Author: Alex S.

Deep Space, Thin Walls: Environmental and Material Precursors to the Postwar Skyscraper by Thomas Leslie, Saranya Panchaseelan, Shawn Barron, and Paolo Orlando

Through the history of several office towers, a view of the evolution of highly glazed skyscrapers emerges. The formation of the “glass box” in-the-sky ideal did not come about on pure imagination alone. Advancements in heating and cooling, glazing, and indoor lighting allowed architects in the 1930s-1950s to expand the urban working space. While some groups hailed large glass curtain walls – of in the era before that was possible, the idea of large glass curtain walls, others dreamed of enclosed, temperature controlled windowless towers chock-full of sparkling florescent lighting (does flowery language improve the mental image?). Today, the idea of a windowless room makes most folks crunch their nose. However, before advancements in glass, such as double-panning and heat absorption, a windowless box with air conditioning and bright lighting would be easy to climate control and maintain. Even this windowless box relied on air conditioning and florescent lighting, both emerging technologies in the 1930s forward.

The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered by Louis H. Sullivan

Is the New York City skyline the direct and natural evolution of architecture according to form following function? Sullivan, the run-on queen, argues so with deeply poetic, and patriotic, language. The tall office building (herein referred to as “TOB”) became a necessity in the early 20^th century because, unfortunately, the internet had not yet been invented. Sullivan certainly would have had to rewrite their argument had that been the case. However, in this era, office workers en masse needed a place to office-work. The invention of high-speed elevators and reliable steel structures allowed for TOBs to be built, and the rising cost of property necessitated it. The standard design of a TOB included a machinery basement and a ground entrance floor, naturally more substantial because of its position on the street. Further, a second floor accessible by stair to the first, not as grand as the first but not yet monotonous. Following this, the multitude of identical office floors, to be topped with an attic floor for the building’s innards. Different schools of thought rationalized this sectional design by invoking social causes, technical aspects, pure sensibility, and the “vegetable kingdom” (pg. 406), trees and such. In Sullivan’s view, such complications of reasoning are unnecessary in the face of form following function. The TOB is because it is, and it is correct because it must be so. It should be noted that I disagree in my response.

Quotes of Sullivan’s with quality comedy:

“When I say the hand of the architect, I do not mean necessarily the accomplished and trained architect. I mean only a man with a strong natural liking for buildings, and a disposition to shape them in what seems to his unaffected nature a direct and simple way.” (pg. 405)

“The man who designs in this spirit and with this sense of responsibility to the generation he lives in must be no coward, no denier, no bookworm, no dilettante.” (pg. 406)

“An art that will live because it will be of the people, for the people, and by the people.” (pg. 409)

Space by Adrian Forty

• Space as an architectural consideration emerged in the very late 19^th century and is connected to modernist trends
• Space as white space – the created volume a structure within itself
• Space has many different meanings/understanding within fields and eras
• Quote from piece “The development of space as an architectural category, took place in Germany” + “for the German word for space, Raum, at once signifies both a material enclosure, a ‘room’, and a philosophical concept.”
• Understandings of space change according to the environment/era
• Philosophical understandings of space predate architectural understandings
• Gottfried Semper, architectural instinct to create space by enclosures
• Nietzsche description of space as a collection of forces playing off of each other is reminiscent of basic physics, gravity specifically
• Spatial conception depends on perception
• Space as a negative of the self. Very egocentric.

Space defined in Britannica’s physics and mathematics section “space, a boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction” https://www.britannica.com/science/space-physics-and-metaphysics

Interesting piece of Space from the MIT physicist dept: https://physics.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/physicsatmit_09_whatisspace_wilczek.pdf

Critical Response to The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered by Louis H. Sullivan

Some may say it is unfair to judge the dead by the standards of the present, but let’s do it anyway. Considering the lack of consideration given to diverse viewpoints in the field of architecture in the past, it is not truly known what the full breadth of understanding may have been at that time. Sullivan’s work is influential and his continued use of ornamentation on many of his skyscrapers speaks to his written descriptors and may seem contrary to his argument here. My argument is against the certainty to which he writes – that form follows function is law above all else. As humans, our understanding of function will always be limited by what we do not know because we are limited in time. We strive to see all potential issues from all angles, all potential uses as possible or necessary, but time erases function and our best laid intentions. My example is simple – the COVID-19 pandemic and high-speed internet. Tall Office Buildings are less desired than ever before in many American cities. One must wonder that if the ability to work remotely had been fully conceived of in 1900, that it would have been a much cheaper option to build small, satellite offices. But perhaps they would have built tall anyway out of pure American pride.

Application and Interpretation

Brooklyn Tower – 1,066-feet tall, 93-story residential tower in Downtown Brooklyn.

The Brooklyn Tower designed by SHoP Architects was completed in 2022 and rises high above the rest of the area’s skyline. The development team applied for a NY 421-a tax exemption and 30% of apartments in the tower are sectioned for affordable housing, primarily studios and one bedroom (19 of which have more than one bedroom). The architects intend for this design to be timeless, which reminds me of my above point that human’s fundamentally do not have a true concept of timelessness. Considering the expected drop in global population starting around 2100, I wonder for how long such large infrastructure will be viable and maintained as less and less people populate the New York area. Even now, the US birth rate is only bolstered by immigration – otherwise, our population would start dropping imminently. The permanence of the built world relies on maintenance. How will this tower decay in time?

Take Away

• Architecture is often seen as permanent and monumental
• Architectural trends follow technological and social change
• Function changes with time