Skyline competition: Atlanta vs Philadelphia (Boston, better, compare, place)

[Galounger]

Originally Posted by DailyJournalist

Atlanta does not have more buildings then Philly and also disagree that Atlanta buildings are better. Some building in Philly are works of art. Also Philly is not just dense in Downtown, its residential neighborhoods are just as dense.

Here is a picture of Philly's neighborhood density:

Photo courtesy of www.phillyskyline.com

Sure Philly has waay more lowrises but they don't really contribute to the skyline. Atlanta I think has more highrises. In fact it really takes three photos to show all of them.

downtown
[IMG][/IMG]

midtown
[IMG][/IMG]
Buckhead

[afonega1]

OMG!If people were truly objective they would knoiw that Atlanta has a Beautiful skyline.Philly is only dense by street level view.The skyline is not that dense.I love Philly's density,but to see its skyline is very much lacking.Atlanta definitely has one of the top 10 skylines in the U.S.Even the pics that are posted of Philly looks "dingy".Yes it does have better architecture from a historical standpoint.And the from ground level it is very impressive,but so is Detroit.You can barely only see William Penn's statute in the skyline and not the rest of City Hall ,so all that beautiful architecture gets lost.Atlanta has a very elongated skyline which make is visually more appealing to the eye.Is it dense,NO.But it is beautiful to look at.Especially at night.Those buildings in Philly look all the same ,just brick and concrete.At least from a distance.There is a lot of detail in those buildings since they were built when men built more lavishly and ornate.Even the downtown skyline of Philly where there is the largest concentration of its skyline ,does not even compare with ONE of Atlanta's 3 skylines of Downtown,Midtown and Buckhead.

So yes Philly has better architecture but it does not correlate in its skyline.

[DailyJournalist]

Originally Posted by afonega1

OMG!If people were truly objective they would knoiw that Atlanta has a Beautiful skyline.

No, it is you that is not "truly objective". Atlanta has a typical bland un dense sunbelt skyline. It could never compare to a Northeast skyline of a major city like Philadelphia. The poll results say it all.

[atlantaATL]

I just got back from philly and philly is just dense. Downtown is the only skyline philly has if you were to combine buckhead, midtown,downtown, sandy springs, Atlantic station and marietta together it would dwarf philly. I like Atlantas unique skyline why? because all the northeast skylines are all bunched together and they all look the same. there so much more room for atlantas skyline to grow philly is done for now.

[DailyJournalist]

Originally Posted by atlantaATL

I like Atlantas unique skyline why? because all the northeast skylines are all bunched together and they all look the same. there so much more room for atlantas skyline to grow philly is done for now.

What are you talking about? Philadelphia is breaking ground on what is going to be one of the tallest building in this country, and is currently completing two other building.

American Commerce Center - Philadelphia

[blkgiraffe]

Atlanta skyline isn't dense either and includes way too many gaps. It would make my top 10, but I wouldn't place it higher than Philly. Philly has a very dense skyline, just not much height compared to Atlanta. I perfer density, so I go with Philly.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a9/Philadelphia_skyline_from_south_street_bridge.jpg (broken link)

1.New York City
2.Chicago
3.Philiadelphia
4.Houston
5.Atlanta

[afonega1]

Originally Posted by DailyJournalist

What are you talking about? Philadelphia is breaking ground on what is going to be one of the tallest building in this country, and is currently completing two other building.

American Commerce Center - Philadelphia

Actually I considered moving to live in Philly.For a short while I lived in Berlin, New Jersey.I have a lot of family there(in Philly).I am there probably 3 times a year.I used to go every weekend when I was stationed in Dover,DE.I know the city very well.Philly has a lot of charm that Atlanta just does not have and will never have mainly because of its history.HOWEVER,even if you just look at the pics and have never spent any considerable time in either city you can see that from a sky view PHilly is not that impressive.The construction in Philly does not even hold a candle to that of Atlanta's.People keep calling Atlanta sprawl and have never even been here or they came 8 years ago and think its the same.Truth is that the core of this city has grown and changed so much because its downtown population is growing at a rate faster than any other major city in the U.S. next to Dallas.Philly has had only 8 buildings built over 100 meters since 2000.Atlanta has 14.Several more just under 100meters that have been built within the last 20 years or less.Those buildings in Philly of equal height were built mostly well OVER 20 years ago.

Btw the way if you gonna post links that have info on "supertall construction",make sure you say the whole truth.That American Commerce Center has not even broken ground yet(and may not ever,at least in the near future.)At best its slated to start construction in 2010.Call me .Atlanta has many tall buildings being built STILL and that not the proposed ones.

As far as the poll goes.Give me a break.Before I even clicked on the results I already knew what it would be.Many people that live in the North know less about the South than the other way around.So many people that vote,vote along historical info as opposed to actuality.So no that means nothing to a VERY objective person like myself.

[AC/PHILLY/NJ/NYC]

Atlanta’s tallest building is The Bank of America Plaza at 1032 ft and has zero buildings in the 900 ft range. Philly has The Comcast Center at 975 ft and One Liberty Place at 945 ft. So, why do posters believe that Atlanta exceeds Philly by a large margin in height? I think Atlanta edges Philly slightly in height. However, Philly is far denser, which makes for a better overall skyline. The city of Atlanta’s sprawl is evident in the skyline sprawl.

[Galounger]

Originally Posted by AC/PHILLY/NJ/NYC

Atlanta’s tallest building is The Bank of America Plaza at 1032 ft and has zero buildings in the 900 ft range. Philly has The Comcast Center at 975 ft and One Liberty Place at 945 ft. So, why do posters believe that Atlanta exceeds Philly by a large margin in height? I think Atlanta edges Philly slightly in height. However, Philly is far denser, which makes for a better overall skyline. The city of Atlanta’s sprawl is evident in the skyline sprawl.

According to the Skyscraper Page Philly has 5 buildings over 200m. Atlanta has 12. Philly has 6 buildings between 150m and 200m tall. Atlanta has 8. Philly has 33 buildings built or proposed in height range 100m-150m. Atlanta has atleast 55. So Atlanta not only has taller skyscrapers it has more.

The city of Atlanta does not sprawl. It only covers 132 square miles compared to Philly's 135 and it's area has not grown in a very long time because annexation laws in Georgia do not allow it to annex up large amounts of land the way alot of other large cities do. The city has actually been becoming more and more dense for years now. Even if you include it's 5 largest surrounding suburban counties they have been becoming more and more densely populated as well.

The only thing that makes Atlanta more sprawling statistically than alot of cities it's size or smaller is that alot of far out counties are counted in it's metro population. But, alot of people living in ATL don't ever go out to these counties. Millions live and spend most of their time ITP (Inside the Perimeter. Atlanta's Beltway) to those people Atlanta seems less sprawling than Denver or Minneapolis.

[DailyJournalist]

Give up Atlanta, you are a sunbelt city with a skyline to match. You need about 20 more years and maybe you will catch up to Philly. For now, the poll results say it all.