Devon Energy Center

[BoulderSooner]

I've heard interviews with AKM and he states he just loves downtown, hince the boathouse, finish line tower and now the arena name. I kind of wonder if they might do something some day. A few years back, they bought the PierOne 22 story tower in Ft Woth, so maybe he's not opposed to tall buildings.

rumors going back a long time that he would like to turn the chesapeake campus into chesapeake university someday ..

[Just the facts]

OKC needs about 30 more buildings in the 300 to 700 foot range before a 1000 foot building doesn't look out of place. Devon is going to look out of place for a decade or more. Look at downtown Detroit as an example. GM place still looks like it was dropped from the sky by aliens with bad aim.

[MDot]

OKC needs about 30 more buildings in the 300 to 700 foot range before a 1000 foot building doesn't look out of place. Devon is going to look out of place for a decade or more. Look at downtown Detroit as an example. GM place still looks like it was dropped from the sky by aliens with bad aim.

Lol the Renaissance Center is odd looking all around and it makes it even more odd that it's so far out from the rest of the buildings downtown. But the tallest is 108 ft taller than the 2nd tallest in Detroit so it fits in height wise.

[metro]

Just cause the Devon Tower dominates the skyline now doesn't mean it will in 10 years or even 5 years cause there's no telling what all could get built and how soon so don't think of it in that sense, think of it as if we got a skyline like Philadelphia and then we built a 1,000 ft about 25 years down the road. Philadelphia has had a few planned over 1,000 ft but they've all been cancelled, even the most recent one (can't remember the name), so it's not like 1,000 ft buildings are never considered, it's just that a huge chunk of them get cancelled. Heck, there was even an almost 7,000 ft in the planning stages to be built in Houston but they scratched that idea at some point and it was probably a good thing cause their tallest is just over 1,000 ft tall and that would SERIOUSLY stand out.

And I'm not comparing Oklahoma City to Philadelphia cause God knows Philadelphia is one of the premier cities of America and Oklahoma City is just a small city in the heartland, I'm just using Philadelphia's skyline as an example. But I do agree that Devon sticks out quite a bit now but it won't always stick out as taller towers are built here, hopefully.

You're also forgetting that Philadelphia has had height restrictions for decades, and only recently they allowed skyscrapers in certain parts of the city. You have to understand the history of Philadelphia. Originally nothing could be built taller than city hall.

[Just the facts]

Lol the Renaissance Center is odd looking all around and it makes it even more odd that it's so far out from the rest of the buildings downtown. But the tallest is 108 ft taller than the 2nd tallest in Detroit so it fits in height wise.

That is what I am saying. Look how goofy Detroit looks with only a 108' difference. Devon is 350' taller than Liberty/Cotter. Like most people I got very excited when Devon Tower was announced but in my mind it is turning out to be better on paper/small model than in real life. I am afraid it will be another architect mistake in a long history of architectural mistakes. I know a lot of people agree with me because our local photographers go to great lengths to reduce the 'size' of Devon compared to the rest of downtown and nearly everyone thinks OKC needs some 700' buildings to balance it out.

While in Charlotte the other night I couldn't help bute see how 2 building ruined their skyline, when they thought they were adding to it. From a distance it is as if the rest of their buildings aren't even there because BofA and Duke Energy tower way above everything else. Sometimes 'more' is less.

The height restictions in Philadelphia (though never an actual law) resulted in a very flat skyline because everyone built to the height that could get approved. Then all construction stopped in because it wasn't economically feasable without going higher. They finally allowed Liberty 1 and 2 to be built and since then several other taller buildings were built. I also found out that Philadelphia passed a 10 year moratorium on property taxes for building/converting residential unit in the Center City. It seems to have worked because there 10s of thousands of people living in Center City now.

[metro]

Kerry have you even visited OKC in person since it has been built? Photos only do so much from other angles it looks fine and even impressive.

[SkyWestOKC]

The only time it looks out of place is 4-5+ miles out. When you get closer and start looking up, it looks fine. From the air it looks amazing.

[Just the facts]

Kerry have you even visited OKC in person since it has been built? Photos only do so much from other angles it looks fine and even impressive.

No, the last time I saw it the building was probably 2 stories. However, SkyWest is right - it probaby does look better when you can't see it in its totality and setting (i.e up close).

[MDot]

I used Philadelphia as an example since that's where Kerry has been and am aware that there was a height restriction of 548-ft since that is how tall city hall is and it wasn't until 1987 that they broke that agreement and built a building taller than 548-ft but they still built a lot of 400-ft highrises during the time that they had the height restriction. In other words, you are correct metro, which I know you knew you were. LOL but a better example would have been Los Angeles' skyline. Their 2nd tallest is 858-ft tall but their tallest is 1,018-ft tall. However, they also have 19 buildings between 500-ft and 844-ft, which is the difference between Chase/Liberty/Cotter and Devon obviously. So basing off of Los Angeles' buildings we definately need quite a bit of infill. But we most certainly are not on Los Angeles' level or can even breathe on them as they are the 2nd largest city in America and have a trailer load of more/bigger companies HQ there than Oklahoma City does.

Like I said before though, I don't think we'll get a 1,000-ft here, I just like to compare and imagine which is all this is. =)

[Bellaboo]

No, the last time I saw it the building was probably 2 stories. However, SkyWest is right - it probaby does look better when you can't see it in its totality and setting (i.e up close).

From the Northeast, it does not stand out bad at all, kind of fits right in. It's very impressive coming from the East. The only view it looks out of place is from the due West, just because of it's massive bulk of the building. From that one view point, it looks out of place to me, but the others are just fine. Just my simple opinion......

[Pete]

From today:

[Pete]

Also, notice you can see the connection to the Colcord in this cropped version:

[MDot]

Thanks, Pete! It's been awhile since I last seen it from this angle and man it sure is a beautiful building!!

[dankrutka]

Devon looks great. OKC could definitely use some complimenting towers, but I don't think the World Trade Centers ruined NYC. They towered over everything. BTW, Devon looks best up close. Go stand in Myriad Gardens. Looks great.

[Dustin]

I wonder how tall the highest crane is?

[MDot]

I wonder how tall the highest crane is?

1,080-ft I think. I'm not sure but I remember someone said the last crane jump will be 1,080-ft.

[dmoor82]

^^Correct!my neighbor is a crane operator and he told me 1080'ft long before it was jumped!

[shawnw]

I saw some odd lighting on the north side crown this morning when coming to work. It will be interesting to see that at night. It seemed like regular incandescent lighting spaced evenly in an almost grid pattern. Not the bright construction lights we are used to.

From about 30 minutes ago (sorry about the quality, this is taken with a 7 year old digital camera):

Downtown...


10x optical zoom of crown...


Digital zoom of crown...

[SoonerAce311]

just the facts what are you talking about? its not about standing out, its about raising the bar and actually having a bigtime skyline. The Devon Tower doesn't stick out to me at all, it just puts us on the map for once. So many people it appears are scared of 1000 plus buildings around here, and thats why we have never had them. Our thinking has just been to small. You gotta think big! and the devon tower is a good start for us. its not some type of architectual mistake or something like just the facts was talking about. I wish a lot of folks out there would stop worrying about it "sticking out" or its "out of balance." just be freakin' happy that we got it. look at pictures of the world trade center with that whole tip of buildings on lower manhattan, and you will see that the wtc is around 400-500 taller than any building in that area. do you think they stick out? it doesn't matter. what matters is they dominate (or dominated) and thats what you want in a skyline, a certain tower or towers to dominate. don't be scared of a building dominating

[SoonerAce311]

hell yeah trout, exactly! great example

[SoonerAce311]

yeah, thank you much pete, what an excellent shot! one of my favorite shots

[SoonerAce311]

Well i think we will get a 1000plus skyscraper in the future. we just gotta think big and keep growing and growing and it will happen. I wish mdot would understand that small thinking and vision gets you small buildings and critical thinking of balance. All of that will take care of itself in the future, you just have to get over that and look up, not down.

[soonerwilliam]

I agree SoonerAce311!!! I really am proud of the Devon Tower and the size of it. I wish it had ended up being 925 ft. but I'll take the 850 ft. Looks fantastic !!!

[MDot]

Well i think we will get a 1000plus skyscraper in the future. we just gotta think big and keep growing and growing and it will happen. I wish mdot would understand that small thinking and vision gets you small buildings and critical thinking of balance. All of that will take care of itself in the future, you just have to get over that and look up, not down.

Okay, I'm going to start off my post by saying this SoonerAce311; I agree with your posts and most of what you said because I enjoy seeing someone so positive towards the subject.

But if you read all of my posts then you will see I'm the only one who has given their opinion and is optimistic about us getting a 1,000-ft+. You're probably only reading my comment about our chances being under 5% but you're just looking to much into one comment rather than seeing the overall point I was trying to make. I understand misunderstandings happen but don't try and point your finger at me because I share the same opinion you do; that's like tackling a player on your team.

And for the sake of saying it, just because I think big and act like we will get a 1,000-ft building doesn't mean we will because I'm not an Architect and I don't own a huge business that will need to build up soon. It doesn't matter what MDot or SoonerAce311 say or believe. It doesn't mean they will or will not build just because a few average Joe's state their opinion. I don't know if that will make sense to you but to sum it up, just think with your brain and not your heart.

But I share your optimism about building tall buildings, so for the most part we're on the same page.

[Bellaboo]

MDot,

You've been a very good poster and don't have to explain anything to anybody.