Breathtaking. Magnificent. Unique. Very Special. Exquisite. One-of-a-kind. Well researched. Beautifully designed. (Robert J. Bruss, Tribune Media Services) "An eye-popping shelf-scraper...an elevating experience." (Gene Shalit, "Today")
"You may get vertigo looking at Skyscrapers..." (The New York Times)
Like towering divas, skyscrapers command the urban stage. They hold us enthralled, leaving us anticipating and half-fearing their next majestic manifestation. The roles played by the skyscraper and many: they are icons of cities, stars of movies, symbols of corporate power, and the place where many of us report to work every morning. Deemed both avatars and annihilators of civilized life, they have been praised as efficient space-savers and denounced as rapacious consumers of light and air. In short, the skyscraper's bold visual gestalt, one layered with multiple meanings, has become a complex metaphor for all that is good and bad about the twentieth century. (Judith Dupre, from the Foreword)
I think the interesting question is why does man want to build to the sky? What is there about the desire for domination, or to reach God, or for private pride - the Pyramids are an example of that, but the tall building is certainly another. Every civilization is touched by that desire... They all reached for a dominant height. The impulse may have been different, but that's a common feeling of must culture. (Philip Johnson, from the Introductory Interview)
SKYSCRAPERS is a lavish and appropriately soaring celebration of the world's most spectacular buildings.
From the ancient Lighthouse at Alexandria to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, from the Empire State Building to the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, the 50 buildings represented in this magnificent book leap off the page in words and more than 200 rich, duotone images. This unique volume includes facts-at-a-glance for each building, visual comparisons of heights, and quotes from a variety of architects and experts--all accompanying stunning full-page photos of each structure.
"An eye-popping shelf-scraper...an elevating experience." -Gene Shalit, "Today"
"Breathtaking. Magnificent. Unique. Very special. Exquisite. One-of-a-kind. Well researched. Beautifully designed." -Robert J. Bruss, Tribune Media Services
