Why Skyscrapers Became Glass Boxes
Taking architecture seriously therefore makes some singular and strenuous demands upon us. It requires that we open ourselves to the idea that we are affected by our surroundings even when they are made of vinyl and would be expensive and time-consuming to ameliorate. It means conceding that we are inconveniently vulnerable to the colour of our wal
... See moreAlain de Botton • The Architecture of Happiness (Vintage International)
The beauty of concrete - Works in Progress
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solve architectural problems in a way that made an artistic statement at, he hoped, no cost to functional utility.
Paul Goldberger • Building Art
One of the weirdest things about modern urbanism, and the Microwave Economy in general, is that we build the opposite of what we like. We adore Europe’s narrow and car-less streets, but build skyscraper-lined cities with sterile shopping malls and six-lane roads, where pedestrians are always on edge. But the Microwave Economy is most visible in arc... See more
David Perell • The Microwave Economy
Especially in the 1880s and 1890s, the Chicago School of urban architecture—Louis Sullivan was its greatest exponent—pioneered clean, elevator high-rise, glass-enclosed steel-frame designs, with minimal ornamentation, well-lighted, open interior spaces, and separate shafts for utilities. As one leading Chicago architect put it: Bearing in mind that
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