Top 3 survey
 

Top 3 of your favorite Austin Highrises, current built, no u/c or proposed at this time. We can get to that and other surveys later. Purpose, to see how close or far apart we are, and with future surveys to help newcomers and visitors.

For me, #1 360, #2 Spring #3 One American Center


corvairkeith wrote:

I would say #1 Frost, #2 Norwood Tower, #3 Proper? Number three is a tough call.

I would have a hard time even doing a top 10. But three that would definitely be on my list in no particular order would be:

UT Tower (stand alone location, history & style)
Austonian (height)
Spring (location as a west side pioneer)

1. The Northshore
2. Spring
3. Fairmont

3 is so limiting...

A number of these will be likely bumped off by currently under construction towers... also, I based my rankings on street interaction, public access, design, aesthetic, Austin recognizability, skyline enhancement and prominence, style, and historical importance.

#1 Capitol - it is a symbolic representation of Austin, and one of the best examples of traditional revivalism American civic architecture.
#2 UT - likewise.
#3 Frost - this is only third because it isn’t civic and it isn’t historic, but it is instantly recognizable to many as being in Austin
#4 Norwood - a fly under the radar favorite of I think pretty much anyone who appreciates the few high quality historic non civic high rises that Austin has.
#5 One Eleven Congress - this gets a major boost from me because of the food court addition. It was already the best example of the many versions of this tower Austin has, but now it also adds to the vibrancy of downtown.
#6 W - huge skyline prominence, beautiful glass, multidimensional cladding which adds depth and character, massive boost of street level activity because of design here as well
#7 SXSW - a great modern piece that interacts well with its surroundings, offers a lot to the public and is associated with one of Austin’s most important festivals
#8 Dobie - iconic
#9 Moody Bank - iconic
#10 Monarch - this is my pet love... I think it is perhaps the finest example of its style of architecture (which is usually utter. f****** c***) nationwide, if not internationally.

Also, the Proper is an utterly juxtaposed mess that will not age well. I’m glad the only good side is the side that will remain most somewhat exposed and that it is going to be hidden from all other angles.

#sorrynotsorry

1. Norwood Tower
2. 360
3. Frost
(Every time I look at the UT Tower, I see the Camden (NJ) City Hall, and Camden REALLY sucks!)

1. Capitol
2. UT Tower
3. Frost

1. Frost
2. 111 Congress
3. 360

Wow, you're not kidding.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ty_Hall_NJ.JPG

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden_City_Hall

Also too many to choose from in Austin, but I'll go with these...

#1 Capitol
#2 Frost
#3 UT Tower

#1 Frost
#2 Capitol
#2 Norwood Tower

1. Independent
2. Frost Bank
3. 70 Rainey

---

Close runner-ups:
4. W Hotel & Residences
5. Hotel Zaza

Modern

360 Condominiums
One American Center
Frost Bank Tower

Historic/old

Texas Capitol
UT Tower
Norwood Tower

Under construction

Block 185 Tower
Indeed Tower
Austin Marriott Downtown

Proposed
6 X Guadalupe
The Republic
Tower 5C

Potential sleepers

44 East
405 Colorado
90 Rainey

Honorable mention

The W
Northshore
Hotel ZaZa

Seeing some trends here. Waiting on a few more before tallying up the totals. Up next will be favorite proposed and u/c so hold on. There's still a bunch of specific survey questions ahead. Thanks to everyone participating. I thought this might be a fun and interesting project.

I'll go with:

1. Bank of America Center (I'm in love with International-Style architecture. One of the reasons why I think Chi/NYC have the best skylines in the world. For some reason, I can't stand 300 Colorado-type buildings that are just blue glass rectangles, mixed in with condos that are combinations of off-white and blue glass. But the sleek black glass in International-Style architecture really looks great. See: John Hancock Center, Willis (Sears) Tower, and the Metlife Building for the best examples of this);

2. 111 Congress (An awesome example of what I see as early post-modern architecture. Fareground makes it really great, as well as the off-site parking that can be torn down entirely when no longer needed....);

3. Norwood Tower/70 Rainey (Picking #3 is really hard, so I went with a tie between very old and very new. Both are great: the Norwood tower for obvious reasons, and 70 Rainey as a great example of how a condo can be "a glass rectangle sitting on a giant parking rectangle" and still look pretty good.),

1.Capitol
2.Independent
3.Frost
4.Seaholm

1. Frost
2. Austonian
3. One American Center

Only going by taller highrises, if I were to add shorter buildings definitely the Norwood Tower would be up there as well. If only it were 20 stories taller.

Survey closes at 9pm tonight. Final results at 9:30. Spoiler alert....Frost has a commanding lead. Next survey, to be announced, begins at 10pm tonight and closes at 9pm 2/22/20.
Where's this going?? At the end of all the surveys, I'm going to compile a list of all the top #1 popular answers to hopefully enlighten and open up a conversation regarding the final results. These are snapshot surveys and anyone can self start any top 3 topic as long as it's Austin and surrounding area related, does not have to be just about buildings.

1. UT Tower (lit #1!)
2. Capitol
3. Zaza


Norwood is overrated.

1. Homewood Suites
2. Molar
3. 3rd and Shoal

^^^There's the first post for the bottom three.

Couldn't resist :koko:

Real list:

1. Austonian
2. Frost
3. W