Quote:
Originally Posted by nequidnimis
The Location, location, location rule is well known.
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And it has frequent and a wide variety of exceptions. Dramatic architecture can be (and often is) one of them.
And we'll just have to agree to disagree about the location of ORH. Its location may be better in 20 years IF Folsom becomes the shopping street the planners envision. For now, it's in the middle of nowhere next to a freeway--with poor transit access--IMHO. It's a long walk to the Embaracadero and an even longer walk back up the hill. The reason San Franciscans like living on top of hills is the views but a 60-story building is going to have views in any case. And having lived for a few months up a steep hill, I wouldn't do it again.
PS: You needn't lecture me about how The Infinity came to its present design. I followed it from the beginning as you did. It may be the one example I can think of of a building that was definitely improved by the planning process. You could argue, though, that ORH and The Millenium are others. ORH was originally proposed as shorter and the Planning Dept., to its credit, urged that it be made higher, while The Millenium was to be two less interesting towers. But I would argue that the developer of ORH probably proposed the original shorter design thinking that would be easier to get approved in height-shy San Francisco and was as surprised as the rest of us when given a chance to make it taller.