Atlanta's tallest skyscraper proposal in years unveiled

[Smocaine]

Originally Posted by AtlantaRising

There's entire websites around it. Skyscraperpage.com and Skyscrapercity.com are two.

I love skylines and their evolution. When I was a teenager and would drive into the city (Atlanta), there was something electric about seeing the BOA building glow in the distance as the other buildings joined the viewpoint the closer I got. When I take the connector curves and see Downtown and then Midtown and then Buckhead stretched out before the 400 exit, I still smile. For me, the design of a skyline is the biggest and best cost free marketing and symbolization of a city's promise to those who live or visit. Atlanta, in particular, has more punch because you can drive for hours in any direction and never see anything close to its spread. It represents progress, hope and sophistication in a part of the country where that is often in short supply.

Sometimes when landing at Hartsfield, the flight path will be just so that you get this expansive view of Atlanta that makes you realize this city is not your typical Southern hub. Despite not having as many skyscrapers as say Chicago or NYC, it really is impressive.

I totally get this, as a suburban kid in the mid/late 00's I would love driving past the Midtown/Downtown skylines going to/from the airport at night and being so curious what it was like there, off the interstate. The sad thing is that the skyline hasn't changed beyond a lot of mid-rise infill. I don't really care about the design too much, just give me some legitimate skyscrapers and overbuild residential housing, please, while the funky asset boom is still going strong. Overbuild now and when there's a general asset correction, housing might be reasonable in Atlanta again.

[Smocaine]

Originally Posted by Atlanta-Native

Really - you got that excited about an office building?

"You really got that excited about that five-star Wagyu ribeye? It's just organic material your body uses to produce ATP."


"You really got that excited about having sex with your new girlfriend? Your brain is just rewarding you for reproducing."


"You really got that excited about a snowy Christmas night? It's just frozen water."


Reductionism sure makes you look intelligent

[Atlanta-Native]

Originally Posted by Atlanta Scientist

Midtown has its own design review committee to make recommendations. Also there are local laws surrounding how structures within those limits should be developed. This is a frequent topic among NPU's.

NPU's are different. I'm talking more about people who are enamored with an office building, or skyline. Having spent a lot of time in commercial real estate representing office and industrial tenants, building design has never been of any concern. That's all I'm saying. I'm just surprised that people are excited about a new office tower being produced, or disappointed in the design.

[AllUsGreat29]

Safe to call it Rockefeller Plaza????

[AtlantaRising]

Originally Posted by Atlanta-Native

NPU's are different. I'm talking more about people who are enamored with an office building, or skyline. Having spent a lot of time in commercial real estate representing office and industrial tenants, building design has never been of any concern. That's all I'm saying. I'm just surprised that people are excited about a new office tower being produced, or disappointed in the design.

That's a valid question. And I'm sure there are many answers, depending on the person.

I like the energy of a city. Each is different. I feed off the street level excitement, the nightlife, the diversity, how economic success is translated into design and a willingness to push the envelope. The more design risk, the better. It's sensory and symbolic. It says, "This is where you can put your talent to work". I know there are other dreamers close. Success is rewarded with amazing places to live with different viewpoints. I also used to wonder who lived in the towers and what their lives must be like. There's communities to explore, off the wall shops, bars and restaurants. I like when the freaks come out and play. I admired people who lived as they wanted, when they wanted and felt no need to apologize for it. Growing up, I wanted out of my homogenous, suburban prison. It was restrictive and felt like a clone factory. Conformity was suffocating and I craved anonymity and uncertainty that offered something more. Feeling trapped into living up to somebody else's expectations pi$$ed me off and I wanted nothing to do with it. The idea of there being this map I had to follow because that's just what you do in life was spiritual suicide for me. I wanted to feel free and alive. Some skylines seem to provoke that possibility.

[bryantm3]

I grew up seeing it exactly like that. But for me, after 2015 or so, it felt like if flipped inverse... it felt like, anonymity and the rejection of those expectations of the past actually won. And now that those myths have been destroyed, there has been a vacuum of expectation. There is constant debate of not only what is right and wrong, but what is true and what isn't. And the whole time, the machine just kept running.

And these days I feel like I am prey, prey to those taking advantage of the confusion to make an easy buck. To me it was surreally symbolic that around the same time, the 'EQUITABLE' sign was taken down for good. That hope that I felt for the future when I saw the towers as a child, now feels dystopian. It feels like the soul of the country has died but the money keeps moving. People keep working but they are exhauasted. It is not the same to me anymore.

[Mossberg]

I've been living here for a long time and I still love rounding the brookwood curve on I-85 south and seeing the skyline lit up at night. I also love driving south on 400 and watching the buckhead skyline appear right before you drive under it.

Some folks are just emotionally different.

[AtlantaRising]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

I grew up seeing it exactly like that. But for me, after 2015 or so, it felt like if flipped inverse... it felt like, anonymity and the rejection of those expectations of the past actually won. And now that those myths have been destroyed, there has been a vacuum of expectation. There is constant debate of not only what is right and wrong, but what is true and what isn't. And the whole time, the machine just kept running.

And these days I feel like I am prey, prey to those taking advantage of the confusion to make an easy buck. To me it was surreally symbolic that around the same time, the 'EQUITABLE' sign was taken down for good. That hope that I felt for the future when I saw the towers as a child, now feels dystopian. It feels like the soul of the country has died but the money keeps moving. People keep working but they are exhauasted. It is not the same to me anymore.

I thought much the same. I really believed "we" were moving toward a more honest society. I hate deception, whether from an individual or a pillar elevated for our collective benefit that has become increasingly corrupt. Manipulation of what was good, for power, for control. The lies we tell ourselves are so repulsive, dangerous and toxic to the body, the mind and the soul. After a while we stop questioning them. They become second nature, involuntary.



Self awareness is the only way out of this. Speaking truth to power. Calling out things when it is hard or unpopular or dangerous. Prying open containment of light and letting it disinfect. Galileo comes to mind.



Here's a piece that has taken on renewed significance for me personally.


George Michael - Going To A Town
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DZJQjn3jV8


I wish I had some words of encouragement for you. We are at a crossroads. The old guards will either fall or kill us all.