Austin | Block 185/Google Tower #2 | 594 Feet | 35 Floors | Complete

[Sigaven]

Originally Posted by the Genral

That was a good read. It includes a render I haven't seen of 3rd and Shoal from street level looking up showing how green the glass is, and also some good explanations of glass make up and color, along with restrictions on how reflective it can be. I think we were indirectly mentioned during the interview a few times.

Also, it shows glass covering the parking garage, not those whatever panels they put on

[lzppjb]

Great interview. Really enjoyed it.

Hello to all the Gensler guys spying on us! haha

Now I'm curious how they'll solve the Block 185 problem. Create their own alley?

[We vs us]

Definitely a fun interview. The extended glass conversation is interesting and hilarious in a nudge nudge wink wink kind of way.

[drummer]

Man, that sounds super complicated. Of course it won't be perfect, but I'm curious to see what they come up with. At least Nueces is the longest street-facing side of the lot.

[KevinFromTexas]

The truth is, I love blue buildings. And green ones.

And he's right, it's hard to visualize the outcome during the process, and to a layman like myself, the material selections and color choices may seem odd, but they usually turn out differently than I expected them to.

[lzppjb]

So which one of us has bad taste?

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by lzppjb

So which one of us has bad taste?

Me? Maybe he's in love with 801....and that other monstrosity with the oversized parking pedestal. But he did mention that he wasn't too fond of some buildings downtown, too bad he didn't have the kahoonas to name them. Perhaps out of professional courtesy. Or perhaps fear of reciprocation. His decision to cover that parking garage with a poverty material instead of glass makes him an easy target for me anyway. Wonder if that means I have bad taste or if I just have high expectations at this point. I'm still struggling with the worm turd sculpture. Beauty is in the eye....I suppose...I'm glad my wife has bad taste or I'd be alone right now

[The ATX]

That was a nice job by Towers. I liked the glass discussion.

We're 10 pages into this building's thread, and we still have no idea what it will look like.

[AustinGoesVertical]

The glass discussion was very intriguing. Blume seems like a cool guy, and I can understand his issue with backseat architects. I’m sure I’ve been a culprit in the past and on here specifically. Although, the crux of architecture is in the discussion and perception it generates.

So in the article it says Third + Shoal doesn’t use reflective glass but it looks very reflective to me, especially in the photo in the article (the side facing 360). Did he mean they couldn’t use reflective glass against the creek? That might explain the gray mesh cladding.

The cladding btw I think has less to do with Blume and Gensler and more to do with cost. Their original design had all glass on the west facing side.

[myBrain]

Check this out, the Gensler architect in the interview posted this image on instagram a few hours ago:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BcV75FRj...y=blume_george

[lzppjb]

Very cool. I wonder if that's Block 185. Hard to tell with nothing visible in the background. Does it look cantilevered out over the sidewalk on the bottom right to anyone else?

[wwmiv]

This looks like it could be block 185. It has setbacks coming from both the sides of the two corners facing outward in this vantage, meaning that we could be looking southwesterly at the building from the vantage of 2nd and Nueces from 6 stories up. Zoning respecting Shoal Creek's natural space would force the setback from the corner on the right, while the corner on the left has a setback doing the same for the river.

On a color not, I genuinely hope that this building is actually black. I know the photo is black and white, but the building would be sexy if black. I do wish the trusses went all the way around the point tower, though, that way you'd get that design aesthetic when viewing the building from Shoal Creek or the river and it'd be seen forever in photographs of the Austin skyline. I wonder what the reason was for that very sad omission.

[Jdawgboy]

I love how reading the article, it was easy to tell which forum he was referring too. Hey guys at Gensler, please make a tower to complement Frost!

Interesting rendering but I'll hold off whether I think this is a hint of Block 185 until we get some more info.

[lzppjb]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

I love how reading the article, it was easy to tell which forum he was referring too. Hey guys at Gensler, please make a tower to complement Frost!

Interesting rendering but I'll hold off whether I think this is a hint of Block 185 until we get some more info.

They said a couple sites. This is definitely one of them. It wouldn't shock me if they're talking about the thread on shaggytexas as well. It has 133,000+ views and 2600+ replies.

[The ATX]

I agree with wwmiv's observation about the SW view and setbacks. The location of the tower on the pedestal is like that of the 900' tower in our favorite rendering. I don't think the tower would be positioned as it is on the podium unless it had to be because of setback requirements. So I think the black & white sketch is Block 185.


http://austin.towers.net/good-and-ba...-on-block-185/

[lzppjb]

That rendering also shows a way they could have the loading dock area without taking away from the street interaction.

[deerhoof]

This appears to be a rendering of an office building and I agree it's Block 185. The scale of the base leads me to believe it's definitely has some nice height to it. I look forward to seeing the renderings.

Originally Posted by myBrain

Check this out, the Gensler architect in the interview posted this image on instagram a few hours ago:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BcV75FRj...y=blume_george

[AustinGoesVertical]

If this is Block 185, I love how different it’ll look in that area. I hope it’s Black. The podium is very industrial, has the look of a 1900s factory, a throwback to the old “office” if you will with the high rise portion representing a new era. Not unlike Austin itself. George, if you’re reading this.. I hope I interpreted it as intended.

[KevinFromTexas]

That looks nice. It's funny that he mentioned midcentury designs when thinking of how to plan for Third + Shoal. I hadn't thought of that, but the vertical lines and general boxiness of it with sharp edges make sense. I was reminded of the great old midcentury/international boxes the moment I saw that really tall plan for Block 185. That building looked like New York's Lever House and the United Nations Headquarters rolled into one. I would love to see something like that, and yes, keep the braces and make it black. That would look amazing.

[Geckos_Rule]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

That looks nice. It's funny that he mentioned midcentury designs when thinking of how to plan for Third + Shoal. I hadn't thought of that, but the vertical lines and general boxiness of it with sharp edges make sense. I was reminded of the great old midcentury/international boxes the moment I saw that really tall plan for Block 185. That building looked like New York's Lever House and the United Nations Headquarters rolled into one. I would love to see something like that, and yes, keep the braces and make it black. That would look amazing.

I thought that was an interesting point too. I'd love to read more about the inner goings-on with the design of these buildings we talk about so much (are you hearing that, George?).

I suppose I'll have to look at the finished product of third+shoal and see how it compares to those great midcentury skyscrapers. The closest thing we have to anything like that is the BofA building on 6th and Congress, and I really wish we had more like it. Buildings like that are part of the reason Chicago has such a great skyline.

But, maybe it's the black and white drawings but these designs really do evoke that midcentury design element for me, even though theyre from a different building than the one George was talking about. Even just this tease of a design for a building that may or may not be block 185 has me excited, all because of this cool flair that's being added in.