Re: Re: Dublin skyline

Irish conservatism towards high rise is a very good thing. High rise creates just as many problems as it solves. They are not fantastic places to raise children (though they can be). They are also very very long lived, with almost no chance of being removed if they turn out badly. They are a big bet.

They are also not necessary. The you get diminishing returns the higher you go. Medium rise (5 -10 floors) does the trick a lot better than 10 -100 floors.

On an architectural level, i have visited San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, New York , Philedelphia, London , Paris , Stockholm, and Berlin. The high rise concept only , only looked nice in Chicago. Every other group of high rise buildings that i have seen, has been a collection of very very plain/ or ugly buildings peppered with some master pieces. Unlike a low rise setting , the masterpieces cannot overcome the ugliness/plainess over their surroundings. If you give the green light to high rise , you will enevitably have to contend with cheap efforts, just as you do with low rise development.

New York is particularly dull. Where it isn’t dull ,it’s horrid looking. It can be done however, Chicago is just beautiful.