bluff2085

Nice work, TBurban. It took me 2 years in the LSU Architecture school to learn design for me was more of a spectator sport. I've decided to approach the building/development industry from another angle. But for now I'm able to enjoy some guilty pleasures like 8 hours of sleep and alcohol on weeknights. BTW another good program for 3-D modeling is Autodesk VIZ. Along with Autocad you can create some pretty realistic looking buildings...though VIZ helped me more with interior renderings

an [unscientific] list of 24 Southern cities [no oklahoma or kentucky though] with the formula. Houston is number one pretty easily. 1. Houston = 10.51 2. Atlanta = 7.65 3. Dallas = 7.31 4. Miami = 5.83 5. New Orleans = 4.18 6. Charlotte = 3.34 7. tie...Austin/Nashville = 3.05 9. San Antonio = 2.86 10. Tampa = 2.58 11. Memphis = 2.19 12. Jacksonville = 2.12 13. Birmingham = 2.11 14. Fort Worth = 2.09 15. Orlando = 1.97 16. Little Rock = 1.47 17. Winston-Salem = 1.41 18. St. Petersburg = 1.34 19. tie..Baton Rouge/Raleigh = 1.31 21. Jackson, MS = 1.06 22. Mobile [including BH] = 1.03 23. Shreveport = 1.001 24. Columbia, SC = 0.81

Thanks for the comments, guys. Personal opinion works at judging skylines but numbers might supplement those opinions. I tried to factor in mid rise buildings b/c big cities always have a ton of them but they're overlooked in the skyline battles. If I finish studyin anytime soon I'll try and plug in the numbers and post the South's top ten "earthquakes"

My bad, forgot to add the Horseshoe. That gives Shreveport 5 bldgs >20 floors with a floor count total of 115. Plug that in and: Shreveport = 1.001 on richter scale I estimated NYC's to be around 50 or 55

Atlanta: 7.65

Ok, I admit I wasn't taking notes in physics today, but I did make some adustments to the "skyline formula." The old one punished cities that had a relatively high number of buildings b/t 5-11 floors. Here's the new formula: [#Bldgs >20 floors] X [#floors in Bldgs >20 floors] X [#Bldgs b/t 5-11 floors]. Divide that number by 10,000. Then take square root of that number twice. =skyline richter scale. Did this for the same cities as before, and then added Nashville, Birmingham, and Shreveport. New Orleans still wins. Baton Rouge: 1.31 Memphis: 2.19 Charlotte: 3.34 New Orleans: 4.18 Nashville: 3.05 Birmingham: 2.11 Shreveport: 0.90

I'm glad emporis added low rise buildings to their database. But I wish they had photos too. I just haven't spent enough time in New Orleans to have a real favorite. Plus the built environment in New Orleans has sort of an organic feel to it, where buildings are less likely to be viewed as products of design. I think this is directly related to NO's density and its appealing, socially-enhancing street life. Same thing with NYC--the buildings are impressive nonetheless, but it's the street life that grabs your attention first. On the other hand, when I'm in a sprawling city like Houston or Atlanta, the relative lack of street-level activity lends itself to the examination of the next-most appealing sign of life--the buildings. With that said, the building I am most fond of in Baton Rouge is Shaw Plaza. It has the most commanding presence in the Essen office corridor, without being noticeably taller than Jacobs Plaza nearby. It's a successful blend of power and grace and would look good anywhere in the city.

Hopefully the Sterling is the beginning of a north-bound infill/re-development trend along Highland Rd. We've had representatives of Old South Baton Rouge actually show up at Student Government meetings, bemoaning LSU's efforts [or lack of] to reach out to the Old South BR community. Projects like Sterling that extend LSU-spawned development further inside the boundaries of OSBR might represent such an outreach. If anything, these developments serve to blur the racial dividing line that is State St, not to mention their effect on surrounding property values.

Hey guys, check this out. I had a couple hours between classes this morning and started browsing through Emporis.com. With the help of my TI-86, I thought it would be cool to post the "skyline ratios" [term I made up] of a few cities. Here's what I did: Counted the total number of floors for all buildings in a city 20 stories or more. Then, I divided that number by the total number of floors for all buildings in that city between 5-11 floors. Then I multiplied that fraction by number of buildings in said city at 20 stories or more. Very, very unscientific, but I thought it might be an indicator of how big a city's skyline is. Baton Rouge: Total # of floors for [5] buildings at or above 20 stories: 121 divided by--total # of floors for buildings b/t 5-11 stories: 324 = 37% then -- 37% X 5 = 1.85 [skyline ratio] Memphis: Total # of floors for [12] buildings at or above 20 stories: 313 divided by--total # of floors for buildings b/t 5-11 stories: 507 = 62% then -- 62% X 12 = 7.44 Charlotte: Total # of floors for [18] buildings at or above 20 stories: 554 divided by--total # of flloors for buildings b/t 5-11 stories: 883 = 63% then -- 63% X 18 = 11.34 New Orleans: Total # of floors for [28] buildings at or above 20 stories: 1009 divided by--total # of floors for buildings b/t 5-11 stories: 898 = 112% then -- 112% X 28 = 31.36 New Orleans blows Charlotte away. But what's amazing is, if you look at Emporis, the number of buildings in Charlotte b/t 5-11 stories that have been built in the last 10 years. That city's growth is really amazing and the skyline isn't the only symbol of that.

Where's this gonna be in relation to the College/I-10 junction?

I think SF wins this one easily. Pittsburgh's skyline is awesome but might fare better against a smaller metro like Charlotte.

Very cool! The smoothened exterior is a nice touch to the original design, which somewhat resembled an ionic breeze air purifier

The article also mentioned that occupancy rates in the College/Acadian corridor are exceeding 99%. That is amazing! Maybe an office high rise [or at least a midrise] to complement Marriot could be in the works. Seems like vacancies under 1% would certainly justify it. Also, I'm interested in the future of that land across from Citiplace [on the north side of corporate blvd b/t office buildings and Reserve condos]. The pace of development in that area suggests those trees will be coming down pretty soon! Am I wrong in assuming this forest patch covers developable land?

Here's an article from yesterday's Commercial Appeal that has some good things to say about Music City Star. article

Wow. Downtown office occupancy at 96%! That really makes me optimistic about 2 CP going up in a hurry, and it makes the mixed-use tower discussed for the old advocate site sound feasible enough to become a reality sooner than we might have expected. But dare I say the article failed to mention Riverplace? Did it even belong in the story? I'm not sure.

Nice showdown, Nate. Philly has a classic, big-time east coast skyline. The 1920s-era, irreplacable 15-30 story 'scrapers only complement Philly's nice collection of striking modern supertalls. Comcast is on the way,too and might be the beginning of a high-rise renaissance in Philly. But I'm leaning towards LA. It's got more supertalls and something about it is just cool. Even though its skyline reeks of ultra '80s modernism (cough, Houston, cough), I prefer LA for some reason.

Thanks Richy! Very nice. City Plaza is an imposing structure up close so I think CP II will feel very large at 17 stories. It will especially help to bulk up the skyline approaching DT from the South.

Capital Plaza Tower? Is this the high rise envisioned for the old Advocate site? Just making sure. I thought this tower (for the old Adv. site) was conceived partly as an alternative to Laurel Tower. I could be wrong. Either way it's great to know Riverplace and CP II are a GO. These buildings will fill in some big holes and really start to balance out BR's elongated skyline.

Come on, this is the Louisiana forum. No need to apologize for your immediate reactions to a one-in-a-million, compositionally flawless, all-inclusive snapshot of Baton Rouge.

Amazing shots, Nate, really awesome!

*Site photos for Trinity Towers and Fourth Street, respectively: Saw this on the CCC website today: "...the number of Downtown condos sold during the second quarter of 2006 has increased more than ten times the number of condos sold in 2005 during the second quarter."

Project: ALABASTER BUILDING Address: 678 Beale St Description: Renovation of existing 57,000sf building into 51 loft apartment units Cost/Status: $8,530,000 (planning) Photo/Rendering:

Skyline battle is back! San diego vs. Baltimore (Battle of the Coasts). Similar height and similar number of tall buildings in each skyline. Both skylines are edged up against beautiful waterfronts. This one might boil down to preference of old vs. new. I'm leaning towards Baltimore but this one might be a toss-up. San diego: # buildings 400'+ : 11 # buildings 200'+ : 38 Tallest: One America Plaza. 500 ft; 34 stories Photos: Baltimore: # buildings 400'+ : 7 # buildings 200'+ : 40 Tallest: Legg Mason Building. 529 ft; 40 stories Photos:

Here are a couple of additions to the list: Project: Supply House Condos Address: 61 W Georgia Ave Description: Renovation of the Hoover building into 42 condominiums; includes new, 9-story expansion Cost/Status: $26,000,000 (planning) Photo/Rendering: Project: Tennessee Brewery Address: 495 Tennessee St Description: Renovation to the historic brewery into mixed-use development; to include condos, parking garage, and ground-level restaurant/retail space. Note: from 9/6/06 edition of The Commercial Appeal: "The developers will seek a zoning exemption to build up to 154 feet, or 14 stories, on the one-acre site. At its highest point the existing structure is 108 feet. An application to the Land Use Control Board requests permission for the project to exceed the nine-story height limitation in the area. The LUCB could hear the matter in October." Photo of original structure: