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Pittsburgh with a free-standing tower?


noobie

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I was just messing around in Photoshop and wondered what Pittsburgh would look like if it had a free-standing tower in its skyline. I used Auckland’s "sky tower" in my rendering as an example.

What do you think? Would a tower of such (at the proper height) look right in our skyline?

here's what I came up with ... please note I have no idea what lies at the base of the tower currently lol. I just placed it where I thought it looked best in the photo.

tower2rq.jpg

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Looks like that is on the Ramada/Doubletree :lol: . Interesting to see it so vividly like this, but I think it might be a bit too tall for the downtown 'scape. What I have wondered is why can't we "spread" downtown by getting a few 20-30 floor buildings on the northshore, that would look great and much more cosmopolitan.

Oh great pic by the way and great "shop", it looks like it's already there for real!

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The North Shore might as well be 10 miles away from Downtown. Pittsburgh is in no position right now to support that kind of growth on that side of the river. IMO the T needs to cross the river in at least 2 locations to fully integrate that area with Downtown. I'm saying two because just one has a danger of spreading out thinner development along it's route while two within proximity to each other creates a focal point for things to rise vertically in between. And forget trying to serve such a concentrated area with cars, it won't pass muster in Pittsburgh's topography.

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I always thought a tower like that would be great in the place of, or above, the fountain at the point. It looks pretty dead down there in the winter.

I was dissapointed that the developers of the North Shore had imposed a height restriction. For me the best views of the city are from the North Shore. The skyline appears much more spread out from there than the view from Mt. Washington. I think the Marriott next to PNC has already crashed that restriction so maybe they have loosened up a bit. I would love to see, at least 15 story residential developments on the North Shore. I remember there thinking was to keep the focus on the stadii. If you look at the new developments around the new ball parks of St Louis and San Diego, maybe they will change their minds. The North Shore is perfect for a dense residential neighborhood

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Great points Urbani, I never thought of that idea of a "landmark" tower at the point, though I do remember much smaller alternatives to the fountain being discussed back in the day (obelisk, ferris wheel etc.)

Blueblack, I think a second "downtown" is out of the question for the northshore but I do believe a mix of hotels, condos, some suburban style office parks, maybe even a future CMU or Duquesne medschool complex added onto the east and south ends of Allegheny General (two or three towers there, AGH actually mulled forming a MedSchool with both those institutions in the 80's and 90's) would be very possible with current transportation infrastructure. The T is a must but given the realities of funding waiting for a 2nd line might not be the best policy. I get what your saying though, there is no "incentive" to build up since the value/scarcity of showcase land and the massive transportation infrastructure to support it is not in place. I say City/County could make it happen through subtle pressure on any future developers, akin to Ren II under Caliguri.

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Hard to find a picture of it, but check out what Frank Lloyd Wright wanted to do with the point:

wrghtx.gif

It would have been a massive building with an indoor zoo and all kinds of stuff. If I remember correctly, it would have been almost an indoor town, with ramps for cars to drive inside too. As cool as it seems, I think I am glad it was never built. Such a thing would keep people inside instead of out and about in Downtown or in the park (if any park would have been left!) And it would have been kind of overbearing and maybe bad for the skyline.

Edit: Taking another look at the pic, seems like it would have had bridges as part of the structure that would be about where the Fort Pitt and Fort Duquesne bridges are today.

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The bridges were to be catelivered from the tower at the point. The bridges were to emet at the tip of the point much in the manner the Point and Manchester bridges used to. I think the plan never made it beyond the conception stage. As with many projects in teh conception stage, Wright threw everything in, including teh kitchen sink, most likely expecting that the proposal would be severely scaled back later. Of coruse it ended up being completley scaled back as it was never built.

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You know in one way I wish that they did build something to that effect at the very tip of the point, there is enough acreage down there to keep it park like, but no attraction at the tip of the point to have people make Point State Park more then a dead end. I sometimes wonder how many things would include an omage to Pittsburgh in them similar to the arch in St. Louis or the Golden Gate Bridge (ads depicting all of "America" with those two and the Statue of Liberty in them). I don't think Wright's plans would have done that but something more then a really big fountain would have.

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