Quote:
Originally Posted by R5Ryder
Is there a reason - like the shape of the blocks - that the wide (and IMO least attractive) sides of CC1 and CC2 face N/S rather than E/W? Also BAT as well. Come to think of it, the Mickey Mouse buildings are widest N/S as well.
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It's the shape of the "lots" - something I've long lamented. We often have long rectangular shaped lots due to the positioning of the street grid especially in Market and JFK West. This means that the cheapest and most efficient way to maximize a developer's $$ return is to build long rectangular buildings - which generally are very ugly. I call them the Philly Special. Think of the Penn Center buildings along JFK, the Sterling, Kennedy House, etc. NYC by comparison, b/c the Streets are so close together, generally has more square shaped lots which leads to more handsome, vertical-oriented towers.
In Philly, to get square shaped towers developers often only build on only half the lot - like the Comcast Center - or place the tower in the middle of a rectangular podium - like Melon Tower.