Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania skyline from Point State Park, featuring Fifth Avenue Place (center) and PPG Place (right)
Once I got home, I looked up some of the buildings in the photo.
The building with the pyramidal top and the mast is Fifth Avenue Place (originally "Hillman Tower", sometimes called Highmark Place for its major tenant). The building was completed in 1988 and it has 31 floors. Located at the corner of Liberty Avenue and Fifth Avenue, it rises 616 feet (188 m) above Downtown Pittsburgh. The structure is made up of a unique granite frame for roughly the first 450 feet (140 m), then collapses inward in a pyramidal shape for another 124-foot-tall (38 m) roof structure. The roof utilizes four prisms clad in granite and encloses a penthouse area that stores the mechanics for the building as well as the cooling towers. Before Highmark's branding of the top of the tower, there were video screens at the base of the decorative summit of the building.
Protruding from the top of the skyscraper is a 178-foot-tall (54 m) mast manufactured by Meyer Industry of Minnesota. Despite its rounded appearance, the 13-story steel structure is actually 12-sided and measures four feet in diameter. Due to high winds, the mast allows for up to three feet of sway. The height at the top of the mast represents the intended height for the building when it was in development. However, the city decided that that height would not fit in well with the skyline, so the height of the main structure was restricted to what it is today.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Avenue_Place_(Pittsburgh)
PPG Place is a complex in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, consisting of six buildings within three city blocks and five and a half acres. Named for its anchor tenant, PPG Industries, who initiated the project for its headquarters, the buildings are all of matching glass design consisting of 19,750 pieces of glass. The complex centers around One PPG Place, a 40-story office building. Groundbreaking ceremonies occurred on January 28, 1981. The complex buildings opened between 1983 and 1984, and a dedication ceremony took place on April 11, 1984. Total cost of construction was $200 million ($488.8 million today). The buildings were sold by The Hillman Company to Highwoods Properties in 2011.
Upon completion of the project, architectural critics and the media called PPG Place "the crown jewel in Pittsburgh's skyline," "the towering success of downtown Pittsburgh," and "one of the most ambitious, sensitive and public spirited urban developments since Rockefeller Center." In 2006, readers of the Pittsburgh City Paper voted PPG Place as the best building in Pittsburgh.
PPG Place opened an ice skating rink on December 10, 2001 that has become a popular seasonal attraction in downtown. A 60-foot (18 m) Christmas tree is in the center of the rink. At 9,600 square feet, the surface is over 2,000 square feet larger than the famous rink in New York's Rockefeller Center.
During the rest of the year, the area with the ice rink is a plaza with tables open to the public. The plaza features a fountain with 140 water jets and uses 280 underground lights. Opened in 2003, it was designed by WET and SWA Group landscape architecture and urban design. At the center of the fountain is a pink granite obelisk.
The building serves as Doctor Claw's company headquarters (and hideout) in the 1999 film Inspector Gadget. Some of the interior scenes of Unstoppable were filmed in PPG Place.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania skyline from Point State Park, featuring Fifth Avenue Place (center) and PPG Place (right)
Once I got home, I looked up some of the buildings in the photo.
The building with the pyramidal top and the mast is Fifth Avenue Place (originally "Hillman Tower", sometimes called Highmark Place for its major tenant). The building was completed in 1988 and it has 31 floors. Located at the corner of Liberty Avenue and Fifth Avenue, it rises 616 feet (188 m) above Downtown Pittsburgh. The structure is made up of a unique granite frame for roughly the first 450 feet (140 m), then collapses inward in a pyramidal shape for another 124-foot-tall (38 m) roof structure. The roof utilizes four prisms clad in granite and encloses a penthouse area that stores the mechanics for the building as well as the cooling towers. Before Highmark's branding of the top of the tower, there were video screens at the base of the decorative summit of the building.
Protruding from the top of the skyscraper is a 178-foot-tall (54 m) mast manufactured by Meyer Industry of Minnesota. Despite its rounded appearance, the 13-story steel structure is actually 12-sided and measures four feet in diameter. Due to high winds, the mast allows for up to three feet of sway. The height at the top of the mast represents the intended height for the building when it was in development. However, the city decided that that height would not fit in well with the skyline, so the height of the main structure was restricted to what it is today.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Avenue_Place_(Pittsburgh)
PPG Place is a complex in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, consisting of six buildings within three city blocks and five and a half acres. Named for its anchor tenant, PPG Industries, who initiated the project for its headquarters, the buildings are all of matching glass design consisting of 19,750 pieces of glass. The complex centers around One PPG Place, a 40-story office building. Groundbreaking ceremonies occurred on January 28, 1981. The complex buildings opened between 1983 and 1984, and a dedication ceremony took place on April 11, 1984. Total cost of construction was $200 million ($488.8 million today). The buildings were sold by The Hillman Company to Highwoods Properties in 2011.
Upon completion of the project, architectural critics and the media called PPG Place "the crown jewel in Pittsburgh's skyline," "the towering success of downtown Pittsburgh," and "one of the most ambitious, sensitive and public spirited urban developments since Rockefeller Center." In 2006, readers of the Pittsburgh City Paper voted PPG Place as the best building in Pittsburgh.
PPG Place opened an ice skating rink on December 10, 2001 that has become a popular seasonal attraction in downtown. A 60-foot (18 m) Christmas tree is in the center of the rink. At 9,600 square feet, the surface is over 2,000 square feet larger than the famous rink in New York's Rockefeller Center.
During the rest of the year, the area with the ice rink is a plaza with tables open to the public. The plaza features a fountain with 140 water jets and uses 280 underground lights. Opened in 2003, it was designed by WET and SWA Group landscape architecture and urban design. At the center of the fountain is a pink granite obelisk.
The building serves as Doctor Claw's company headquarters (and hideout) in the 1999 film Inspector Gadget. Some of the interior scenes of Unstoppable were filmed in PPG Place.