Quote:
Originally Posted by eliasrapp98
Honestly, I think CITC is a much better looking building than the ACC. I understand the loss of 400 feet, however it would have looked out of place. I also HATE buildings that are just tall glass rectangles with only a few interesting design points. I'm actually not a huge fan of the Cira Center for that reason (however the size of that building makes it pretty good).
Philadelphia has a truly amazing set of tall buildings that are all architecturally interesting. The Liberty Places, Comcast Center, PSFS, City Hall, and Mellon Bank Center are all amazing to look at. CITC is WAY more visually stimulating. I am not a fan however of the large squares as they make the building look smaller (at least in the renders). Both buildings do look slightly out of place imo, but in 10-15 years when hopefully more supertalls go up, it will start to blend right in.
I just hope this goes up before any problems can be had. The sooner the better. I only have one more worry or thing that I would change and that is the usage of the space. The Four Season says 200+ rooms. The current one has 374 and even some of the smaller ones (Boston) have 273 rooms. I hope they mean more like 250+ and not like 210 rooms. Another thing is shopping. The ACC had a huge mall and shopping center underground. The CITC could have similar plans (maybe connecting it to the Market under the Comcast Center). I hope more than one restaurant is included as well on the first floor (I'm sure this will happen). Also I wish there was at least some residential. Those would sell tbh.
Regardless, I'm psyched and won't really complain as long as this is built to plan.
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Looking at the two proposals, I've always felt that the ACC was the better looking proposal, IMHO since it looks like a world-class tower. A one-of-a-kind design if you ask me!!!!! I don't see how people can say that it's copying of the Freedom Tower when they're two completely different designs. Actually, it's said that the Freedom Tower copied off the original Comcast Center proposal back in 2005 sans the spire. The ACC spire personally looks a lot better than the one on the Freedom Tower.
The CITC looks like a bunch of stacked milk crates covered in glass if you ask me!!!!! It doesn't look inspiring neither does it look like it can be an iconic piece of work like the Twin Towers, Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building in NYC, and the Sears and John Hancock Towers in Chicago. Even though it seems like the CITC will have the same amenities as the ACC such as the hotel, the retail space, and the connecting concourse to Suburban Station, the exterior and interior design overall isn't a hit, but rather a miss.
The ACC had everything going for itself except a major tenant even though the economy was the worst since the great depression. What's funny about it is that the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center, and the Sears Tower were completed when the economy was down and all the aforementioned towers started to struggle economically during their early inceptions. I'm personally hoping that the CITC doesn't get built because it's a subpar building and hope the ACC comes back with a slightly differing design or something similar comes at 18th and Arch.
I still don't see how the CITC is better than the ACC, considering the ACC had the better design, had the better economical plan (pension fund plus 50% of office space would've been leased to the major tenant as opposed to the Comcast Center, where 90% is leased; similar to how the Sears Tower started out and we know what happened after Sears left the building), and the aesthetics were better. But I guess that's just how Philly is: always looking to be mediocre
!!!!!