Suburban Sore Thumbs - Page 6

rds70 · #**101** Posted **Aug 11, 2020, 7:51 PM**

Denver has the Rocky Mountain Tower:

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.6961...7i16384!8i8192

AviationGuy · #**102** Posted **Aug 12, 2020, 2:31 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Echostatic

Austin has the Pinnacle Tower, which sits up on an enormous hill and still has the highest roof in the city.

It's still our fourth tallest suburban building.

https://www.statesman.com/storyimage...-191209884.jpg

From the parking lot

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2321...=en&authuser=0

Poking up in the suburbs

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2341...=en&authuser=0

Down in the valley

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2338...=en&authuser=0

Well and truly a sore thumb, visible from miles and miles away

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2164...=en&authuser=0

I didn't realize the Pinnacle Tower was a fairly short building on a tall hill. I thought it was actually a tall building. Never have driven up to the building in all of the decades I've lived here.

R1070 · #**103** Posted **Aug 12, 2020, 3:14 AM**

For DFW... The University Skyline in Denton seems like the most random to me.

tommyboy733 · #**104** Posted **Aug 13, 2020, 1:31 PM**

What about rural towers? The entire time of Whittier, Alaska, lives in a single building.

Its a small industrial village / harbor wedged between the mountains and the ocean.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wh...4d-148.6838888

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begich_Towers

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/12/us/wh...rnd/index.html

JManc · #**105** Posted **Aug 13, 2020, 5:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommyboy733

What about rural towers? The entire time of Whittier, Alaska, lives in a single building.

Its a small industrial village / harbor wedged between the mountains and the ocean.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wh...4d-148.6838888

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begich_Towers

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/12/us/wh...rnd/index.html

I've been there. Absolute trippy place.

cabasse · #**106** Posted **Aug 13, 2020, 5:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by R1070

For DFW... The University Skyline in Denton seems like the most random to me.

some great examples of brutalist architecture there.

niwell · #**107** Posted **Aug 13, 2020, 8:17 PM**

Toronto's been covered pretty well, and since there are so many suburban highrises it's hard to find examples that really stick out.

The African PwC headquarters in Johannesburg comes to mind, which is actually located in Midrand and about equidistant from the Joburg and Pretoria CBDs:

From Google maps:

https://goo.gl/maps/LxquCycE5iULGiqG7
https://goo.gl/maps/r3pyb7gS61159Ew46
https://goo.gl/maps/8FkAqXcWruDag95QA
https://goo.gl/maps/ivDtRmtMxJ9q9vCB8

Subiaco.co.za

https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/ar...cbd-2017-02-27

It's part of the Waterfall City mega development which contains the country's largest mall (Mall of Africa), a huge amount of office space with the aims of a creating a new suburban CBD, and multiple high end residential developments ranging from estate subdivisions to condo towers.

Right now the tower sticks out across the Veld for many km in either direction but is at least fairly decent looking. The development itself is pretty horrible and follows a lot of the worst in suburban planning trends, though gives at least some lip service to pedestrian experience and public transit access (mostly feeder buses to Midrand Gautrain station). Eventually the tower is supposed to be joined by a taller one as well as more midrises, but I'll hold my breath for a while.

PoshSteve · #**108** Posted **Aug 13, 2020, 9:54 PM**

Midrand is just completely depressing to an urbanist. Sandton is bad enough siphoning from downtown Joburg (though I understand why/how its existence came about). But now Midrand is aiming to replicate that and pull the center of gravity further to the north. I imagine it will pull from not only Sandton and downtown, but now also from Pretoria as well. Sprawl at its worst...

It does look like there is a huge amount of sprawl between Johannesburg and Pretoria already though. Are they considered one metro yet? I just learned the Gautrain goes to Pretoria, so I'm guessing they have a fair amount of commuters between the two.

niwell · #**109** Posted **Aug 14, 2020, 1:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by PoshSteve

Midrand is just completely depressing to an urbanist. Sandton is bad enough siphoning from downtown Joburg (though I understand why/how its existence came about). But now Midrand is aiming to replicate that and pull the center of gravity further to the north. I imagine it will pull from not only Sandton and downtown, but now also from Pretoria as well. Sprawl at its worst...

It does look like there is a huge amount of sprawl between Johannesburg and Pretoria already though. Are they considered one metro yet? I just learned the Gautrain goes to Pretoria, so I'm guessing they have a fair amount of commuters between the two.

Yeah Midrand is pretty gross. The one upside it has is that the suburban sprawl more accurately represents SA's racial demographics than the stereotype of the rich White Northern Suburbs (also increasingly untrue). Statistics SA doesn't really measure metro areas in the same way we do in North America, but Joburg-Pretoria is effectively one massive multi-nodal urban area at this point. Independent organizations have termed it the Gauteng City Region or Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging complex. Not sure what the commuting stats between the two is but I know there are many Afrikans speakers who choose to live in Pretoria and commute into jobs in Joburg.

The technical boundary between the two metros runs diagonally through this aerial: https://goo.gl/maps/3iTsmr6sA2ar7CjV7

deja vu · #**110** Posted **Aug 16, 2020, 3:17 AM**

That Mecca clock tower complex is one of the ugliest things ever built. Speaking of kingdoms with ugly new architecture, the Grand Castle Apartments might be the worst offender on the west side of Michigan. Completed in 2018 in Grandville, MI (suburb of Grand Rapids). 15 stories / 178 ft -

Source

Steely Dan · #**111** Posted **Aug 16, 2020, 3:24 AM**

^ great call.

I remember driving past that thing on the interstate a couple of years ago and thinking to myself "what in the high holy fuck is THAT!?!?!"

it's one of the strangest and ugliest things I've ever seen , and the location is beyond random.

Is it really just a regular old apartment building? I assumed it had to be casino-related because shit that unapologetically ugly and massive in some random-ass place is usually only built by casinos.

SIGSEGV · #**112** Posted **Aug 16, 2020, 4:32 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by deja vu

That Mecca clock tower complex is one of the ugliest things ever built. Speaking of kingdoms with ugly new architecture, the Grand Castle Apartments might be the worst offender on the west side of Michigan. Completed in 2018 in Grandville, MI (suburb of Grand Rapids). 15 stories / 178 ft -

Source

Wow. Just wow. Can those Bud Light Dilly Dilly dudes please do the world a favor and raze this castle? I'll forever forgive them for their dumbass commercials.

Apparently living like royalty in this monstrosity is relatively inexpensive: https://www.grandcastle.com/floorplans.aspx (or is it? I have no idea what things rent for in Grand Rapids).

Here's a Streetview for the morbidly curious: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9136...7i16384!8i8192

jd3189 · #**113** Posted **Aug 16, 2020, 5:11 AM**

^^^ That building looks like it came out of Minecraft.

JManc · #**114** Posted **Aug 16, 2020, 7:10 PM**

That thing is so tacky...I can't hate it.

llamaorama · #**115** Posted **Aug 16, 2020, 7:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jd3189

^^^ That building looks like it came out of Minecraft.

The blue roof makes me thing of Legos, too

TWAK · #**116** Posted **Aug 16, 2020, 9:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by deja vu

That Mecca clock tower complex is one of the ugliest things ever built. Speaking of kingdoms with ugly new architecture, the Grand Castle Apartments might be the worst offender on the west side of Michigan. Completed in 2018 in Grandville, MI (suburb of Grand Rapids). 15 stories / 178 ft -

Source

There's literally a place across the street from Disneyland that looks like this and my parents always said it was too expensive

. Sac has an ugly parking lot tower, but it's in the city limits.
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.6117...4!8i8192?hl=en

SIGSEGV · #**117** Posted **Aug 16, 2020, 9:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TWAK

There's literally a place across the street from Disneyland that looks like this and my parents always said it was too expensive

. Sac has an ugly parking lot tower, but it's in the city limits.
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.6117...4!8i8192?hl=en

The address of California's department of health planning is 2020? No wonder.

MolsonExport · #**118** Posted **Aug 16, 2020, 9:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by deja vu

That Mecca clock tower complex is one of the ugliest things ever built. Speaking of kingdoms with ugly new architecture, the Grand Castle Apartments might be the worst offender on the west side of Michigan. Completed in 2018 in Grandville, MI (suburb of Grand Rapids). 15 stories / 178 ft -

Source

Automatically this is one of the world's top10 ugliest buildings. Quite possibly the ugliest in the United States. Way worse than the hated Kaden building.

llamaorama · #**119** Posted **Aug 16, 2020, 10:07 PM**

The Kaden Building at least tries to be "architecture"

craigs · #**120** Posted **Aug 16, 2020, 10:25 PM**

The Grand Castle Apartments may be the winner of this thread, and by 'winning,' I mean losing. It's worse looking than even that similarly-themed casino-resort located in Las Vegas. At least Vegas' well-known fantasyland reputation can offer partial cover for such a childish flight of fancy, but the Michigan suburbs? That is one gigantic sore thumb.