Top of the Town

Since Sactown magazine launched in late 2006, we have prided ourselves on not only featuring exciting new architectural developments around the area, but also breaking the news before anyone else. Often we would feature renderings to the public for the very first time they’d be seen outside of architectural and governmental offices. From time to time we also indulge in a kind of speculative architecture, giving local leading lights of the development scene a civic target to see where their arrows would land.
Top of the Town is one of these. We asked several local firms to think about what an observation tower high above Sacramento might look like. We wanted them to think a bit practically but also reach a bit and daydream something really new. Something innovative.
We featured several of these renderings in our December/January 2017 issue. As you can see from the sample of spreads included here, we got a number of great renderings. As we run a lot of these kinds of features, finding fresh ways to frame them designwise is always a challenge. There’s only so many ways one can defer to tasteful minimalism and all that. Sometimes you want to reach for something splashier. Maximal. That’s what I’m up to here. If the towers themselves were to be monumental and statuesque, then the type treatment should match. Sturdy stalks of for Din Mittelschrift framed by futuristic gradients and plotter’s crosshairs all on a plane designed to match or complement the perspective of the structure itself.
After all, the architects shouldn’t get to have all the fun.

  • Client
    Sactown magazine