Austin

Population: 743,074 (Metro: 1,652,602)

Austin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas and the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 16th-largest in the United States of America. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in the nation from 2000 to 2006. According to the 2007 U.S. Census estimate, Austin had a population of 743,074. The city is the cultural and economic center of the Austin–Round Rock Metropolitan Area, with a population of 1,652,602 as of the July 2008 U.S. Census estimate—making it the 36th-largest- and 2nd-fastest-growing metropolitan area in the nation.

http://i35.tinypic.com/aw291y.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/Austin%202009/WholeFoodsGarage02.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/Austin%202009/WholeFoodsGarage04.jpg

http://s43.radikal.ru/i102/0903/9e/27efd1f12a13.jpg

http://s48.radikal.ru/i122/0903/ab/f446e9e5cb92.jpg

Nice...Nice...Nice...
8/10

8.5/10

Small bldgs, but really nnnnnnnnice! :D
7.5/10

8.5/10

WOW, austin looks amazing 9/10

7.5/10

nice..... all the buildings are small because no building in Austin can be taller than the Texas state capitol

well if thats the case they have all done well wtih heigh restictions
each of the building is diff and has many feaures
What are the four similar ones on the water front ?
While most are boxes each has featuers steps and layers that give the building real charter

7

Its ok.
Reminds me of a CBD for any large suburb of a major city.

cool!!!!
8/10

3/10. Just lame. Like almost everything else about Austin, completely overrated. And I did live there for seven years, so it's not like I have no right to bash. No height (there is no such rule/law/constraint saying no building can be taller than the Capitol -- 6 completed buildings are taller), no density, banal designs, no sleekness, yet little classic richness either.

Seriously, if you give this anything higher than a 7, then skylines like NYC, Chicago, HK deserve about a 50. Hell, giving Austin an 8 leaves no room for substantially superior Texas skylines such as Dallas, and of course the Texas-best Houston -- whose Galleria/Uptown skyline alone is arguably better than this.

Don't get me completely wrong, Austin is great for a small, minor city. You can give it 7+ scores, but only if you rate Austin relative to other cities in a separate group for third-tier Sun Belt cities.

One thing is for sure, giving such undeserved high scores to Austin will fuel even more conceit and arrogance from Austinites, who can never shut up about how fantastic and perfect Austin is, and how other cities -- world class or not -- just suck, if only everyone weren't so ignorant in their eyes.

elegant buildings, but with little innovation, 6,5/10

Austin really has the nicest skyline in Texas, not too big or too small. Not to mention Frost Bank, wow thats such a nice tower! Overall I gave it a 9 :okay: .

small skyscrapers, but interesting shapes and assortments in the skyline 6.5

8/10


interesting

8/10 :okay:

Not too tall but good.
6/10

3/10. Just lame. Like almost everything else about Austin, completely overrated. And I did live there for seven years, so it's not like I have no right to bash. No height (there is no such rule/law/constraint saying no building can be taller than the Capitol -- 6 completed buildings are taller), no density, banal designs, no sleekness, yet little classic richness either.

Seriously, if you give this anything higher than a 7, then skylines like NYC, Chicago, HK deserve about a 50. Hell, giving Austin an 8 leaves no room for substantially superior Texas skylines such as Dallas, and of course the Texas-best Houston -- whose Galleria/Uptown skyline alone is arguably better than this.

Don't get me completely wrong, Austin is great for a small, minor city. You can give it 7+ scores, but only if you rate Austin relative to other cities in a separate group for third-tier Sun Belt cities.

One thing is for sure, giving such undeserved high scores to Austin will fuel even more conceit and arrogance from Austinites, who can never shut up about how fantastic and perfect Austin is, and how other cities -- world class or not -- just suck, if only everyone weren't so ignorant in their eyes.

As someone who's also lived there, I completely related to and agreed with your post!

Lord knows where Austinites derive their "high-horse" mentality from, but it is totally laughable as the city is TERRIBLY overrated!

Skyline wise, 4/10 at best...

8/10

The skyline is kinda stubby :)

3/10. Just lame. Like almost everything else about Austin, completely overrated. And I did live there for seven years, so it's not like I have no right to bash. No height (there is no such rule/law/constraint saying no building can be taller than the Capitol -- 6 completed buildings are taller), no density, banal designs, no sleekness, yet little classic richness either.

Seriously, if you give this anything higher than a 7, then skylines like NYC, Chicago, HK deserve about a 50. Hell, giving Austin an 8 leaves no room for substantially superior Texas skylines such as Dallas, and of course the Texas-best Houston -- whose Galleria/Uptown skyline alone is arguably better than this.

Don't get me completely wrong, Austin is great for a small, minor city. You can give it 7+ scores, but only if you rate Austin relative to other cities in a separate group for third-tier Sun Belt cities.

One thing is for sure, giving such undeserved high scores to Austin will fuel even more conceit and arrogance from Austinites, who can never shut up about how fantastic and perfect Austin is, and how other cities -- world class or not -- just suck, if only everyone weren't so ignorant in their eyes.

I completely agree with you trussedtube. I'd have to give Chicago a 100 based on some of these rankings. I lived in Austin one summer, nice people, but downtown was kind of drab. 6.5/10

9.5/10. Good thing Frost Bank was built, or else I would have rated it lower than that for its size of the city. I gave it a high rating because Frost Bank definitely improved the skyline.
I lived in Austin one summer, nice people, but downtown was kind of drab.
Maybe so, but there are improvements to it. Shibbie, I don't know if you've been to Sixth Street at night for the nightlife, but you probably should.

More pics of Downtown Austin.
http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/588/6251190293423iictmz_ph.jpg http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/588/6251downtown1.jpg http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/588/617878456985.jpg http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/588/6178austin_downtown23151.jpg http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/588/5941149368450xafaxl_fs.jpg http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/588/5941138044073iukfbm_ph.jpg http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/588/5941resize_of_austin1.jpg http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/588/5093u18_120.jpg
http://www.skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/588/5093new_dtn.jpg

Not much of a skyline. Mostly lowrise.

4.5

5.5/10 - Weak: very few buildings most of which are hideous.

I'm impressed. I give it an 8.

8/10

So many great buildings in such a small area. I give it a 7.5/10. :okay:

6/10

8/10

6.5/10

I live in Austin and we need much taller skyscrapers. 5/10.

Its nice and pleasant......but its not spectacular. 6.5

6/10

8/10

interesting skyline

8, It looks pretty nice.

7/10

beautiful!!!! 10/10

Not a very interesting place to look at or go to. There's too many smaller buildings, it's just not my preference.

8/10- VERY nice city but it skyline can be better.

Pretty impresive...8/10

8/10

currently there are 5 bldgs under construction(including city's tallest) and several other approved and proposed that will make a huge impact on the skyline.....6/10 until other bldgs are completed

8/10 ! Love its scale !

No pics found on this thread, but Austin isn't bad -- 8/10

very nice, but if a few buildings get built it will get drastically better.
see?http://images14.fotki.com/v387/photos/5/54967/2949615/de2_AltaVidaTstacyFourseasons2-vi.jpg

compared to what it is now:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/87/276949431_c391892f20.jpg?v=0

from flickr. and this isn't the same angle as the first pic

7/10

If the centre will look like that it deserves a 7/10.

As of now, it gets a 5.5/10.

8/10.

7/10

8/10

8/10

7,5/10

8.5/10

http://i33.tinypic.com/1086xe1.jpg

http://i34.tinypic.com/13yo0n6.jpg

http://i36.tinypic.com/5vst4g.jpg

http://i33.tinypic.com/2qimrsi.jpg

http://i37.tinypic.com/28nn14.jpg

http://i37.tinypic.com/30trp6r.jpg

http://i35.tinypic.com/aw291y.jpg

http://i36.tinypic.com/2jesm1g.jpg

http://i38.tinypic.com/i3w32x.jpg

6.5/10

7/10

7/10

7/10

You guys are posting old pics of Austin. Austin has changed and this is how it looks currently.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/Austin%202009/WholeFoodsGarage02.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/Austin%202009/WholeFoodsGarage04.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/Austin%20Night/NiteSkyline001.jpg
LoneStarMike SSP

http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/06/04/30/image_8330046.jpg
Ralph Barrera /AMERICAN-STATESMAN

^^I live in Austin:horse: 10/10 for sure!

Austin--->
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3639/3303150626_8c40957bbc_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3399/3302322765_07784bde61_b.jpg
Mopacs SSP

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/3989/p1270353edit.jpg
Who is she? :lol:
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/4636/p1270552edit.jpg
http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/9133/p1270202edit.jpg
http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/92/p1270262edit.jpg
KevinFromTexas SSP

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3422/3374029779_35eaf44c62_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3569/3374845926_6886e75eec_o.jpg
Priller SSP

That must be their Chinatown.

8/10.

That must be their Chinatown.

No its not. The pic was taken during SWJX. I don't know where there Chinatown is exactly but, Austin does have a fast growing Asain population.

No its not. The pic was taken during SWJX. I don't know where there Chinatown is exactly but, Austin does have a fast growing Asain population.

I didn`t think it was their Chinatown, I was just kidding. What is SWJX?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3448/3397576216_04ff4c304f_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/distortingreality/3397576216/)

As seen from the UT Tower, looking South by distortingreality (http://www.flickr.com/photos/distortingreality/)

http://s43.radikal.ru/i102/0903/9e/27efd1f12a13.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rutlo/3394146516/)

by rutlo (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rutlo/)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3650/3390893554_9a60947da5_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/amosville/3390893554/)

by Veronica_Schlitz (http://www.flickr.com/photos/amosville/)

http://s54.radikal.ru/i144/0903/6a/50d8217f64db.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tampabaystreetteam/3378129714/)

by Tampa Bay Street Team (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tampabaystreetteam/)

http://s41.radikal.ru/i091/0903/e2/ef660a6ba3b6.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/greeblemonkey/3374770150/)

by greeblemonkey (http://www.flickr.com/photos/greeblemonkey/)

http://s48.radikal.ru/i122/0903/ab/f446e9e5cb92.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bambusaman/3369419028/)

by Bambusaman (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bambusaman/)

8/10

Austin, Texas:)

http://taylorghrist.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/austin_skyline_at_dusk_01.jpg

http://www.escapesomewhere.com/blogim/austonian.jpeg

http://www.soulofthegarden.com/Images/March05AustinSkyline.jpg

http://nxnwaustinnetworking.com/images/52752741.AustinSkyline_001.jpg

8 looks great at night

10/10:)

9/10

7/10

9/10. Although I believe that in the first pic are some proposals/U/C projects photoshopped.

8,5/10

Really nice for such a city.

8/10

nice TX city 7.5/10

I'd love to see a second version of this poll AFTER projects like 21c, The Austonian, the 5 skyscrapers from the water treatment plant, and the T. Stacy block are finished. Considering that Austin 2009 doesn't look at all like Austin 2003, in another 6 years, it'll look even more different with a "wall" on Lady Bird Lake with high-rise condos over looking the water.

9/10. Although I believe that in the first pic are some proposals/U/C projects photoshopped.

LOL!! That first pic is Houston!

7/10, not bad.

skyline: 7.5/10 now, 9/10 in a few years, ... awesome skyline that is rapidly growing

city as a whole: 100/10 one of the coolest cities in the States

9. Very good. Regards.

8.5/10

7/10

It's a bit spread out, but it also looks like it's growing and filling in nicely. I think that this skyline will look very nice in fifteen years or so.

8/10

8.5/10

the central skyline last week

http://www.pbase.com/lsyd/image/119124260/large.jpg

-

6/10

good enough skyline.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2791/4076563832_2b222dd7c5.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvs01/4076563832/

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2520/4125673825_5eeaecc243.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenniferyang/4125673825/

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3526/4085674589_a9d1298ed5.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/slimzim/4085674589/

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2458/4023756122_212bf85785.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gold41/4023756122/

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2500/3767739244_a3edd9d6da.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dawilson/3767739244/

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2699/4056001110_281536ab55.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43739105@N07/4056001110/

8/10.

7.5/10

7.5/10 -but getting better every year!

http://s54.radikal.ru/i145/1001/dd/80ccccbd4d7e.jpg
http://s005.radikal.ru/i210/1001/ca/a3ca384c985c.jpg
http://s003.radikal.ru/i201/1001/75/4efd721fe412.jpg
http://s56.radikal.ru/i152/1001/22/c7ef505535d6.jpg

http://i071.radikal.ru/1001/56/6feace48a5e3.jpg
http://s42.radikal.ru/i097/1001/59/9b7938f769b4.jpg
http://i057.radikal.ru/1001/1c/44cf1ec4f8f9.jpg
http://s003.radikal.ru/i201/1001/3f/47a79ff49747.jpg

7/10

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/wackyplanetshop_2088_328958611

Those are archaic photos, Kazan. Can't you find something more recent? :)

^^I know it but it's still looks great even without new buildings:)

Nice.. Austin, Texas.... i rate it 8.0/10

7/10

http://www.pbase.com/lsyd/image/123729957/original.jpg

more pics by me (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1113115)

-

Nice pic!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/AustinWikiPic2.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ad/Night_Skyline.jpg/800px-Night_Skyline.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/AustinSkylineLouNeffPoint-Jun2010-a.JPG/800px-AustinSkylineLouNeffPoint-Jun2010-a.JPG

I like the skyline, but only from distance, 7/10.

There are better skylines in the United States. 7.5/10

There are better skylines in the United States. 7.5/10

It was worse than this! Austin is having a building boom.

Needs more height/density and more office buildings. It's high quality for where it is right now, though. 7.5/10

7/10 not bad!

7/10

6.5/10

From ACL this year.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4113/5063765723_d01905d8dc_b.jpg
Photo by brianb - http://www.flickr.com/photos/brain/5063765723/in/photostream/

I was looking for one from the original ACL back before Austin even had the Frost Building, but can't find one.

But here is an idea of what it was like for the first ACL 8 years ago.

http://traumwerk.stanford.edu/archaeolog/Austin-TX-skyline.jpg
Image from http://traumwerk.stanford.edu/archaeolog/reviews/

I was going for 7.5 but ^^ moved me to 8.5

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5177/5541032950_3b5a0c5df3_b.jpg
Austin skyline (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomkershaw/5541032950/) by Tom Kershaw (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomkershaw/), on flickr

7/10

excellent 8.5/10

Not bad 7/10.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5107/5647732645_329639ced3_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/djwolfman/5647732645/)
Austin Skyline at Dusk April 2011 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/djwolfman/5647732645/) by DJ Wolfman (http://www.flickr.com/people/djwolfman/), on Flickr

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5186/5676111432_15cff0df24_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/djwolfman/5676111432/)
South Congrss Ave - Austin (http://www.flickr.com/photos/djwolfman/5676111432/) by DJ Wolfman (http://www.flickr.com/people/djwolfman/), on Flickr

8/10

Doesn't look like an ugly concrete jungle like downtown houston, 7/10...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6006/5932986096_a266df82be_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonlachance/5932986096/)
Summer Day (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonlachance/5932986096/) by Jon LaChance (http://www.flickr.com/people/jonlachance/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6165/6158807672_50d6bfaec3_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeates/6158807672/)
Austin Skyline (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeates/6158807672/) by Ellen Yeates (http://www.flickr.com/people/eyeates/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6197/6155390993_0312151b21_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/fourth_photography/6155390993/)
The View at ACL (http://www.flickr.com/photos/fourth_photography/6155390993/) by fourth photography (http://www.flickr.com/people/fourth_photography/), on Flickr

http://evansinaustinviews.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/dsc011261.jpg?w=614

http://bikenoob.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/bastropfire.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/4766191305_875530d18e_b.jpg

10/10

yeah 10/10

7.5/10

I'll say 8/10, very beautiful skyline! Hope to visit one day

5.5

Austin has really improved over the past 5 years. The tallest still seems a bit awkward to me....so maybe some more infill? 7/10

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7033/6732960045_92658fb64f_o.jpg
http://johnrrogers.com/tag/austin-architectural-photography/

http://downtownaustinblog.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/downtown-austin-clouds.jpg
http://downtownaustinblog.org/2012/02/14/downtown-austin-above-the-clouds/

It's so strange to see a major US city that's dominated by residential buildings.

It's rare for a US city to have a fully residential building even in the top 5 tallest let alone 6 of the 10 tallest including 1st and 2nd.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7248/6873174662_94137d6294_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dezertprincess/6873174662/)
Austin skyline from Zilker Botanical Garden (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dezertprincess/6873174662/) by Jen Merkel (http://www.flickr.com/people/dezertprincess/), on Flickr

It's so strange to see a major US city that's dominated by residential buildings.

It's rare for a US city to have a fully residential building even in the top 5 tallest let alone 6 of the 10 tallest including 1st and 2nd.

That is a very interesting fact! Thanks for pointing that out. But I think with Austin it makes sense. Austin is a very liberal city, and liberals tend to prefer living in an urban setting if given the option, or at least that's the trend. Just look at the NYC metro for example, Jersey and Long Island are heavily conservative while NYC itself is extremely liberal. Also, it seems a modern trend has been to live in the city now, so with the rise of Austin comes the condo-ization of it's city center. But the same trend is seen in tons of other liberal cities, look at Portland, Seattle, San Fran, Boston, etc. All of them have a pretty large number of residential buildings in their city centers. But indeed Austin is the most unique I think.

6.5/10

We need some supertalls in out city.

Edit, looks like a similar thing I said back in 2006:

I live in Austin and we need much taller skyscrapers. 5/10.

We need some supertalls in out city.

Edit, looks like a similar thing I said back in 2006:

Looks more like Austin needs more density.... and it's coming.

Austin looks damn good :banana: 8,5/10

nice..... all the buildings are small because no building in Austin can be taller than the Texas state capitol

False: At the time these pictures were taken, about 5 or 6 buildings were taller than the State Capitol. The buildings are small because native Austinites don't want the big city look, so they fight developers all the way. Since then, about 3 more "sky scrapers" have been added that are taller than the capitol, including one that's easily the tallest in Austin. There are also projects underway, or in the works for downtown, and south of the river, to add at least 6 more sky scrapers, rivaling the tallest current scraper in Austin, (was still under developement in those old photos.)

3/10. Just lame. Like almost everything else about Austin, completely overrated. And I did live there for seven years, so it's not like I have no right to bash. No height (there is no such rule/law/constraint saying no building can be taller than the Capitol -- 6 completed buildings are taller), no density, banal designs, no sleekness, yet little classic richness either.

Seriously, if you give this anything higher than a 7, then skylines like NYC, Chicago, HK deserve about a 50. Hell, giving Austin an 8 leaves no room for substantially superior Texas skylines such as Dallas, and of course the Texas-best Houston -- whose Galleria/Uptown skyline alone is arguably better than this.

Don't get me completely wrong, Austin is great for a small, minor city. You can give it 7+ scores, but only if you rate Austin relative to other cities in a separate group for third-tier Sun Belt cities.

One thing is for sure, giving such undeserved high scores to Austin will fuel even more conceit and arrogance from Austinites, who can never shut up about how fantastic and perfect Austin is, and how other cities -- world class or not -- just suck, if only everyone weren't so ignorant in their eyes.

I'm surprised you lasted 7 years in Austin. Usually, people with your negative attitude/outlook don't last too long there. Austinites are as proud of their city, as they, and the rest of Texas, are of their state. Maybe it's something in the water. Native Americans all use to go to Austin, and would not fight, including the Cherokee, because they viewed Austin (namely the Barton Creek {springs} area) as a sacred place.

I don't know, maybe there's something to that.... or, maybe there's something to the atmosphere of all the live music venues that make the city so fun, all the eatery's, (most restaurants per capita in the U.S.,) all the parks (most parks per capita in the U.S.,) the singles scene (always in the top five of Forbes list for best cities for young singles,) or largest, and best community college in the country, and one of the best state colleges (and one of the largest colleges) in the country...... The city has it going on. The only thing it's lacking, although I doubt most Austinites would agree, is the sun blocking, concrete jungle feel of big cities like Chicago, and New York.

Btw..... just because Houston has big buildings, does not make it an awesome city. When you drive 2 hours, and are still on the same side of town, there's nothing awesome about that.

8/10. A 3/10 is incredibly unfair and most people's rankings here don't follow a linear system. The difference between a 3/10 skyline and a 2/10 skyline is much less than the difference between a 10/10 skyline and a 9/10 skyline even though both are just 1 point different from each other. Once you get to about a 9 level skyline, there is a level of diminishing returns so that a city really has to up its skyline just to get boosted up slightly. In other words, if Pocatello, Idaho builds 1 small skyscraper tomorrow I might move it from a 1.5 to 3/10 just because of that one building. On the other hand for Austin to move from 8 to 9.5/10 it would literally have to add another hundred buildings imo.

PS-
Chicago: 10/10
Dallas: 9/10
Hong Kong: 10/10
Houston: 9.5/10
New York: 10/10

doublepost. Oopsy

Looks more like Austin needs more density.... and it's coming.

Yes, gradually the city is getting rid of the open parking lots. :)

As for adding a supertall I have this idea of a simple box, sleek black glass-cladded office tower going up in our skyline. 1100ft, with red neon lights going down the corners at night.

8.5 There is so much happening down here that it's getting harder to keep up with the construction boom.

7/10