Have we lost interest in architecture in the USA?

Quote: AZDuffman

We are going to keep being eclipsed. The USA had its architecture period peaking once in the 1920s and again in the 1960s with races to be the tallest building. That is over and now functionality rules here. We are not as bland as Japan, but cost per foot is what counts most.

Societally we are in decline in the USA. If a mogul does build a fancy building, 47% of the folks will think he is some greedy egomaniac building a monument to himself. And we just don't need big, tall buildings here. The boom companies put in a "campus" for employees to park with low buildings, green space, and loads of parking. In densely populated Asia this is not an option.

Some of those campus parks are also amazing pieces of architecture. Just on a different scale and direction.

Quote: TheCesspit

Some of those campus parks are also amazing pieces of architecture. Just on a different scale and direction.

Times and needs change. The USA is no longer in a period where tycoons want to one-up each other with tall buildings. Functionality is now a higher priority.

Sears thought that by about 1980 they would occupy 100% of their legendary tower in Chicago. A decline in their market share as well as changing technology meant that they never filled much if any more than what they filled on the day they moved in. Long-timers say it destroyed the culture as people never left their floors and you did not "bump into" folks from other departments.

US Steel will soon leave their iconic tower. Built to shwocase a then-new steel that did not need paint and would merely rust on the surface then stop; it was locally called "The Steel Building." To add "US" was not required.

After 9/11 some players did not want lots of Key Employees in the same place.

Meanwhile those campus facilities vary wildly. Silicon Valley builds them so the employees never want to leave. What is left of the Eastman Kodak facility will never be filled by one player again and is nothing at all special.

Quote: TheCesspit

Some of those campus parks are also amazing pieces of architecture. Just on a different scale and direction.

Tall does not necessarily mean "interesting". Before it's even built, this Sky City in China is being criticized. In order to build the tallest building in the world in 90 days, it must be entirely pre-manufactured. Some people feel that it will have the charm of the world's largest stack of trailers.

The hottest skyscraper district in the USA is 57th street with views of Central Park. Many people are unhappy with this wall of billionaire apartments being built in midtown.



In South Korea they are using a camera capture zone and an LED Facade System to make the building less visible.

Quote: AZDuffman

Times and needs change. The USA is no longer in a period where tycoons want to one-up each other with tall buildings. Functionality is now a higher priority.

Yes! And that's what makes the Google and MS campuses really interesting. Maybe not from the outside as a passer-by, but from the inside as a user. I've read and seen some tours, and the thought into some of these places as work spaces is amazing. Right down to walking routes that you can use to time meeting lengths, and spaces designed to give interactions, as well as privacy.

As you say, the US has no need to build straight up. Though some up is useful to allow for closeness (one campus has a requirement that all desk were ten minutes walk from each other... which requires 3D thinking).

Quote: TheCesspit

Yes! And that's what makes the Google and MS campuses really interesting. Maybe not from the outside as a passer-by, but from the inside as a user. I've read and seen some tours, and the thought into some of these places as work spaces is amazing. Right down to walking routes that you can use to time meeting lengths, and spaces designed to give interactions, as well as privacy.

They can also be placed far away from greedy big-city government reach.

Quote:

As you say, the US has no need to build straight up. Though some up is useful to allow for closeness (one campus has a requirement that all desk were ten minutes walk from each other... which requires 3D thinking).

The Pentagon?

Quote: TheCesspit

As you say, the US has no need to build straight up. Though some up is useful to allow for closeness (one campus has a requirement that all desk were ten minutes walk from each other... which requires 3D thinking).

The need to build straight up is usually associated with population density. In reality, there is no need to build high to get much density. The Bronx has only one set of two apartment buildings slightly over 400', and Bronx has 50.6 ppl/acres has while San Francisco has 27.5 ppl/acre and Chicago has 18.5 ppl/acre. San Francisco is the mostly densely populated major city outside of New York.

Washington DC has three times as many people per acre as Atlanta, and no building in DC is above 12 stories.

High density is very possible with a lot of mid-rise buildings. The MET LIFE building was 700' in 1909. Buildings over 700' are not really necessary.

Nordstrom Tower 217 West 57th Street, 225 West 57th Street is aspiring to be 1775' tall with about 200 condos.



San Gimignano has managed to conserve fourteen towers as old as year 1280 and as tall as 177'. The very rich competitively built these towers as displays of status. Do you think our new towers will look as good in 7 centuries?

The Dali Museum in nearby St Petersburg FL features some unique architecture.
It was built just a few years ago.
I highly recommend visiting it if ever in the area.
The collection of Dali works is very impressive.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewpaulson/5879269940
https://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewpaulson/7612908842
https://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewpaulson/7476101064

There are almost a hundred buildings under construction of height 1000' or higher around the world, with only 5 in the USA

# Building Name City Height (ft) Floors Completed Use
9 Nordstrom Tower New York City (US) 1,775 92 2018 residential / hotel / retail
33 30 Hudson Yards New York City (US) 1,227 73 2018 office
45 Comcast Tech Ctr Philadelphia (US) 1,121 59 2018 hotel / office
52 Wilshire Grand Tower Los Angeles (US) 1,100 73 2017 hotel / office
71 Salesforce Tower San Francisco (US) 1,070 61 2017 office

I prefer the 1930's Chrysler building.