Stuff I Want to See in Skyscrapers

[Troubadour]

This isn't stuff I want to see in a single project, obviously - that would be cacophanous. Rather, I just hope to see each of these somewhere, at some time, in various places - or at least a modest attempt at them.

• External staircase wrapped around the building, that goes at least most of the way up - and built solidly, not like a fire escape.
• Freefall ride from the top to the ground floor.
• Flying buttresses.
• A giant coil spring as a spire, or even as the whole building.
• Huge rosette window in the top that the Sun shines through and casts multicolored light on the city.
• A multi-tiered waterfall running from near the top to a pool at the bottom.
• Fully transparent parapets, balconies, and central hallway floors/ceilings.
• Hollow supertall with the offices / apartments occupying a shell around an open shaft that goes from the lobby to the roof, with transparent walkways running across the shaft at random angles. Perhaps the sunlight could be directed down the shaft from whatever angle it happens to be at.
• Helical supertall whose hallways are gradually-sloping ramps that wind around from the bottom to the top.
• Giant, clean-burning flame on top of a spire, whose color could be changed for various occasions.
• Wooden facade. Not "faux-wood" like a '70s station wagon - actual wood. Intricate carving would be much cheaper than with stone masonry, and replacing damaged areas would be trivial.
• Supertall evocative of a tree, with lower buildings evocative of roots.
• Something like a vertically-stretched version of a Norse church, like this, but skinnier.
• Supertall with an upscaled recreation of the Porch of The Maidens as its crown.
• Forests - repeat, forests, not parks - maintained on setback terraces.
• A giant aquarium throughout a facade, with entire floors that open into it for big sharks to swim around in. Technically difficult, but it would provide a handy tool of desperation in the event of an out-of-control fire.
• Facade fashioned in the shape of a colossal human face - preferably someone worthy of it rather than an egomaniac involved in the project.
• Glow-in-the-dark cladding.
• Facades that form impressionist landscapes from certain angles and distances.
• Black hole skyscraper - one with cladding as opaque, light-sucking, and featureless as technologically possible.
• Mirror skyscraper - one as unblemished, seamless, smooth, undistorted and mirrorlike as technologically possible.
• Arched, classical pedestrian bridges between skyscrapers.
• Bells, like in cathedrals. Could have the added benefit of serving as momentum-dampeners in the event of earthquakes.
• Artificial rivers running both internally and with external jags, flowing from high floors to the lobby.
• A colossal statue of winged victory on a spire, with crystalline wings that facet the sunlight shining through them.

[rshaw113]

Stuff I'd like to see:

Architecture that has both sight and soul.

[animatedmartian]

Glow in the dark cladding?

[Troubadour]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

Glow in the dark cladding?

The only danger is that it would end up looking like Minas Morgul, but I'm sure we can work around that.

[Bedhead]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

Glow in the dark cladding?

That's the one that caught my eye!

[Troubadour]

A few more items:

• Facade designed like a giant circuit board.
• Crown with lenses or mirrors that focuses on the Moon and greatly enlarges it as seen as from some vantage points. On clear nights, may also enlarge planets, stars, and constellations.
• Prismatic skyscraper that diverts the sunlight into colorful, polarized rays in various directions at various times.
• External air intakes on a tower that passively create soft music on windy days, and may be heard for miles around in sustained gusts. Preferably with a sound like an ocarina rather than an organ or a horn.