Will Philly's skyline ever catch up to Chicago or NYC? (Philadelphia: tenant, to live)

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by gwillyfromphilly

Philly does have a large amount of mid-rise buildings that rival any city outside of NYC and Chicago.

Looking at buildings between 100 and 200 meters tall, Philly doesn't really stand out.

491 NYC
271 Chicago
66 Houston
52 San Francisco
44 Atlanta
43 Philadelphia
33 Dallas
32 Boston
20 Baltimore

Washington DC doesn't really compare, because no building built in the last century is over 210'.

[RightonWalnut]

Originally Posted by PacoMartin

Looking at buildings between 100 and 200 meters tall, Philly doesn't really stand out.

491 NYC
271 Chicago
66 Houston
52 San Francisco
44 Atlanta
43 Philadelphia
33 Dallas
32 Boston
20 Baltimore

Washington DC doesn't really compare, because no building built in the last century is over 210'.

Philly has the highest concentration of buildings though in one area after NYC, Chicago and San Francisco. Houston's and Atlanta's are more spread out in different neighborhoods around the city. Most of Philly's are concentrated in Center City. Plus, after this year, Philly should surpass Atlanta in buildings 100 meters or up since multiple are under construction or will be and at this point, most of Atlantas tall buildings are just proposals and nothing concrete.

[PacoMartin]

This rather plain looking 100 meter (30 story) hotel was constructed in Changsha in just 15 days (on site). They are planning to license their technology around the world.

While some limited concerns about safety standards in the USA are probably valid, it does the possibility of renovating some sections of larger cities with dozens of building built very quickly.It won't do much to beautify the skyline, but it will increase the statistics quickly.

[AJNEOA]

Originally Posted by PacoMartin

This rather plain looking 100 meter (30 story) hotel was constructed in Changsha in just 15 days (on site). They are planning to license their technology around the world.

While some limited concerns about safety standards in the USA are probably valid, it does the possibility of renovating some sections of larger cities with dozens of building built very quickly.It won't do much to beautify the skyline, but it will increase the statistics quickly.

I sure hope Philly doesn't throw cheaply built skyscrapers like this up. Building a beautiful city is a marathon, not a sprint.

[rotodome]

Originally Posted by PacoMartin

This rather plain looking 100 meter (30 story) hotel was constructed in Changsha in just 15 days (on site). They are planning to license their technology around the world.

While some limited concerns about safety standards in the USA are probably valid, it does the possibility of renovating some sections of larger cities with dozens of building built very quickly.It won't do much to beautify the skyline, but it will increase the statistics quickly.

Well, it's not just some 'limited' safety concerns. I think they may be misrepresenting their actual process for the sake of publicity.
For example as I said, I question the foundation system:
Even if you could assemble a large building's aboveground structure in 15 minutes, you can't just stick it on the ground. There's got to be a substantial foundation, which requires lots of site excavation, shoring, pouring of reinforced concrete, etc. This is not a quick operation. It's something that takes up a substantial portion of the overall construction time of any large building, and can't really be prefabricated. Concrete doesn't even cure in 15 days, and before that, it takes a lot of time to precisely dig an enormous hole, shore it so that surrounding buildings don't collapse, build the formwork, etc.
Not to mention it has to be connected to existing city services and infrastructure.
I'd have lots more questions about the internal building systems and equipment too, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt on those for now.

[pman]

Originally Posted by AJNEOA

I sure hope Philly doesn't throw cheaply built skyscrapers like this up. Building a beautiful city is a marathon, not a sprint.

it's also not all about tall buildings either

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by rotodome

Even if you could assemble a large building's aboveground structure in 15 minutes, you can't just stick it on the ground. There's got to be a substantial foundation, which requires lots of site excavation, shoring, pouring of reinforced concrete, etc. This is not a quick operation. It's something that takes up a substantial portion of the overall construction time of any large building, and can't really be prefabricated. Concrete doesn't even cure in 15 days, and before that, it takes a lot of time to precisely dig an enormous hole, shore it so that surrounding buildings don't collapse, build the formwork, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ2ZCRkLZXs

They count down from 0 to 360 hours starting at 1:18 on the video (5-6 hours per second fast motion).
The foundation does not seem to be included in the time (not the time to remove the crane).

[FBJ]

on the level of NYC or Chicago? Never

[Clark Park]

Originally Posted by FBJ

on the level of NYC or Chicago? Never

I agree. Philly will never have the population and stature of those enormous cities.

But I'll tell you what ... I think it will be entirely possible that in the next 10- 20 years Philly will firmly be in third place (and if not that, fourth place) as most impressive skyline in the US.

Since 2000 Philadelphia has been on the upswing. It is gaining in population again, even if those gains are modest. I think this city is successfully re-inventing itself: once an industrial town with factories and manufacturing, it is emerging as one of the top "Eds & Meds" hub on the continent. This transformation will translate into a building boom that has begun.

Just look at University City.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by FBJ

on the level of NYC or Chicago? Never

If Billy Penn's hat is 547' high, and no building built in Philadelphia before March 1987 was higher than his hat, consider that NYC had over 90 buildings higher than Billy's hat before 1987. NYC has even demolished the 600' Singer building in 1968.

Chicago had 31 buildings (6 of them pre WWII).

I know height is not everything, but that is a lot of catching up to do.