LA skyline vs. Philly skyline (better, Los Angeles, life, cons)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I love the courtyard, you can stand in the absolute center of the city grid and that tower gives off an aura of heaviness and strength that I don't experience with other buildings.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kidphilly
Also the internal courtyard is very cool as well not as often viewed or photographed - definately worth the walk through if ever in the area
City Hall Courtyard | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/engelkins/2183071283/ - broken link)
City Center | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tilaneseven/1066776037/ - broken link)
city hall courtyard | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/avocado8/4031192706/ - broken link)
City hall is very nice, but not prominent in the skyline, its just filler from a skyline prospective.
Conclusion:
LA has more & taller modern skyscrapers. its top 10 is all over 200 meters and one 310 meter tower in US Bank, Philly has 5 buildings over 200 meters and no 300 meter+ towers. Comcast is a little strange to, its much taller than One and Two Liberty, but has less floors than either.
Philly has more old stock, and an edge on density, although the east side of DTLA is very similar.
Of course its really subjective beyond that.....
What you call 'strange' is actually a side effect of LEED certification. Modern skyscrapers need windows that are a certain height relative to the square footage to fill each floor with enough daylight. There is a formula for calculating this, but the end result is that modern, LEED certified skyscrapers have fewer floors relative to their height. Since L.A. has only built one significant skyscraper in the 21'st century, these concepts might not be as familiar to Angelinos.
Quote:
Originally Posted by slo1318
City hall is very nice, but not prominent in the skyline, its just filler from a skyline prospective.
Conclusion:
LA has more & taller modern skyscrapers. its top 10 is all over 200 meters and one 310 meter tower in US Bank, Philly has 5 buildings over 200 meters and no 300 meter+ towers. Comcast is a little strange to, its much taller than One and Two Liberty, but has less floors than either.
Philly has more old stock, and an edge on density, although the east side of DTLA is very similar.
Of course its really subjective beyond that.....
What you call 'strange' is actually a side effect of LEED certification. Modern skyscrapers need windows that are a certain height relative to the square footage to fill each floor with enough daylight. There is a formula for calculating this, but the end result is that modern, LEED certified skyscrapers have fewer floors relative to their height. Since L.A. has only built one significant skyscraper in the 21'st century, these concepts might not be as familiar to Angelinos.
Its the same with Wilshire Grand, its got a lower floor count than US Bank, but is significantly taller. That doesnt change anything though, LA is still much taller.....
Uh huh. L.A. is much more egotistical and self-deluded as well, but I think most people who don't live in L.A. know that already. Kool-Aid drinking capital of the world, that's L.A.
Quote:
Originally Posted by slo1318
Its the same with Wilshire Grand, its got a lower floor count than US Bank, but is significantly taller. That doesnt change anything though, LA is still much taller.....
Its the same with Wilshire Grand, its got a lower floor count than US Bank, but is significantly taller. That doesnt change anything though, LA is still much taller.....
LA has the taller Building of the two cities but it's not as though the difference is enormous: 43 feet.
The overall peaks of the each skyline though actually average a taller height in Philadelphia. The tallest five buildings in Philadelphia average 860 feet. The tallest five buildings in LA average only 822 feet.
Expand it to the top 10 buildings and LA once again has an advantage, the tallest ten buildings in LA average an impressive 767 while in philadelphia they average only 712 feet. That advantage then grows when expanded over the 20 tallest buildings where LA averages a height of 671, while Philly only average a height of 573 feet.
Basically a height comparison of the two cities can be summed up as follows. The tallest building in LA is taller than the tallest building in Philadelphia however the tallest five buildings in Philadelphia average a taller height than the tallest five in LA. When expanded further the average height of buildings in LA maintains a a taller height and begins to surpass the average height in Philadelphia mostly due to the very impressive number of buildings between 600 - 800 feet in la (11 !!!!!!!!), whereas Philly has only three.
So overall LA is a taller skyline than Philadelphia. However I don't think I would call it "much taller" when in fact at the peak of each skyline it is Philadelphia that is taller.
Bottom line, the heights of both skylines are comparable enough to basically base this decision entirely upon the aesthetics of each skyline and this is where I think Philadelphia is the clear winner. If we're going only by height LA wins though it is not the landslide you make it out to be.
City hall is very nice, but not prominent in the skyline, its just filler from a skyline prospective.
Conclusion:
LA has more & taller modern skyscrapers. its top 10 is all over 200 meters and one 310 meter tower in US Bank, Philly has 5 buildings over 200 meters and no 300 meter+ towers. Comcast is a little strange to, its much taller than One and Two Liberty, but has less floors than either.
Philly has more old stock, and an edge on density, although the east side of DTLA is very similar.
Of course its really subjective beyond that.....
For city hall it depends on the vantage point, mostly a lot of more recent images really focus on the cluster of newer taller buildings. But many areas of Philly city hall is quite prominent. Personally I would like to see more taller buildings on the Market East side - there is chatter to this with a large/tall hotel and potential for more office structures as the PT connectivity on ME is actually better than Market West. The Gallery is supposed to get a major facelift and was built to support as many as two super talls (highly unlikely but 400-700 footers are realistic). Also there are a few new towers slated to go on the Easternern most portin of UCity directly next to Market West and 3 new condo/apartment towers under construction in the Market West/Rittenhouse area with one likely to gain final approval on the river at the baorder of Logan square and Market west. The ACC is dead and sold off and likely to become an extension for Comcast in a smaller fashion. I personally love the new Wilshire (Think that is the name) design in LA and look forward to seeing that constructed.
In terms of height the Comcast is not 300 meters but 298, pretty close.
All this is subjective, I like both actually and dont care really if people prefer one over the other; both are typically among the top 5 or 10 in the country in most peoples lists and both have their particular strengths and weaknesses. Neither are a NYC or Chicago (actually my personal favorite).
Some shots with City Hall
philly skyline | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joygant/2807795610/ - broken link)
city hall | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/duluoz_cats/197354149/ - broken link)
city hall from love park | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/studio-s/3995908445/ - broken link)
Some of the best views of City Hall IMHO are from South Broad at night, the lighting at night makes it quite dramatic
Philadelphia City Hall | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/doctorwats/5281916136/ - broken link)
South Broad Street - "Ballet of Lights" | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/camardella/5643881492/ - broken link)
looking at LA's building heights I've gotten carried away with looking at the wilshire grand renderings. Is that definitely happening? From the few pictures i've seen I think it really looks great. Does anyone have a picture with it superimposed onto the skyline? How will it fit in? I think no matter where it's located it will change the entire dynamic of LA's skyline, for the better.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
