When the twin icons of American capitalism fell on 9/11, many questioned the future of skyscrapers. People were anxious, and politicians made wild proclamations about limiting the height of urban towers. But just three years later, the skyscraper is going nowhere but up. How high? Some 2,000 feet - more than 600 feet higher than the former World Trade Center - according to the models and floor plans of some 25 giants on display at New York's Museum of Modern Art starting July 16. Brought together as a single skyline, the collection offers a panoramic view of tomorrow's landmarks.
"We've learned a lot about what makes cities thrive," says Spanish architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava, whose high-rise Turning Torso is part of the show. Calatrava decries the dead zones created when workers leave the business district at 5 pm, so his Malmé, Sweden, complex provides space for shops, restaurants, and apartments. Scheduled for completion next year, it represents a growing architectural movement toward mixed-use towers that promote activity 24 hours a day. Exhibit cocurator Terry Riley observes: "There's a fantastic overlaying of public transit and retail, residential, and office space. As if tall buildings are pulling the city up into them."
Turning Torso, with its improbably slender diameter of about 100 feet, is just one of the exhibit's many examples of radical engineering. It would be impossible to determine the load, wind, and other forces that affect these new structures without a computer, says Riley, noting that the World Trade Center was built using hand calculations and punchcard mainframes. But the show isn't about building the previously unbuildable. As Calatrava says, it's about "the most economical way of using the ground."
- Jessie Scanlon
Kowloon Station Tower
Turning Torso
London Bridge Tower
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Nowhere But Up
