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Originally Posted by Atlas
I like the stone, tbh. I don't like that the building frontage on State street is basically a wall with no engagement but the material itself is really nice.
Thinking about it, white stone/paneling is one of the few things I can think of that could develop into a "signature" architectural design element for buildings in SLC. It's evocative of historical buildings in SLC like the Temple and Hotel Utah (and the COB...) as well as the white of the Salt Flats and (less directly) the GSL. This may be part of the reason we are seeing it show up in projects like Astra and WQ Phase II. Or maybe I'm just staring at ink blots and seeing patterns.
The other facade material that would give our buildings a more regional character is copper, and we are already seeing that in the Convexity Tower. SLC with a bunch of copper and white towers gleaming in the sunset will be gorgeous.
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I really like this idea. I think generally buildings using more local/local appearing materials would lend a greater context to the built environment. To that end, I think that RES’s use of sandstone on towers was a giant whiff. Perhaps more suited to southern utah, but it seems out of place up here.
That said, I’m not the biggest fan of the Jeckyl/Hyde look on the bottom of 95 State. I’m holding out judgement on Liberty Sky until Astra is in and there’s a little bit more context to hold it against. It does seem like a bit of an outlier at the moment though. What I specifically do not enjoy about Liberty Sky is the blue lighting on top at night. I feel as though our skyline is being overrun with neon blue (Liberty Sky, Wells Fargo, Walker (on clear nights). It just seems a bit much for me. I with they would have gone with something a little more… subdued or subtle to highlight the nice lines on the rooftop club house. As is, it really just seems garish to me.