02/20/2016
http://i.imgur.com/QLzzYPch.jpg

Okay...if I counted correctly, the building directly behind this one in the photo is 12/13 floors (13 with the mechanical structure/roof access). So, this one should be a bit over twice as tall. Pretty cool.

Nice to see the progress here. Thanks for the photo!

I saw this in one of the New York threads and thought about our blank walls here. This could be a neat solution to that. Of course, even the New Yorkers don't like it. Of course it wouldn't have to be that design, they could paint something different, but I don't think it looks too bad.

http://rinaldinyc.com/portfolio-item...t-fletcher-st/

Its better than blank, but I'm not that crazy about that design. I've always been a fan of some form of faux windows, balconies. Either that or at least breaking up the vast wasteland with horizontal contrasting material and color at enough of an interval as to not look like stripes.

From yesterday:

https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1616/2...73d44691_b.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1563/2...4d9ac5ef_c.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1511/2...47965a53_c.jpg

Thanks Priller for the updates. This tower rising fast!

Looking good!

So much for the steel beam construction above the podium as we once thought. I think the rooms will be rather smallish.

Today.

http://i.imgur.com/t0hUmKD.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/2je9ERY.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/nqOF05t.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/MzA1NlD.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/GWAAxoP.jpg

I'm as excited to see this one rise as I am some of the other more talked about projects.

Me too. I love infill projects like this one that make a huge impact on the pedestrian experience and take very little land.

What determines a building's structural material to be steel or concrete? My guess is that it relies on nearby resources more so than engineering. For example, most all of the highrises in Austin are concrete(abundant here), where as cities like NYC and Chicago (steel mills abundant) seem to go with steel more so. Always been curious :shrug:

Price of materials, building height, building shape/architectural details, etc all play a big role. Plus, the actual budget.

http://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/...psrd6uz6jv.png

I googled concrete vs steel in highrise construction and there were plenty of pros and cons for each. Both posts prior hit on some, concrete being better at sound proofing, stiffer structure, and thinner floor plate, as little as 8 inches thick are a few more. Also the lead time to get the steel material can be a factor, up to 8 months.
Austin's tallest building in the late 30s was the UT tower and it has a steel beam skeleton with a limestone facade. Not sure where the steel came from, but I'm guessing not locally.

I have worked on numerous hospitals that have steel or concrete construction. The floor plates are Usually the same, 6 inches on top of metal decking for steel and 6-8 inches for concrete. I remember the thing I liked most about concrete was the lack of fireproofing needed. Concrete won't burn, where as with steel there is a huge amount of materials and effort involved to meet fire code so the steel won't burn.

True, unless the span is immense, greater than 35 feet, then the metal decking can be as thick as 12 inches. Neither here nor there albeit interesting to discuss, I was hoping for steel beam construction on this one. It would have been fun to watch compared to our usual wait for the forms to be put in place then wait for the cement to set before moving on to the next floor. This would have shot up pretty quick. When this broke ground, there was some speculation among some of us that it was going to be steel framed, but I'm not sure what lead us to believe that. Its still rising relatively fast considering the smallish footprint and no parking garage.

This morning.

http://i.imgur.com/dakFPUE.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/1RZCpfo.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/F43RCyd.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/YSY8foX.jpg

Siding is starting to go up. Actually looks a lot like what's on the Westin on 5th.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7332/2...223008b6_b.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7420/2...dfcb272e_c.jpg

I like the different colors in the facade.

Good to see what it's finally going to look like. None of the renders to this point have really shown what the building will actually look like. It's all been about showing off the street level interaction.