Quote:
Originally Posted by tie_guy
Today
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Around the time you were taking those photos yesterday, I was taking my first walk on the boardwalk. It was a perfect day for skyline-gawking. I went from Lakeshore Blvd to Congress and back, and spent a lot of time on the boardwalk segments just standing and staring at the beauty of the city, the various birds and turtles in the foreground.
It was very interesting to see how much the skyline changes as your viewing angle changes. I had noticed that before, of course, because there's no way you can see it from the Lamar St. bridge and think that looks anything remotely like the view coming into dt from the south on I-35. And that's very cool. But I got a much stronger sense of the subtle variations that occur even by just walking 50 feet in either direction on the trail. Entire buildings becoming hidden or revealed, and those that you can see interact differently with one another. It's fantastic, and I'm eager to see what it will look like when the view includes Waller Center, The Fairmont, 99 Trinity, and all the projects around the redevelopment of the west side.
I also realized, as I chose most and least favorite buildings, that my favorites are mostly the newer designs, while my least favorites are the buildings that I used to believe I would have preferred --- the old "faux naturale" (please tell me that hasn't been coined yet cuz I'm feeling proud of it) look that tries to "blend in with the hill country" with colors mimicking sand, soil, and rock. This reminded me of a major impression I had of Austin during my first visit here in 1981 --- It was winter, and I drove on 360 and was very impressed by the first of the glass-facade "modern" office buildings that had been newly built there. I loved the contrast between that look and the surrounding landscape. Coming from California, with its ocean of generic faux-Spanish stucco and red tile roof housing tracts and strip malls, I was dazzled by the more futuristic appeal of parts of Austin. Imagine how I felt the next day, when I saw the Houston skyline for the first time. I thought I had landed in a Jetsons cartoonscape. Awesome. And only a foreshadowing of things to come.
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