recently it was rocking.

LOL. Knock it down already.

[MickeyDavis]

Yeah nothing bittersweet about it. I saw some good concerts and a lot of bad basketball. ECF season was fun but that was a long time ago.

[gyp]

Are smartphones so ubiquitous that it’s a bizarre anomaly to need to enter the building using an alternate method?

https://onmilwaukee.com/buzz/articles/fiserv-forum-how-to-tickets.html

”Now, let's say that you own a flip phone or your mobile device died while you were enjoying a beer before the game or you don't own a computer and you don't have a library card and internet cafes haven't existed since around Y2K. You can still definitely get into Fiserv Forum.

"You can give us a call, and we have solutions for those folks. At no point is this technology meant to prohibit any type of person from getting into the building," said Morningstar, explaining that they can print off tickets or verify your tickets on location at Fiserv Forum for those in need. But they handle these all on a case-by-case basis – and honestly, that'd be more of a hassle than simply downloading an app, making an quick account and hitting a few buttons.”

[HaroldinGMinor]

At the end of the day it is subjective but at least in terms of art, architecture, film, music, etc. there's history, structure, aesthetic, form, function etc. etc. etc. that can be broken down and analyzed. Critics provide the "why" something works or does not work. Studying film structure and screenwriting literally changed the way I watch and appreciate movies. Listening to the critics on Sound Opinions podcast has opened my eyes to all kinds of new ways to appreciate different kinds of music.

I think you're confusing my amusement as a sign that I don't believe in either the value of criticism in general, the value of architectural criticism specifically, or the value of architecture as artistic expression. What is funny to me is thinking of somebody filling their time between major new buildings reviewing some pre-fab piece of **** with the same discerning scrutiny they'd turn toward the hand of an artist at work. It's funny to me to think of somebody with this sophisticated background getting up in the morning and putting down 1,000 words on, you know, the two story house for cats somebody threw up in their backyard. But I guess that's not so different from what well-trained movie and music reviewers do. Most stuff is bad!

fair enough. probably not all that different from being a Bucks beat writer either I suppose.

[Thunder Muscle]

Yeah nothing bittersweet about it. I saw some good concerts and a lot of bad basketball. ECF season was fun but that was a long time ago.

I certainly will be nostalgic at some point to the BC. For alot of years it was the only NBA venue that I really knew so I didn't have a ton to compare it to thus in that sense it was fine enough. But from a personal standpoint I have alot of good memories of college between graduation, storming the court, and the Crean era MU teams. Alot of fun times going to games with my wife and making a weekend of out it (pre-kids), friend debauchery, and going to games with my Dad. So even though there were many below average Bucks teams, I still enjoyed the times I had in the building.

That article was the first I heard of them selling stuff. I would think that is a good sign for people that want to by arena seats when it gets to be time to remove those.

[MickeyDavis]

So Piet says that the FF isn't a good place for a comedy show and I get it. But no big arena is a good place for a comedy show. As for ticket sales, Hart has been here a lot and I think his star has faded somewhat. I know personally I like his older material to his new stuff. I think sometimes once a comic makes it big they spend less time developing funny stuff.

The venue is still dazzling, the staff remains large and friendly. But those inviting social gathering places in the concourse frequently killed the comedy, where silence at times is golden — and crucial.

I sat in Section 117, pretty close to the floor, and again and again loud chatter and laughter from people hanging in the hallway intruded on Hart's setups and punchlines. It was extremely distracting, and at times, irritating.

Also noticeable Thursday: Despite the distinction of being the second show ever at Fiserv Forum, ticket sales were significantly softer for Hart compared with his last Milwaukee appearances.

Three years ago, he sold 15,000 tickets for six shows at the Riverside Theater. On Thursday, several upper-bowl sections where seats had been sold were curtained off. Those ticketholders were relocated to the lower bowl, but still there were several largely empty rows all around the arena.

Fiserv Forum had its first noticeable customer-service blunder Thursday. I had a ticket for a seat in section 222 — a section I later learned was one of the ones curtained off. But no one told me that as I showed security my ticket, and there weren't any signs about it anywhere, or any staff members in the upper concourse telling ticketholders about the change. Instead, I stumbled upon a long line of people leading to a lone table where only two employees were handing out new tickets.

At the first Fiserv Forum show with the Killers last week, one key issue was the unreliable WiFi connection inside the arena's seating bowl. There was no way to see if that had been improved Thursday: There were "no phones allowed" signs everywhere, tons of "cellphone security" personnel walked between the aisles like prison guards, and Wells repeatedly mentioned the no-phone policy during his routine, warning that people would be ejected. Curiously, the video screens above the in-the-round stage promoted the social media handles for the opening comics — although I'm not sure how people were going to start following them on Twitter and Instagram if they couldn't have their phones out.

[trwi7]

So Piet says that the FF isn't a good place for a comedy show and I get it. But no big arena is a good place for a comedy show. As for ticket sales, Hart has been here a lot and I think his star has faded somewhat. I know personally I like his older material to his new stuff. I think sometimes once a comic makes it big they spend less time developing funny stuff.

The venue is still dazzling, the staff remains large and friendly. But those inviting social gathering places in the concourse frequently killed the comedy, where silence at times is golden — and crucial.

I sat in Section 117, pretty close to the floor, and again and again loud chatter and laughter from people hanging in the hallway intruded on Hart's setups and punchlines. It was extremely distracting, and at times, irritating.

Also noticeable Thursday: Despite the distinction of being the second show ever at Fiserv Forum, ticket sales were significantly softer for Hart compared with his last Milwaukee appearances.

Three years ago, he sold 15,000 tickets for six shows at the Riverside Theater. On Thursday, several upper-bowl sections where seats had been sold were curtained off. Those ticketholders were relocated to the lower bowl, but still there were several largely empty rows all around the arena.

Fiserv Forum had its first noticeable customer-service blunder Thursday. I had a ticket for a seat in section 222 — a section I later learned was one of the ones curtained off. But no one told me that as I showed security my ticket, and there weren't any signs about it anywhere, or any staff members in the upper concourse telling ticketholders about the change. Instead, I stumbled upon a long line of people leading to a lone table where only two employees were handing out new tickets.

This isn't great either.

At the first Fiserv Forum show with the Killers last week, one key issue was the unreliable WiFi connection inside the arena's seating bowl. There was no way to see if that had been improved Thursday: There were "no phones allowed" signs everywhere, tons of "cellphone security" personnel walked between the aisles like prison guards, and Wells repeatedly mentioned the no-phone policy during his routine, warning that people would be ejected. Curiously, the video screens above the in-the-round stage promoted the social media handles for the opening comics — although I'm not sure how people were going to start following them on Twitter and Instagram if they couldn't have their phones out.

[MickeyDavis]

Wifi isn't some new technology and other arenas seem to have figured it out. Hopefully they will do so here too. I don't spend much time on my phone at a game, really only before the game and maybe halftime but it would be nice to have a good, reliable connection.