I'm just wondering what everyone's opinions are of Charlotte's skyline. Should it be bigger for its size? Smaller? Do you see extreme growth in the present/future? Is it ugly? Beautiful? Whats your opinions?
Its okay, i guess i mean it could be better. i think the growth is pretty good but it needs taller buildings instead of midrise.its probably not going to ever be as the same status of atlanta because simply atlanta has alot more highrise buildings under construction and proposed.
I love Charlotte's skyline, it's small but it's dense. As the city grows so will the skyline so I don't think you can say it will never be like Atlanta. Honestly I would rather it not be like Atlanta with the gaps and all.
I'm very impressed by the individual architecture of downtown Charlotte, so the skyline looks pretty good. However, I would like to see the areas off of Tyron Street developed a little more.
I think the growth is pretty good but it needs taller buildings instead of midrise.its probably not going to ever be as the same status of atlanta because simply atlanta has alot more highrise buildings under construction and proposed.
You know, everything was Kosher until you brought Atlanta into the equation. Is there some kind of anti-intelligence potion in the water supply down there or something?
Fine, let's play... Using your criteria, Atlanta needs to concentrate on building taller buildings as well. Charlotte's tallest is the height of Atlanta's second tallest (and don't forget that both were built at almost the exact same time in 1992)... If an 871 foot tower is a midrise in your book, then Atlanta's tallest at 1023 feet is just barely a high-rise. Wow, you have some incredible expectations! That would mean that most cities in the country don't even have true high-rises. ?????
Back to reality...
Anyway, I think that Charlotte's skyline is very good for an MSA of just over 1.4 million people. It's even more impressive if you Urbanized Area fans use the 758k figure. It is very dense, there is little or no blank space at street level between buildings. This is in adherence to the Center City development plan from the 1970s--dictating new office space development would always remain concentrated around the square. It also allows easy expansion of the Overstreet Mall--an expansive plaza spanned across several towers, connected via skywalks.
One gripe I do have about Charlotte's skyline is that it looks too busy from certain angles. That dense development policy is a good thing to have, but it makes smaller skylines (like Charlotte's) look a little awkward at times.
I wish it had some more glass towers--I am really fond of that style. I do think that Charlotte needs some shorter towers (around 30-40 stories) to fill in the north side of Tryon and College. Also, if the SouthEnd area is going to experience a tower boom of any kind, I hope it stays close to the Belk Freeway.
Not sure I agree with that statement as you've written it. Think about this alternative:
If you remove the BoA Tower and replace it with a 30-40 story tower, optical field perception dictates that the skyline would in fact appear to cover a wider area. The height of BoA brings the horizontal stage into perspective and makes the skyline look smaller.
If several "wing buildings", say on the south side of Tryon, were removed... then yes, the skyline would start to look pretty dinky for a place the size of Charlotte--with or without BoA. I'd wager that with fewer buildings upon which to reference size, it would look even worse with BoA in that situation, as it would make the remaining buildings look rather squat.
I don't dislike the Charlotte skyline, but its never really done much for me honestly. Some of the buildings individually are gorgeous, but to me none of it fits very well. That, on top of the fact that there isn't much variation in the appearance of buildings, and almost a total lack of pre 1940's architecture and low-mid rise of any kind brings it down in the rankings for me.
Charlotte has an impressive skyline. I just returned from northern Europe and the U.K.(Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Copenhagen, etc). Charlotte's skyline is more impressive than any of the above cities except for London. London doesn't have an impressive skyline but the vastness of the city is phonominal. Nevertheless, all of the cities were wonderful and Charlotte like other American cities is at best, nice. Charlotte has a very nice, clean and walkable uptown area and I consider it outstanding compared to most other cities in the U.S. of similar size. It will be nice to see more structures and one would have to be lame to not see that in the fairly near future. People shouldn't worry too much about skylines. They're just banks and financial institutions. Great cities, like those in Europe, are made up of museums, playhouses, bistros, shops, etc. I believe that Charlotte is filling that gap as well.
This thread is too funny, we go from comparing Charlotte to Atlanta to comparing Charlotte to European cities. I thought the question was what do you think about Charlotte's skyline...
I like it, despite the lack of style variation. At least the architecture that's there is decent to look at. Imagine if it was all 70's boxes uke:
Upon examination, I agree with this... There is something awkward, for lack of a better word, about the mix of styles in Charlotte. Perhaps over time what it needs for "balance" will be built.
I love the skyline and agree that they could use 1 more signature tower. Wachovia could have clinched this with the new tower only being 10 more floors or so but unfortunately they wimped out. The original Arlington would have been a huge plus but instead we got the pink disaster. If 300 S.Tryon can ever get built, plus Wachovia and the condo towers then Charlotte's already strong density will really be something to behold.
I happen to like Charlotte's skyline quite a bit. For a city its size I think they've got a pretty decent one and it will only get better with time. I wish Wachovia would have held out longer before building a new tower. I mean they could have built a 700 footer or taller, once they acquire another big bank. Or maybe Wells Fargo will by them. I wonder how long it'll be before there are only 4 or 5 banks left in this country
I of course love Charlotte's skyline because it has always been the skyline that I associate as "home". But, I'll list some of my pros and cons for it.
There are a few truley beautiful towers, BofA, Hearst.
Even Some of the shorter towers were well designed compared to many buildings of comparable size, IJL, Interstate Tower, Wachovia Headquaters.
Since the 90's no developer has really just "thrown up" a cheap tower.
On the other hand:
I agree with JRQ, I too would like one more signiture tower on the southern half of uptown to balance the skyline a little more. Nothing too tall though. Preferably somthing between 700 and 1000 feet tall. I know everyone got excited over the 4 first Union plan of a 100 floor tower but IMO a tower that tall would dominate the skyline and detract from it. I would rather see two 50 floor towers than one 100 floor tower.
I also agree with I hate birds' points that Uptown could use a taller glass tower or two. And that the northern end needs a couple more thirty to forty floor towers to balance things out (and connect Odell).
I would also like to see SouthEnd's future skyline to stay dense and a closer to the freeway. If you look at the zoning maps, towers can be built out as far as Atherton Mill, which I think would spread the skyline a bit too far. I think we may see SouthEnd's skyline naturally emerge along Morehead and a little down Tryon instead of South Blvd.
Of course like every one else I would like to see some action away from Tryon (still in dense fashion) but I do think that is starting to happen.
Lastly, speaking of Four First Union, I would like to see it reawakened as possibly a scaled down version of its former self. The same design but maybe sixty floors high or so. I liked the design of the building a lot and think it would really add something unique to the skyline.
I know of one that opened up in Winston-Salem. A whole new Branch. And Horizons bank is making Winston a type of headquarters. Something like Financial Headquarters, for example. I would say the next bank in danger is BB&T. I hope not though.
Lastly, speaking of Four First Union, I would like to see it reawakened as possibly a scaled down version of its former self. The same design but maybe sixty floors high or so. I liked the design of the building a lot and think it would really add something unique to the skyline.
Charlottes skyline is nice, how can you not like some of the buildings, but I still think the only thing really missing is that old school architecture. You need to be remembered that it existed in the early 1900's all the buildings look almost to new if you get my drift. Other than lacking the 1930&1940's style architecture, I gotta give props where they are due and charlotte has some awesome looking buildings.
Charlottes skyline needs to expand in opposite directions from Tryon. It needs to beef up I cant wait to see if Wachovia goes through with their new tower....
Charlottes skyline is nice, how can you not like some of the buildings, but I still think the only thing really missing is that old school architecture. You need to be remembered that it existed in the early 1900's all the buildings look almost to new if you get my drift. Other than lacking the 1930&1940's style architecture, I gotta give props where they are due and charlotte has some awesome looking buildings.
Charlotte existed in 1900, but I believe its population was only on the order of around 30,000, so I wouldn't expect it to have much if anything in the way of old skyscrapers. New Orleans, Louisville, and Memphis at that time were the only cities in the South that had over 100,000.
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