Absolutely ridiculous discussion from our Denver forum meet
 

So as promised, I found the picture.. I don't know why I did this in the first place but it's kinda awesome in a stupid way.. [Yes these are to scale]

I refrained from putting this in the development thread because this could start some crazy talk and clutter it.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8331/8...d4f3f5ca_b.jpg

And...

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...89371203_n.jpg

Both of these buildings are placed at 20th and Weltonish area. Gives you a great sense of scale on how large the world's mega structures are but it also gives you a GREAT perception of how a supertall would absolutely destroy our skyline.. For now, infill for the win!

Ridiculous, I tell ya!

Who the hell was advocating for that? Who's the new Warren?

I'd like to see some 30th floor sky bridges between the 3 tallest in Denver, or barring that, some sort of gondola lift or zip line.

oh, i don't know.

i think if you lop off the top 300 feet or so of the willisears tower, you'd have just the right height for a new tallest, and in just the right location from this vantage point:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...DenverTest.jpg

:tup:

Bahaha. 1400 ft. is still a little tall given our tallest is only 714ft. I would say if we were to go to Texas and steal Anadarko or something major to HQ here, a 1100 footer or so would be good for our skyline.. But first the 30 some stories in 1801 California need to get sold before we can dare build that high dense of a tower.. (And get our 1,000,000 parking lots around downtown filled in)

actually, what is left in the illustration is only about 1,100 feet tall. the rooftop height of willisears is 1,454, and i took off the top 20 floors or approx. 300 feet.

also, if the design was more tapered vs. so blocky, it might look even better!

I think we're down to 950,000 parking lots. The rest of them are home to "atypical 5-story Denver buildings" now.

LOL -- Very cool/nerdy/ridiculous discussion. I love Denver. Y'all are all right.

It's Denver, I wouldn't get any hopes up for a non-blocky building. ;) I was subtracting pinnacle height not roof height. My bad.

Bahahahaha. Or the 'atypical E shaped 6/10-story half block buildings' (I'm not complaining but Colotecture is slightly humorous.)

yeah, us boiseans can totally relate. "blocky buildings" seems to be an intermountain west thing.

we give our architects a block of wood to start with, and encourage them to whittle something fun for our skyline:

http://stupidknews.com/wp-content/up...od5_Amazon.jpg


they come back with this:

http://theperfectdaughter.files.word...ck-of-wood.jpg


:gaah:

lol

Chopped-Willis definitely fits in, esp. next to similarly lego-stacked-looking 1801 California.

If Denver's skyline was a person, it would look like this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...nny/kryten.jpg
Photobucket user: whosyerdanny

Well, they both do look ridiculous, the Burj in particular. Reminds me of OKC's current skyline.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...kc_skyline.JPG

Nice job on the renderings!

That is a good comparison actually, just a taller overall height.. Oohh OKC...

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss a supertall in Denver. Putting the Burj Dubai in Denver is an utterly ridiculous scare tactic (even surpassing anything FOX News would do) to villify any building over 1,000 feet in Denver. Heck, Burj Dubai would even look ridiculous in New York or Chicago. Sears Tower looks fine to me, and the "lopped off" version just makes a boxy skyline even more boxy. As for Devon in OKC, the reason that building looks out of place is that from - most vantage points - the tower is on the very edge of the skyline and throws the balance of the skyline way off; it is not "centered".

Anyone who doesn't realize that the stubby 714' tall Republic Plaza has been the tallest building in Denver for over 30 years is giving our skyline no hope and no chance of becoming anything more substantial in the future. In fact, this 30-year span is the first time since the founding of Denver wherein the city has never built a new "tallest". As for location, 20th and Welton would be a great place for a supertall in Denver. Below is a building I conceived about 14 years ago and met with the city and several corporations hoping to get the ball rolling, back when office vacancy rates were flirting with 3%. Jennifer Moulton (RIP), whom I met with in person regarding this project, was super-excited and hooked me up with almost everyone I needed to talk to. Obviously only in my early 20s at the time, I had no credibility. Aaron (glowrock) and myself were, in fact, mentioned in the Westword. Ah... those were the days.

Below is a rendering some of the "old heads" on this forum will instantly recognize. My proposal would have given Denver's skyline the "Charlotte effect", and would have added grace and elegance to the Denver skyline, and put the image of us being a boxy skyline to rest once and for all. At 1,170' tall, Denver World Center would have been something else, tell ya what. IMO, a tower like this is exactly what Denver needs to completely transform our dull, boring, stale, and drab skyline into one of global acclaim and prominence. Ultimately, there are no corporate headquarters to be the driving force behind a trophy tower like this, and a tower of this size would NEVER be built purely on spec, even in the best of real estate markets. I'm not even going to get started on THAT subject - (but now you see why I was so passionate about corporate HQs a very long time ago. I couldn't find a drink in the desert when there was no water to begin with)...

Denver is pretty much stuck at 714' for a very long time; perhaps not even climbing above that at any point within the span of our lifetimes. Speaking sarcastically, we might as well just impose a fake height limit over our city to hide the shame that we simply don't have the economics to ever construct a building taller than Republic Plaza. At what point will it get old? For me, it already has. Anyway, let the criticism come! You know how much I get off on being the despised "d-bag", although I have no long-term plans of being involved on this forum like I once was. Probably won't even revisit this thread. Just wanted to touch base and say "hi", and let my rendering see daylight for the first time in oh 10 years or so :-)

http://www.nycsystem.com/other/qwcstapleton.jpg

http://www.nycsystem.com/other/qwcstapleton2.jpg

This was incredibly well spoken. Nice picture too :tup: It is a very depressing subject but hey, we're going through a huge residential boom right now and you never know what that could spark as far as companies are concerned. I guess we can hope.