Keep in mind you lose lots of floor space when the core takes up a lot of room.
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Remember that we are the outliers. 99% of the population (if not more) couldn’t care less about a city’s skyline. They might be impressed for an hour or so when they visit a new city, but they’re more concerned with day to day things in their own lives… paying the bills, getting their kids educated, etc. And as stache alluded to, building taller gets increasingly more expensive the higher you go, so most developers aren’t interested in making dramatic statements, they pretty much just want to make a buck. And they build as tall as makes sense to their accountants. Sad for us, but they’re not interested in our opinions unless we’re buying a unit on the top floor.
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I watched an interview with the developers of 111 W. 57th in New York and they talked about the reason for taking on such an ambitious and innovative project. Their motivation was exactly that, to make a dramatic statement with a landmark tower and monumental achievement from an engineering and design aspect. They spoke about the choice to use terracotta and actual bronze (?) copper(?) or whatever the accent metal is, which was to honor the traditions of the city and to be bold. That is the attitude and belief that I was speaking on that Chicago has abandoned. The form and height of 111 is also a biproduct of being motivated to build an iconic tower that will define the Central Park vistas and Mid-town skyline for generations. They could have obviously built a moderately tall glass-slab with aluminum accents to save presumably hundreds of millions but it was their intent from the beginning to erect a jewel along Billionaire’s Row and absorb the risk that comes with such a venture. The location, their passion and the devotion to the city’s built-environment dictated that nothing less than unique, experimental and highest quality materials would suffice for their city. Contrast that with JDL and One Chicago who also speaks about the creation of this development. We are talking language that is worlds apart from each other.
I think at some point budget-towers that strictly check boxes that satisfies accountants can’t be the sole ambition behind even our marquee developments. Pride, ego public reception, acclaim and pure love of architecture should play a role as well.
David Childs eloquently summed up what architecture’s role is in an urban environment, especially one with such a cherished history such as Chicago’s. In his explanation of designing the Spire replacement towers he says that he drew his inspiration from our masonry history, the river, lake and the devotion to architecture that Chicago’s residents have, which he said is unlike any other city he’s worked in. He describes what buildings should be and what they represent. They are a visual and physical monument for all residents and visitors to interact with. Hence, the height that is visible from many vantage points, the set-backs that echo a waterfall, bay windows to honor the Chicago School and terracotta to evoke past tradition. This design has been value engineered beyond recognition but had the design remained in-tact these would have been instant landmarks on par with anything being built globally. One Chicago just isn’t anywhere near that class.
The city has a duty in my opinion to hold developers to higher standards and also encourage and reward higher quality design and more ambitious projects that elevate our cityscape and increase our global appeal/reputation. Instead, we are making zoning overly convoluted, extorting developers to fix infrastructure, pay into funds for bonus FAR, provide affordable housing and telling them less height and density is priority. If our “leaders” wanted to work towards honoring our heritage and the ‘make no little plans’ adage became reality we could foster in an era where the world’s greatest architects once again strived to leave a masterpiece in our city like we experienced in past centuries. Many architects are on record about making a pilgrimage to Chicago to study and find inspiration. We aren’t building in that vein any longer. We are in a terribly bland and redundant era where large corporate development firms gobble up all the desirable locations and gift commissions to the same handful of practical budget-friendly designers that completely lack long-term vision. We have fallen far below our previous standards. Glass-boxes of every possible configuration other than bold and innovative have come to utterly dominate. Your city’s environment reflects your collective beliefs, goals, laws and values. No place on earth rivals New York when it comes to that persistent effort to showcase that it is the epicenter of the universe where nothing is impossible and the objective is to place one in a perpetual state of awe.
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Here’s to a developer who thinks like that. Sadly, most don’t. 
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Magnificent!!$
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WB robert!
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Well, I’ll go ahead and post it. (Lots of pictures.)
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Marina City looks tiny. 
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https://www.instagram.com/p/CRFEPeIjiog/
time lapse cam
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