Skyscraper Ideas for Fort Worth (Remodel)

[JJG]

Some of you may remember this thread from 3 years ago, where I made some Sketch Up models of skyscraper ideas I had for this city.

Just for kicks, I decided to remodel a few of them... you know because some ideas don't stay the same for ever.

Block TU
Height: (old) 991ft. / (new) 900ft.
Floors: 61
Site: E. 9th/Calhoun/E. 8th/Jones
Type: Mixed-use
Groundfloor: Retail

I'm starting with the Block TU because I wanted to change this one the most.









Height Comparison




Old design
- Garage: about 20 floors, more walls
- Ground floor: Retail facing Jones and Calhoun, car entrances facing 8th and 9th.
- Design: Split level, residences on bottom, offices on top. "Shade design" in wings.Multi-symmetrical.
- Orientation: nothing specific

New design
- Garage: 15 floors, more open/windows
- Ground floor: Car entrances facing Jones and Calhoun, retail facing 8th and 9th.
- Design: Even, residences in curved shape, offices are rectangular. "Shade design" for residences only. Only one line of symmetry.
- Orientation: Residences facing Sundance Square, rest of downtown. Offices facing the east.

[Fireoutofclay]

Amazing! You are getting better and better. Keep it up!

[DallasGene]

Very nice!

[JJG]

Panther City Tower
Height: (old) 971/ (new) 1,096 ft.
Floors: (old) 56 / (New) 58
Site: Current AT&T Building
Type: Office
Groundfloor: Retail, Office, Public/Institutional
















Old design
- Ground floor: Room for 4 big retail spaces
- Design: Basic, 3 section rectangular shape with cut-ins like the Empire State Building, top with spire and shorter pyramid below.
- Style: "Neo Deco"
- Facade Material: Stone, aluminum, black tinted windows/curtain walls

New design
- Ground floor: Room for 2 big retail spaces, 6 smaller spaces for anything else.
- Design: Even squared shape, 4 sections with cut-ins, more like a mix between the ESP and Atlanta's BoA Plaza, top with spire enclosed with mesh like restraints, and a thicker, taller pyramid. Also featuring archs for each major section of the building.
- Style: "Neo Deco"
- Facade Material: Texas Pink Granite, aluminum, black tinted windows/curtain walls, steel pattern (for top)

[JJG]

Exxon Fort Worth/XTO HQ
Height: (old) 887 ft./ (new) 921 ft.
Floors: 50
Site: Throckmorton/7th/Houston/6th
Type: Office
Groundfloor: Retail, Entertainment

This one is a bit more close to heart since I started with this AND, it angers me everyday to see the parking lot where the 50 story XTO building was supposed to stand. It's what made me want to start doing these.









Macy's facing Houston St.


Hard Rock Cafe of Fort Worth, corner of Throckmorton and W 7th.


Bubba Gump on the corner of Throckmorton and 6th.


spires and tops




Elevations





Old design
- Ground floor: 2-one story spaces for retail facing Throckmorton and Houston
- Design: Inspired by Evans Hall on the campus of Prairie View A&M and several art deco buildings.
- Style: "Neo Deco"
- Facade Material: Red stone/clay, aluminum, black tinted curtain walls

New design
- Ground floor: 3-three story spaces for retail and/or renovation. (Houston space: 1, Throckmorton space: 2)
- Design: Same as above.
- Style: "Neo Deco"
- Facade Material: Same as above, with white brick.

[Austin55]

I have to admit I've always loved your ambition but never particularly like your architecture... But that Panther City tower is gorgeous. I could deal with that in the skyline. Maybe you could do a photoshop of it to better show it off? GE's models, what few are there, don't impress me much haha. Well, except Schwartz.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by Austin55

I have to admit I've always loved your ambition but never particularly like your architecture... But that Panther City tower is gorgeous. I could deal with that in the skyline. Maybe you could do a photoshop of it to better show it off? GE's models, what few are there, don't impress me much haha. Well, except Schwartz.

If I can ask.... is it because it's done in the art deco style?

[Austin55]

Ofcourse, but I think its just because of the size of them. They just kind off feel overpowering to me. Even though Fort Worth's Biggest 7 towers take up their entire block, it mostly just the podiums, and they are all close in height. Of course this is all just my opinion! Fort Worth Skyline is a really delicate balance to me. Right now, It Kinda sucks. Its spread out, lacks anything to interesting, but then to fix that you would have to be really careful about the preserving the smaller buildings downtown. If anything FW needs deco or postmodern style high rises, vs glassy or boxy stuff. I think I'm just ranting now...

Your models are also getting a lot better! Block TU and especially Panther City look a lot better. before I would have said no to Panther City, but now it looks fantastic.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by Austin55

Ofcourse, but I think its just because of the size of them. They just kind off feel overpowering to me. Even though Fort Worth's Biggest 7 towers take up their entire block, it mostly just the podiums, and they are all close in height. Of course this is all just my opinion! Fort Worth Skyline is a really delicate balance to me. Right now, It Kinda sucks. Its spread out, lacks anything to interesting, but then to fix that you would have to be really careful about the preserving the smaller buildings downtown. If anything FW needs deco or postmodern style high rises, vs glassy or boxy stuff. I think I'm just ranting now...

Your models are also getting a lot better! Block TU and especially Panther City look a lot better. before I would have said no to Panther City, but now it looks fantastic.

I feel ya.

The ones I just showed ya are the three tallest, all over 900 ft. But the rest are below 800 or at least somewhere in that area and shorter, mainly because I feel the skyline should keep some kind of balance even with taller buildings added.

I appreciate the props. I walk around downtown ALL the time, thinking of what goes where, what fits and what doesn't, ya know? I've got at least 10 more of these coming (with some new buildings as well), so this is just the tip of the iceburg. But one thing's for sure, these three are the tallest you'll see. Everything else is shorter.

[JJG]

Burnett Plaza teaser:

[JJG]

Burnett Plaza (II)
Height: (old) 714 / (new) 409 ft.
Floors: (old) 46 / (New) 28
Site: Texas, W. 10th, Cherry, Burnett
Type: Mixed-Use
Groundfloor: Retail, Art Gallery Space, Plaza





Residential Space


For Texas....


Plaza


Tunnel, used for entries into the building and art space.









Old design
- Ground floor: Enclosed plaza with archs.
- Design: Tall skyscraper loosely based on the old Medical Arts Building.
- Style: Neoclassical/modern
- Facade Material: Brownstone, white stone, shale (roof).

New design
- Ground floor: 3-three story spaces for retail
- Design: Shorter, wider, slightly more accurate remodel of the Medical Arts Building, with an 8 story extention for residential space and garage.
- Style: Neoclassical/modern
- Facade Material: Polished granite, white stone, shale (roof), stainless steel.

[JJG]

Burnett Park Tower teaser:

[JJG]

The Burnett Park Tower
Height: (old) 767/ (new) 788 ft.
Site: current Burnett Plaza
Type: Observation (w/ restaurant)







Gold metal, with red roofing as another ode to the old Med Arts Building.







.... to one day (with hope) replace this P.O.S.


Old design
- Ground floor:Entry, storage/loading
- Design: Tower with current Burnett Plaza step design "cage".
- Style: Modern
- Facade Material: stone, steel, dark curtain wall


New design
- Ground floor: Entry, storage/loading
- Design: Same as above, only more narrow.
- Style: Modern
- Facade Material: white/grey flagstone, steel, dark curtain wall, red tile, aluminum.

[BevoLJ]

I love them!

My favorite is the first one. With the observation tower idea a close second. That is one of the better observation town ideas I've seen.

Good work.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by BevoLJ

I love them!

My favorite is the first one. With the observation tower idea a close second. That is one of the better observation town ideas I've seen.

Good work.

Thanks. I still feel some of these need some tweaking at least.

AT&T Bldg. teaser

[JJG]

AT&T of Fort Worth
Height: (old) 536' / (new) 560' ft.
Floors: (old) 37 / (New) 35
Site: current City Hall
Type: Office/Utility
Groundfloor: Retail, Office







Garage. Ground level includes retail/office space, billboards. The base includes two 107' x 158' LED boards east and west and one 107' x 148' billboard facing south.


Crown and LED Boards covering utilities.







Old design
- Ground floor: Undecided (left blank incase of just keeping the current City Hall as a base)
- Design: Zig zag cut-ins on east and west, flat north and south, with a tall crown, Southwestern colors/patterns.
- Style: Modern (80's style)
- Facade Material: Concrete, dark blue curtain walls/windows, white and teal tiles.

New design
- Ground floor: Retail/Office space and garage entry with billboards
- Design: 28 story tower with some setbacks, half brick/half glass, sitting on top of utilities and a garage.
- Style: Modern (80's style)
- Facade Material: blue curtain walls/windows, yellow brick, LED boards, white stone and steel.



..... gotta admit, I'm still playing with this one.

[BevoLJ]

You lost me with the very top part of it. lol. What is that? Like a big TV screen or something? The part right below is kinda cool. It reminds me of the Frost Building in Austin, just not quite as elaborate. The screens above that looks out of place to me.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by BevoLJ

You lost me with the very top part of it. lol. What is that? Like a big TV screen or something? The part right below is kinda cool. It reminds me of the Frost Building in Austin, just not quite as elaborate. The screens above that looks out of place to me.

Since this is suppsoed to be half utility building, I thought of covering up all the parts with LED boards. Sort of a nod to the old Landmark Tower, which had a digital clock and "CNB" on top.

But like I said, I don't know what else to do with this. Still sort of working on it...

[JJG]

Sony Tower
Height: (old) 800' / (new) 657' ft.
Floors: (old) 41 / (New) 54
Site: Florence, W. 1st, W. 2nd
Type: Office
Groundfloor: Retail



With the Hunter Plaza Apartments to the bottom left corner...






Megastore


White "SONY" letters during the day, black letters backlighting against the lantern at night.







Old design
- Ground floor: Store with 12 story garage.
- Design: Inspired by the Playstation 3.
- Style: Postmodern
- Facade Material: Black curtain wall, aluminum

New design
- Ground floor: A much larger store, nothing else.
- Design: Same, only shorter with no garage and a "shelter" structure with a lantern on top in the shape of the building.
- Style: Postmodern
- Facade Material: Black curtain wall, blue-green aluminum, clear curtain wall (lantern).

[JJG]

Burnett Hotel teaser