What should an iconic downtown Austin tower look like?

[The ATX]

There are a lot of differing opinions as to what an iconic Austin tower should like. I like the quirkiness of the proposed 98 Red River (and it's future Phase II partner 99 Red River) project just as much as I like the simple straight up verticality of the BBVA (PNC?) Tower proposal.

What would your ideal Austin tower look like?

Here are my two favorite towers in the U.S.

Wells Fargo Tower in Minneapolis:




Williams Tower in Houston:


Both images are from Wikipedia.

[the Genral]

Ding ding ding ding ding!!!!!!!!!!!! You could add the BoA Plaza Tower, Atlanta, or the Key Tower in Cleveland. Interesting that all four of the towers were built in the 80s and early 90s. The Williams Tower is my favorite of the bunch, and to my surprise, the oldest, 1983. It aged pretty well imo. To get us to the next level, we need something like these.

[Jdawgboy]

I've said this before but I would love to see a taller companion to Frosty, not necessarily the same crown but something that complements Frost while at the same time taking our skyline to the next level. Since we've already gotten this far with the proposed supertall, my dream tower should be in the 1,100 foot range.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by the Genral

Ding ding ding ding ding!!!!!!!!!!!! You could add the BoA Plaza Tower, Atlanta, or the Key Tower in Cleveland. Interesting that all four of the towers were built in the 80s and early 90s. The Williams Tower is my favorite of the bunch, and to my surprise, the oldest, 1983. It aged pretty well imo. To get us to the next level, we need something like these.

Yes! I loved the Post Modern towers of the 80s, early 90s. One American Center is our lone GOOD example of that period.

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by The ATX

Yes! I loved the Post Modern towers of the 80s, early 90s. One American Center is our lone GOOD example of that period.

You might have seen this before, I remember reading an article in the 80s regarding a critic of Architecture from Newsweek. Austin Towers repeated that article here. Needless to say, he was not a fan of our 80s building boom when we weren't getting anything close to what other cities were getting. I thought this would be a relevant read.



https://www.google.com/url?client=in...pjR5_VBaCtgMqf

[The ATX]

If we are only talking crowns, no one will ever top (pun intended) the one on my third favorite skyscraper in the U.S.:




Source: All images via Google so get over it.


Besting the Chrysler building crown would be like creating something better than Beethoven's 5th or the Long Version of Sanctuary.

[the Genral]

The absolute BEST hands down, game over, class dismissed, end of story, put a fork in it. I love it because they wanted to make sure the Chrysler Building would be the tallest, which it was, for 11 months. They built the crown inside the building keeping it hidden and waited for the 40 Wall St Tower to top out before lifting it to the roof and besting the competition by 123 feet. They didn't just stick a pole on the roof, they went all out, e-l-a-b-o-r-a-t-e! Its still NYC's most incredible spire today. Glad to brought that up.

[Maximusx1]

I think the Republic design would translate really well to being even taller. An 1100'-1200' version of that would be iconic and beautiful. Like these others they'd have to nail the crown lighting.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

I've said this before but I would love to see a taller companion to Frosty, not necessarily the same crown but something that complements Frost while at the same time taking our skyline to the next level. Since we've already gotten this far with the proposed supertall, my dream tower should be in the 1,100 foot range.

There is that 1,394' supertall in Dubai with a crown that was inspired by (stolen from?) Frost:


Source: Google again.

[Syndic]

Why don't architects realize that every city's inhabitants want to be defined by a sleek, iconic, tiered, Art Deco tower?



This is Rose Hill in NYC.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by Syndic

Why don't architects realize that every city's inhabitants want to be defined by a sleek, iconic, tiered, Art Deco tower?



This is Rose Hill in NYC.

I think architects are on board with that. It's those damn developers and their bean counting financial backers that change the narrative.

[We vs us]

The “Keep Austin Weird” ethic is really giving architects an opening to try a pretty wide range of things here, IMO. For a city our size, to have the Independent, The Sail, 5c, The Republic, and now the kooky super tall... that’s A LOT of experimentation for a metro with 2M people in it.

I like that flexibility — we’ll be known for new age iconic architecture before you know it. But. There’s also the chance that you kiss some frogs along the way....

[ahealy]

Oh man, something like 400 West Market in Louisville


OR

A taller Great American in Cincin



Either way, I can easily see something classic, conservative, timeless and TALL.

[mercury6]

The Key Tower in Cleveland.

*disclaimer* It's my hometown

[drummer]

The Hobby Building in downtown Austin.






jk

[lonewolf]

I think there are a lot of great examples here

Symmetrical: this makes it easier to move your eyes up and down the structure, taking in the design. These aren't broken into distinct parts, they all work in concerto, naturally lifting your gaze to the summit. Contrast below

[drummer]

^ You know, I do think I would like the proposal more if they continued the angle on the top section rather than making it a sudden 90 degrees. Those types of angles can draw your eyes up as well.

That said, I also believe that unique, non-traditional architecture has its place. If this one is built as is, I suppose a second supertall is needed for Austin to satisfy those who would appreciate the latest iteration of Chrysler building-inspired neo-art deco. We'll take more supertalls.

[lonewolf]

"unique, non-traditional architecture has its place" ... completely agreed!

It looks like the discord is that half the board believes its place is among unique clusters of sub 400' buildings and half believe it has a place in skylines as signature skyscrapers.

[Geckos_Rule]

Originally Posted by The ATX

I think architects are on board with that. It's those damn developers and their bean counting financial backers that change the narrative.

Something like that would be incredible.

IMO, the greatest style of supertall tower would be International Style, which was mainly throughout the 70's. We have one in the Bank of America tower on 6th, but iconic towers in that style were/are the old WTC, the Sears (Willis) Tower in Chicago, and the John Hancock Building in Chicago.

Sadly though, I'm not sure there's any plans for a building like that in any city. Realistically, I think the best two options for what could actually be built here are something like the earlier renderings of Hudson's Site in Detroit (pic below) or the One Chicago tower under construction (pic also below).

[We vs us]

That's lovely. The two towers scheme reminds me of Travis 1 and 2.