[KevinFromTexas]

Yeah, I pretty much don't have a "favorite" among the new hotels, except for the W, but it's part condos also. Hotels to me are almost utilitarian in appearance. Hotels really only have one kind of structural appearance. A large podium area for an amenity deck with the tower rising above it. At least now days that seems to be the case unless it's some small budget hotel or a boutique hotel. Because of the needs of a hotel the buildings can't be very flexible in their structural designs.

Anyway, the skyline looked nice tonight. We went to the Trail of Lights. I gotta say, our skyline is looking great. We parked at the Westgate shopping center and took the bus to Lamar & Barton Springs. There was a woman on the bus commenting on how gorgeous the skyline has gotten. She was commenting on that because as we were passing the park over the river the bus driver turned off the interior lights in the bus so we could see the park. The view of the park with the Christmas lights, plus the moon up in the sky and the skyline rising behind was really pretty. My brother was also saying that our skyline is really starting to look impressive.

And I gotta say, one of the things I look forward to the most when a new building is finished is seeing what the lighting design will be. I really think so far that most of the new buildings have had pretty subtle lighting designs. Sure, there's the Frost Bank Tower and The Monarch with pretty spectacular designs, and I guess AMLI on 3rd that is pretty intense, but most of the others are pretty low-key. I sort of like that actually. I really love the look of a skyline filled with towers with lights on inside the buildings. With all the new residential buildings Austin's skyline is starting to get that look. The skyline looked particularly nice tonight peaking out through the trees contributing to the Christmas lights in the park. Spring, the W and 360 tonight especially had my attention.