Comcast Center topped off – The Inky
I like tall buildings and the skylines they produce. I used to say the only thing D.C. was missing was a ball team and skyscrapers. The baseball problem finally got solved, but skyscrapers will never arrive. I am generally okay with that since Washington’s skyline is unique, but I will admit to a little bit of skyscraper envy.
Barely more than 20 years ago, Philadelphia also had a low lying skyline. For about eighty years City Hall was the tallest building in the city of brotherly love and at the time it was dedicated the builder said that “no gentleman would ever build higher than William Penn’s hat,” referencing the statue on top of the building. In the mid 1980s some boor ignored that advice and built 1 Liberty Place (Flickr photo by C r u s a d e r), a beautiful post-modern building that is perfectly situated in the skyline. It seems as though all the other buildings form a symmetry that builds with 1 Liberty Place as the point at the top of the arc. This has made Philly one of my favorite skylines.
This all changed Monday though with the new Comcast Center skyscraper topping off at 976 feet. The new tower is boxy and has a flat roof and is designed with mostly right angles; it is completely uninspiring architecturally. It is unfortunate that the wonderful skyline will be diminished somewhat by this building. What do you expect though — Comcast does very little right except for suing Peter Angelo$. Not only is the building ugly, but it has clear glass which may sound like a good way to save on lighting costs, but what if you have to look at a screen? Doesn’t work too well then, does it?
The bottom line is if you are going build the new tallest building in a city, make sure it is better than the current one. That hasn’t happened in Philly.
For more on the Comcast Center and Philly’s skyline check out these sites:
