AUSTIN | Misc. Discussions - No Politics

[mercury6]

Seems like this thread is more about being anti-observation deck, or at the least, pessimistic towards an observation deck. Honestly, it's giving cranky old man vibes in here

[StoOgE]

Originally Posted by DougRockstead

I was noticing on the web-page for the Republic that we may kinda/sorta get our wish. It appears to have an outdoor dining area on one of the top level floors (not clear which one but the artist renderings put it higher than the Frost tower). So not a true obervation deck, but I assume if you get a dinner up there you'll get to look around.

I believe that is an amenity floor likely for a cafeteria for office workers.

[StoOgE]

Originally Posted by mercury6

Seems like this thread is more about being anti-observation deck, or at the least, pessimistic towards an observation deck. Honestly, it's giving cranky old man vibes in here

I mean, there are zero proposals for a public observation deck in Austin. It's not pessimism it's people discussing the realistic challenges of something like this happening.

I would also rather the city mandate street level retail, affordable housing and safe sidewalk interaction than an observation deck. If we are going to spend our collective political capital making demands of private developers there are more pressing matters than an observation deck

[Lobotomizer]

It may have already been mentioned, but besides the UT observation deck, there is an observation tower at Circuit of the Americas. There may also be an opportunity one day for the old Mueller control tower to be open to the public.

[IluvATX]

I was just in Bangkok and nearly every hotel had a rooftop pool/bar/restaurant. I think that’s our best chance at any kind of observation deck given the Austin hotel market.

[ArchGuy1]

Originally Posted by IluvATX

I was just in Bangkok and nearly every hotel had a rooftop pool/bar/restaurant. I think that’s our best chance at any kind of observation deck given the Austin hotel market.

The Baiyoke Tower II that was built in 1997 has an actual observation deck on the 77th floor in addition to a restaurant on the topmost floor, which is I think the 84th or 85th floor. That building is purely a hotel otherwise. Additionally, the King Power Mahanakhon that was built in 2018 has an actual observation deck on the top floors and that building is a mixed use hotel and residential skyscraper. Unlike Austin, an observation deck was included with at least one skyscraper when skyscrapers the height of Austin's upcoming tallest buildings began to dominate the Bangkok skyline. The same can be said for many Asian cities such as Saigon, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, and Seoul. So, how are things different in Asia compared to Austin, where many of the skyscraper observation decks can be found in mixed use and hotel skyscrapers in addition to office skyscrapers.

[EagerTurnip]

Originally Posted by ArchGuy1

Saigon, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, and Seoul. So, how are things different in Asia compared to Austin

Well for starters these cities have much larger metro populations than Austin

Shanghai - 41 Million
Seoul 26 Million
Beijing - 22 Million
Saigon - 21 Million
Hanoi - 8.3 Million
Kuala Lumpur - 7.5 Million
Hong Kong - 7.3 Million
Austin - 2.3 Million

They're also all capitals and/or the largest cities in their country. Austin is the capital of Texas but Houston and Dallas are both larger and more famous

[OfficialPBreton]

Originally Posted by ArchGuy1

So, how are things different in Asia compared to Austin, where many of the skyscraper observation decks can be found in mixed use and hotel skyscrapers in addition to office skyscrapers.

Hundreds of years of differing histories, including widely varying local and national governance structures, multiple wars, and basically anything else you can think of other than "having large building"?

I get that some people may perceive this as being cranky or whatnot, but there's a constant back-and-forth of people with large amounts of knowledge saying "here's the situation currently", and one person responding "but what about x,y,z that's completely not responding to anything you said and is basically irrelevant?! Huh? What about that?!"

Observation towers exist, and there are many around the world on large buildings. There are not, however, any on any flavor of big building in Austin. It is unlikely that in the near future that will change. I think it's doing a disservice to the knowledge base we have on the forum here to keep beating the same dead horse ("y u no observation tower, Awestin?"), when instead we could talk about the possible policies that could make a space for observation towers to exist in the future.

[drummer]

*golf clap while nodding in agreement*

[We vs us]

*backs up drummer's golf clap with a secondary golf clap*

[ArchGuy1]

Originally Posted by OfficialPBreton

Hundreds of years of differing histories, including widely varying local and national governance structures, multiple wars, and basically anything else you can think of other than "having large building"?

I get that some people may perceive this as being cranky or whatnot, but there's a constant back-and-forth of people with large amounts of knowledge saying "here's the situation currently", and one person responding "but what about x,y,z that's completely not responding to anything you said and is basically irrelevant?! Huh? What about that?!"

Observation towers exist, and there are many around the world on large buildings. There are not, however, any on any flavor of big building in Austin. It is unlikely that in the near future that will change. I think it's doing a disservice to the knowledge base we have on the forum here to keep beating the same dead horse ("y u no observation tower, Awestin?"), when instead we could talk about the possible policies that could make a space for observation towers to exist in the future.

What made skyscrapers with observation decks viable in Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, Hanoi, and Kuala Lumpur viable when they started having skyscrapers the size of the tallest under construction or proposed built in those cities. Before then, these cities had a skyline similar to what Austin had before the skyscraper boom that it has had in the 20 years, especially the past 5 to 10 years. Before then, these Asian cities did not have an observation deck open to the public before those skyscrapers were built, but many had revolving restaurants and other sky high bars and restaurants.
Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, and Beijing had purpose built observation towers built in the early to mid 1990's, though they were also broadcasting and radio communications towers. Two or more supertall skyscrapers with observation decks on their top floors have popped up in all of those cities in the 25 to 30 years since those purpose built towers were constructed.

An urban observation tower is by its nature a communal experience.

In Texas they are all run by public entities. As much as most Forum members love their Texas private developers, communal is just a short slippery slope to communism.

[IluvATX]

Originally Posted by smallfrie

An urban observation tower is by its nature a communal experience.

In Texas they are all run by public entities. As much as most Forum members love their Texas private developers, communal is just a short slippery slope to communism.

[Riverranchdrone]

How is an observation tower a sign of communism? I do not understand this concept. Please enlighten me.

[ohhey]

Is this thread a prank? I feel like I'm going crazy reading through it.

[Sigaven]

Originally Posted by ArchGuy1

Will that space be open to the public.

Off topic but do you have something against question marks? Lol.

[The ATX]

Let's wrap up this nonsense. Austin is not getting a tower with a public observation deck anytime soon. Listing other cities and buildings with observation decks is pointless.

[Jdawgboy]

So whats everyone's thoughts about the missing guy found in the water, near the Rainey Street District? I frequently walk the trails in the evenings after work and lately been thinking of avoiding that area, however the incidents happened in the early morning hours so I think its safe enough walking in the evening. Still I've heard all sorts of gossip and my best friend lives in the neighborhood along E, Cesar Chavez and she's heard people in her area talk about a possible serial killer...

So I guess the main point of my question is are these simple accidents over the past few years or is there something more going on?

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

So whats everyone's thoughts about the missing guy found in the water, near the Rainey Street District?

I think this particular case was an accident. His family was told there was no visible scratching or scarring on the body.

Missing man found in Lady Bird Lake, police confirm

If you watch the KVUE video, it says

Family members say surveillance video showed him stumbling from the bars, but there are no cameras to show them what happened closer to the water.

I think it was an accident caused by too much alcohol, and very poor lighting on the trail near where he was found.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by LoneStarMike

I think this particular case was an accident. His family was told there was no visible scratching or scarring on the body.

Missing man found in Lady Bird Lake, police confirm

If you watch the KVUE video, it says



I think it was an accident caused by too much alcohol, and very poor lighting on the trail near where he was found.

Sad but at least it wasn't due to nefarious actions in this case.. I'm a little surprised though as I didn't think the water would be so deep next to the shoreline by Rainey, I go kayaking and have set off from near that area and it's fairly shallow for a few feet from the shore before it gets deeper so I'm assuming he just didn't know what direction the shore was after falling in and went into the deeper water. Speculation I know but regardless, there have been several incidents over the last few years so something needs to done so something like this doesn'thappen again. Anyhow I'll continue to walk my regular routes but I have become more watchful of my surroundings.