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A History of skyscrapers from the first century to the present and a description of their construction and services. Includes instructions for making a model skyscraper complete with elevator. ... Read more

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Is the skyscraper really just a manifestation of America's pragmatic values? Thomas van Leeuwen rejects the functionalist view of skyscraper production put forth by Sigfried Giedion, Nikolaus Pevsner, and others, and instead sets up a very different argument - one that resurrects the powerful aesthetic and ideological values of the mythical skyscraper.

Thomas A.P. van Leeuwen is Professor of Architectural History at the University of Leyden. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Amazing collection of theories about the skyscraper
This book is probably the best available, when it comes about theories about how and why the skyscraper was made in the first place. Very actual after 9/11.

Buy it, and read it, you will not be disappointed. It hosts amazing stories about the record that the Chrysler building made, about all kinds of ways to symbolize the skyscraper, from a frozen fountain to...read it yourself and enjoy!

A provocative perspective on why we build skyscrapers
According to van Leeuwen, it's a myth that the skyscraper was a response to high land values. Instead, he argues that they are essentially the cathedrals of our era - monuments to individual men, or to organizations, or simply monuments to civilization itself. The prose is turgid and constitutes a test of the reader's powers of concentration, but this is balanced by the numerous b&w drawings of building exteriors, averaging more than one per page. The renderings of artist Hugh Ferriss receive particular attention.

A wonderful essay on the philosophy of the skyscraper
Van Leeuwen describes the early evolution of the skyscraper in the US and the sometimes hysterical forces driving buildings higher.A great read, van Leeuwen has a wonderful ability to interpret meaning and importance ofskyscrapers to the American landscape.His research is quite good ... Read more

Product Description
This book is invaluable to the reader interested in tall buildings, to architects and engineers seeking a new approach for their design and to investors and developers seeking to create more marketable and habitable high-rise dwellings and skyscraper commercial spaces.

It puts forward Ken Yeang's ideas for the skyscraper as a city-in-the-sky, in a novel design approach that resembles urban design and planning as against the design of a conventional building in a high-rise structure.

The book proposes a new vertical theory of urban design and discusses Yeang's theoretical propositions and design concepts that include those for de-compartmenting the skyscraper's built form, for urban analysis as a three-dimensional matrix and for a strategy to map the land use of the skyscraper. It also suggest ideas for the diversification of vertical land uses, the creation of public realms and places-in-the-sky, vertical landscaping, creating high-rise neighbourhoods, vertical townscape, vertical transportation and accessibility, the skyscraper as an urban ecosystem and other related topics.

The book's many ideas and its theoretical approach radically change the current design approach to tall buildings to make them into more humane environments and be more satisfying to its inhabitants in its endeavour to re-create the ideal conditions at the ground now up in the sky. The book is illustrated by numerous diagrams and illustrations.

This book is a sequel to Yeang's earlier book, The Skyscraper, Bioclimatically Considered (Wiley-Academy). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A really good book
A really good book for architects, I bought this for my husband and he was really thrilled to read how kean young is talking about his theories

THE BEST
THis book is so amazing. I have read it cover to cover And several of my friends have borrowed it. I actually had to buy a second copy. Ken Yeang is an inventive architect who is a pioneer for sustainable design. The drawings and diagrams explain his theories and ideas from conception to detailed plans. The thought process it there and i think this is rare in an architectural book. Many others seem to guard there creative knowledge and Ken shares his brilliance. ... Read more

Product Description
This richly produced album, which shelves as a hard cover and turns as a spiral bind, is lodged in a slipcase - mauve cloth over board - bearing a maroon silk-screened cubist caricature of Ben Hecht by Swedish-American artist Erik Johan Smith. Within are Hecht's lost Chicago Daily News stories of art, architecture and the modernist paradigm of the early 20s.Taken together they dramatize Chicago as a city alternately celebrating the new skyscrapers and battling avant-garde modern artists.Among the artistsgiven the master storyteller's extraordinary treatment are George Grosz, Jerome Blum, Nicholas Roerich, Dadaist Johannes von Baader and in a Roman a clef, Frank Lloyd Wright.

Sixteen short works, some essays, some stories, are published on designer card stock-- gridded, confetti themed and deckle edged.Film stills appear on full pages of transparency film.The frontispiece is an original acrylic and wash abstract on Japanese paper representing the sun of modernism, a one-of-a-kind object by painter Sheila Crider. Hand-mounted onto the pages are 14 color xerographic "plates" of art reproductions and vintage postcards of old Chicago.An embossed sheet containing the number of your personal copy completes the lavish production.The book is oblong, 12 inches x 9 inches, packed in serpentine in aprotective see-through pouch. ... Read more

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New York City is home to more skyscrapers than any other city in the world. Iconic in stature, they tell the story of the city's commercial and architectural history. The buildings pictured here stretch from the sidewalks to the sky, from the East River to the Hudson, from Battery Park to the far reaches of Central Park. Along with structures that are familiar to readers such as the Empire State Building, the Chrysler and Woolworth buildings, there are other less recognizable but nonetheless important structures that have become a part of New Yorkers'daily lives. Each chapter focuses on an area of Manhattan, and opens with numbered maps showing the exact locations of the featured buildings. In a series of two to four page spreads, fullpage photographs of the skyscrapers are accompanied by additional illustrations, historical insights, architectural details, and interesting facts about their construction and evolution. An essay on the collective history of the city's skyscrapers rounds out this compilation of nearly 85 examples of New York City's most magnificent feature-its far-reaching, ever changing skyline. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Spectacular City, Spectacular Book
When my wife and I lived near Chicago, we took several architectural walking tours. Since then, we have repeated the experience in at least two more cities, San Francisco and Houston. But never - until now, vicariously - had we taken such a tour of New York.

Dirk Stichweh's New York Skyscrapers may resemble a coffee table book - it's oversized and handsomely produced - but it's a work of substance. I have visited New York countless times but somehow never looked, and I mean looked, at its buildings. And many are jewels, as the photographs by Jörg Machirus and Scott Murphy prove.

In its introduction New York Skyscrapers retells the history of these urban upthrusts. Rooted in Chicago, almost all manmade (female architects were as rare as female construction workers), they each have dynamic stories to tell. They also have a psychology behind them. The race to construct the tallest building in the city, the country, or the world, speaks to America's can-do spirit and lofty aspirations as well as its long love affair with power and its display.

Stichweh organizes the book - generally with two pages devoted to each building - by neighborhood, moving from the Financial District (haunted by the destruction of the World Trade Center) to the Theater District. The descriptions are cogent yet lengthy enough to give the reader the flavor of each building. In addition, the author provides information about the architects, the designs, the contexts, and the receptions of most buildings.

In reading, I found the boxy buildings of the late 1960s were (for me) no more palatable here than in a dozen other cities I have visited. In contrast, even more entrancing than I imagined were those buildings influenced by the Beaux Arts movement and Art Deco. (A useful Glossary and Index of Proper Names ends the book.)

Stichweh's excellent biblio-walking tour whet my appetite for the real thing. How I now long to see, in person, the American Radiator Building. Resembling something out of a mythical Gotham, it is at once disturbing in its severity, imposing in its black-brick cladding, fanciful in its use of color and materials, and, yes, finally, beautiful. Jörg Machirus's photograph of it at night makes it even more so. Visiting New York? I recommend the Statue of Liberty, the Top of the Rock, TKTS, and the American Radiator.

My list of spectacular buildings could go on and on. Meanwhile, the contribution that photographs make to New York Skyscrapers is enormous. These are not mere snapshots of skyscrapers: they are themselves, many of them, works of beauty if not art. Scott Murphy's portraits of the Empire State and the Chrysler Buildings at evening capture their majesty and their classic grace. Even more arresting is his aerial photograph of the crown of the General Electric Building. As in several of his other aerials, the building - and the moment - seem alive, as if we were floating by this magnificent edifice.

Anyone who loves New York, loves architecture, loves history, and loves American culture should visit and study the buildings pictured herein. For the rest of us, without the capital or time to travel, this book is an indispensable treasure.

A Whole New New York
I have walked by nearly all of the skyscrapers in this book countless times and viewed many of them from high windows throughout the city, but these spectacular photographs give them such a fresh, distinctive perspective that the book is like an invitation to reconsider the city like a first timer once more . . . through Jorg Machirus's and Scott Murphy's lenses. The stories Dirk Stichweh tells about these structures are not just informative, but full of entertaining who-knew tidbits and ironies. (My favorite is the tale behind that monument to world peace, the U.N. Secretariat Building, which was so full of disagreement and dispute that Le Corbusier withdrew from the project and later mocked the sparkly thermopane glass as evocative of plastic wrap. So much for global harmony.) This is a book to page through again and again, and to think about while walking through streets where twenty-first century skyscrapers nestle against their Gilded Age godfathers. And because the book is organized by neighborhood, not by era, reading it is just like taking a walk--moving back and forth in time with every step. What a pleasure. What a wonderful new way of seeing.

At last... architecture a-a-nd urban context!
I'm an avid fan of New York and its architecture, but as a New Urbanist developer, it's Manhattan's urban context (how the buildings relate to each other, nature and people) that brings me back to the greatest city on Earth year after year.As for architecture books, I think the photography in this book is the best I've seen with its many amazing building angles and elevations... some of which I had no idea existed (must see the crown of the General Electric building p.109).However, it's the author's keen insight in regard to how these buildings interact with each other and their general surroundings that help to make this New York skyscraper book unique and refreshing.

I also think it's important to note that I literally "felt" the author and photographers, ever so subtle, show these steel and mortar behemoths for what they truly are: the dreams and ambitions of great men in America's history.After being engrossed in this book for an afternoon, the pages begin to whisper "empire".I seldom get this excited about a book.

Stichweh's "New York Skyscrapers" a winner!
What a great book!Beautiful photographs and interesting history of the New York skyline make this a wonderful book to give as a gift or to start dinner party conversation.My friends loved it.When I saw it also included information about the architects of the buildings, I ordered an extra copy for my daughter-in-law who is currently an architect student.
Amazing deal at less than $30!

Manhattan here I come... again
The book is a marvelous read and a feast for the eyes.

Have you ever visited New York City?Ever been in awe-struck by the majesty of the skyline and the magnitude of the sky-reaching buildings?Well, once you got a hold of this book, you want to go all over again.And if you haven't been, you will be itching to book your trip!

This book is brilliant in the way of giving you a new angle of access to NYC, its breathtaking vistas and architectural marvels.

It is suited as a coffee table book for the occasional splurge of enjoying the high class photography as well as a great read on the topic of its title.Granted, there have been many books on skyscrapers in general and NYC in particular.However, the pictures in this book give the reader some unique and surprising perspectives that I for one had not seen before.What's more, the exquisite text accompanying each building depicted in the book creates a truly fascinating read.It makes you want to find out more about the architecture and architectural achievements instilled in these landmarks of NYC.

While the book provides a wealth of knowledge about the history of skyscrapers as an engineering feat and art form, it is written in a fluid, accessible style; it does not require the reader to possess an arts or architecture degree to follow the author on his journey into this metropolis of metropolises.Building elements that sometimes might be a bit obscure and less accessible just reading about them are brilliantly illustrated with the aid of detail photos.Where other books leave you wanting for additional information, the author seems to know what the reader is longing for and provides it in a refreshing manner and style.

But all that aside, where this book truly charts new territory is in the way it is laid out.It is not just a mix of all the tall buildings in NYC, or a distinct selection of the most popular, tallest, most famous or notorious skyscrapers this city has to offer.Instead it leads the reader through Manhattan district by district providing interesting background information and history bits all centered around the skyward pointing attractions.As such any visitor to NYC can use the book as a guide to the city, or use it as a planner for invigorating discovery tours through Manhattan.My advice: If in a pinch, save the money you would spend on a guided tour and purchase this book instead.While memories of your visit to NYC may fade over time, you can savor the city distilled on the pages and in the pictures of this book for ever.
... Read more

Product Description
This interactive book-plus allows readers to learn about a quartet of the world's most classic skyscrapers- the Empire State Building in Manhattan; the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco; Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and the Bank of China tower in Hong Kong-and then build a versatile two-foot-high tower of their own. The 64-page, pocket-size book is a fascinating exploration of skyscraper design and construction, with interesting facts about the structures and their architects Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, William L. Pereira & Associates, Cesar Pelli, and I.M. Pei. Included is a deck of illustrated cards that, when formed into the tower, feature the four skyscrapers on each side. The visually stunning card tower also functions as a lamp. The innovative packaging also has a perforated opening at the top of the box that can serve as the base of the card tower. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Nifty, but one part missing from my kit
At the new low price, I think this is a terrific kit.Simple to assemble, nice quality, and seems relatively sturdy since I've reinforced it with a bit of clear tape hidden inside, to hold each card in its place.(Tape not included).

This is an accent lamp.Doesn't give off much light.I like it, though; sitting next to it, I feel 10,000 feet tall.

One small problem is that I did not get one of each necessary card.One card was missing, and instead I received a duplicate of another. ... Read more

Product Description
This vibrantly designed, updated and expanded edition celebrates every facet of the skyscraper as an architectural icon.
Few buildings rivet our attention like skyscrapers. As the race to build higher and higher continues, these symbols of success and economic power dominate and reshape urban skylines across the globe. Opening with Chicago s Reliance Building, built in 1894, and closing with plans for the London Bridge Tower, scheduled to be completed in 2011, eye-catching two to four page spreads in this up-to-date and comprehensive volume capture over fifty of the world s most important skyscrapers. Each building is breathtakingly photographed and an accompanying text offers intriguing historical details, notes on construction, and engineering feats. Tracing the evolution of these magnificent structures, Skyscrapers illustrates their significance not only in architectural history, but also as a reflection of humankind s most competitive and optimistic urges. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

excellent
great book, up to date, bought for my nephew (14 years old), he loves it, even though he is a little young to study in detail. Good for aficionados and people in construction.

a must for fans of skyscrapers
this is a great book for people who love skyscrapers it is detailed and informative and has great pictures the best thing is it covers not only the u.s. skyscrapers but buildings world wide very interesting and highly recommended!

Great book with lots of pictures
I was looking for something with lots of pictures. Also something that was up to date & not too technical. This book was perfect. It's the 2008 edition but has images of the buildings in planning at the moment. I would recommend!

An exciting survey of the past, present and future
Andres Lepik's Skyscrapers is an oversized presentation fitting to its subject of skyscrapers, providing tall full-page photos of technological monuments to accompany discussions of major world skyscraper icons and their backgrounds. An exciting survey of the past, present and future, Lepik's Skyscrapers earns a place in any serious architectural library.

Great Presentation
The book starts with an interesting history of skyscrapers, then goes into details of 50 skyscrapers from the past 100 years. Each skyscraper has 2-4 pages, including large photographs. I was a little disappointed that the 2IFC tower in Hong Kong was not included, but happy to see Taipei 101. An excellent touch was to add 6 upcoming skyscrapers, like London's Shard of Glass and the amazing CCTV headquarters in Beijing. ... Read more

Product Description
For many,eco skyscrapers are synonymous with Ken Yeang. In more than three decades of practice, Ken Yeang has almost single-handedly pioneered and developed this building genre. This book presents Ken Yeang's work on the design of ecologically responsive skyscrapers, and includes his essay on applying green-design principles to the skyscraper typology, as well as a preface by Steve Featherstone, an introduction by David Scott (Chairman of The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat) and a critique by Professor Ivor Richards.Ken Yeang makes it clear at the outset that the skyscraper building type is probably the most ecologically unfriendly of all building types, but states that until an economically viable alternative is identified, it is necessary to make them as humane and as sustainable as possible. Each project is presented together with data on its climatic location, the local vegetation, plot ratio, net and gross areas. The book is invaluable to those seeking to design green skyscraper ... Read more

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IT ALL STARTS with a vision of a building so high it will catch the clouds. . . .

From that first vision, through the planning, digging, welding, fitting, and decorating, Skyscraper shows how a very tall building is constructed in a very narrow space. Author Susan Goodman and photographer Michael Doolittle spent several years documenting the building of a New York City skyscraper. They have distilled hundreds of photographs and hours of interviews and research into this lively and accessible book for construction fans of all ages. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Awesome book and incredible pictures
Goodman's book Skyscraper follows the building of a NY skyscraper from the ground up. Goodman did a lot of research, interviewing many different kinds of workers that play a part in building skyscrapers, from an architect to a signalman to aplumber. The way the information is presented is easy for kids to understand, like comparing the the area of the foundation to a giant swimming pool that would take over four and a half years to fill with a garden hose. This book is targeted to middle elementary, but first graders or kindergardeners can also be enthralled with the amazing pictures and interesting facts! ... Read more

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From the Eiffel Tower to the Taj Mahal -- 50 man-made and natural structures from around the world are drawn here. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Fun for Creative Children!
This was a gift for my grandson's tenth birthday.He loves to draw and has a great imagination.He started using the book immediately-drew an igloo and "added" an eskimo.These books are fun and educational-good addition to "how-to" libraries for children and adult artists.

Quite good, more basic than I imagined
Good, simple book.More basic than I imagined.Good for children.A little too simple for better artists.

Success for the worried artist
I bought this book for one of my 6th grade students whose perfectionism is aproblem. He told me that he wanted to be an architect but felt that his inability to draw would keep him from his goal.

When I gave him the book, I wrote a note inside telling him to try two drawings each week. He came to class a few days later with two beautiful drawings and asked me why he should do only two drawings.

I wouldn't have picked this book out for myself. The step by step approach isn't for me - it doesn't feel very creative. For my student, who was afraid to pick up a pencil and draw, it was a great fit.

Fantastic Series
This book focuses on the more notable landmark buildings around the globe but does include a few of your average neighborhood homes.One of our favorites is the castle. It has easy to follow instructions so that everyone, even the not-so-artistic types can create AWESOME pictures with only some concentration and a desire to succeed.I highly recommend this book and others from the "Draw 50" series to ANYONE who is interested in drawing.

Draw Buildings--Step-by-step
This is a wonderful and fun activity for someone who may be interested in trying to draw buildings and bridges.It was purchased as a gift. ... Read more

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Product Description
Observing the isolated existence of an adolescent cat, his younger brother and their overactive imaginations in the American Heartland, Skyscrapers of the Midwest serves as an intimate chronicle of their stories of childhood hope, panic, and loss. Filled with belligerent cowboys, lumbering automaton deities, and wide-open spaces, this comic gives voice to a highly respected new creator in the field of sequential literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A graphic novel that stands on the shoulders of giants
Imagine David Lynch's bizarre surrealism crossed with cute, cartoony (yet detailed) artwork and you have something in the ballpark of this amazing graphic novel. The layers and layers of depressing vignettes are loaded with symbolism and recurring motifs, but there's also some comic relief in the form of redneck-mocking humorous newspaper columns as well. If you're not afraid to think, read this book!

If you like Chris Ware...
...you should own this book..It's worth a tumble if you collect The Acme Novelty Library.

probably my favorite comic of all time.
I first came across SoTM at a comic shop in Atlanta, GA. The artwork on the cover (it was issue # 1) just grabbed me. Upon glancing at the comic, it had a unique kind of sarcastic humor to it. I connected with the comic, and in turn...the comic connected with me. I think it's a rare thing to read a piece of literature (be it comics, article, novel, etc.) and to think to yourself...wow this really connects with who I am, what I enjoy, how I feel about life, etc.

This comic does just that for me. Thoughts of childhood, overall life frustrations, and really a sense of humor that I can totally relate to.

In terms of art, this hardcover book is wonderfully illustrated, beautifully bound together, and does the comics (originally separate issues 1-4) 100% justice. There is also a nice addenda included...which displays much of the extra artwork/sketches, which lets you into the mind of the creator, Josh Cotter. SoTM is definitely my favorite comic line of 2007 and 2008, and quite possibly could be my favorite comic of all time. ... Read more

Product Description
Hands-on experiments introduce natural and manmade structures such as a bird's nest and skyscraper and such structural elements as arches, domes, trusses, and beams. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

Though the Architectural Ideas were New, the Ideals Behind them are Ancient
"The Metropolis of Tomorrow by Hugh Ferris a great example of how any field, taking upon it a vision of the future, ultimately tries to create a new system of benign government.Ferris was an architect who, in 1929, published a series of sketches about what cities could and should look like.Plainly stating that architecture affects people's actions at the subconcious level, he creates an environment within which people might just act better.

In spirit this is so much like Thomas More's Utopia or Edward Bellamy's Looking backward that it's freaky.

Ferriss's city is enourmous.The base of its largest buildings take up eight blocks.They're so big and specially purposed that he says the word "building" no longer fits--they should be called "centers." There's a business, government, art and science center.Each building is its own city with banks, gyms, shops, restaurants.

In the city of the future, religions act in harmony.They're housed in a triple building. One is for the executive offices, the next for"aspirational activities" and the third, and the highest, is for charities.

The description of the Science Zone is a poem:

"Buildings like crystals.
Walls of translucent glass.
Sheer glass blocks sheathing a steel grill.
No Gothic branch: no Acanthus leaf: no recollection of the plant world.
A mineral kingdom.
Gleaming stalagmites.
Forms as cold as ice.
Mathematics.
Night in the Science Zone."

And yet for all the artificiality of it -- the buildings are concrete and the layout is geometric -- Ferris embeds organic aspects.Between the huge centers, buildings climb no more than six stories and they ascend insize towards the centers like "foothills." The roofs are covered in two feet of soil so trees can grow.

Ferris concludes his work: "Are we to imagine that this city is populated by human beings who value emotion and mind equally with the senses, and have therefore disposed their art, science and business centers in such a way that all three would participate equally in the government of the city?"

Ferris did much to influence our ideas about what the city of tomorrow should look like.But as new as his ideas were, it's clear that they're compelling for how they embody our ancient ideals, hopes and fears.

A Vision of Metropolis
Hugh Ferriss was an architectural renderer whose style and vision evoke memories of what we now call the gothic and art deco periods of American architecture.The book also deals with some of the urban problems that building on such a large scale could bring about.The drawings have a dream-like quality to them that stuck in my mind when I first saw them many years ago.The book is a valuable addition to my library.

Brutal metropolis
I think that generally Dover Books are to be congratulated on reprinting many books that otherwise might never be seen again and priced very reasonably too.I don't think any plaudits are in order on this book though. I found the text very dull and the pictures gave an overall impression of blackness.

Hugh Ferris managed to develop a wonderful rendering technique (being trained as an architect no doubt helped) that seemed so suited to commercial buildings of size, especially skyscrapers.His black and white artwork is simply stunning but it needs to be printed on quality paper to bring out the subtleties of grey shading.The main problem with the book is the paper does nothing for his work and I was really made aware of this when I recently bought Power in Buildings a lovely reprint of his 1953 book.The fourth of his famous renderings from Evolution of the Set-back Building appears in both books but in the 'Power' edition the image looks so right.

His writing in 'Metropolis' came across as very long-winded, for example, this is from the last page of the book:
'As for personal and specific proposals, the author well knows how many parapets, other than the one we are now leaving, overlook the imaginary "Metropolis of Tomorrow" and he shares the common belief that few of the many visualizations currently being formulated can contribute more than a particle to the ultimate actuality'
The ten pages of words and pictures devoted to Set-back I thought the most interesting part of what he had to say.

Get his 'Power' book for a much better appreciation of his architectural thoughts and the fifty main renderings really look beautiful on good paper.

Magnificent Value
Ferriss's drawings had an immediate impact on architecture.Some of his projections are the purest distilling of Art Deco application to buildings one can find from the age.But Ferriss's effect on cinema and illustration has been very powerful as well, and far less documented.The 1-star-off is because the reproduction quality -- quite good, no doubt --leaves some to be desired, nonetheless: the sfumato effects appear more like soft-focus than atmosphere and the graininess brings to mind infra-red film more than the grit of a huge city fueled by leaded gas and coal.

Visual philosopher
To say that this 1920's classic is anything other than a masterpiece would be proof of insanity.By "interpreting" a Law, (NY Zoning 1917), Ferriss found beauty in the hope of what might be. In today's world of 3D CAD and computers, Ferriss was able to use canvas to convey not merely ideas and requirements, but opportunities and emotions. There are few books that inspire architects more than this.The value of original prints of this is evident in that single plates are sold in New York for $20 apiece by street vendorsArchitects are usually too caught up in the details to appreciate the beauty of buildings. Leave it then, to a painter to bring out the beauty and grace of buildings that were meant to inspire, or were not meant to be. ... Read more

Product Description
This playful book offers the most fun path to designing your own skyscraper. Twenty-five of the most famous skyscrapers have been scaled to the same size and cut into three pieces; these can be recombined to make 15,625 new buildings of your own creation. Fashion the Empire Trade Center or the Chrysler Hancock Tower by mixing and matching the pages. Each building is identified by name, date, and architect and includes a brief history, so this book is educational as well as interactive. The results are sometimes humorous, sometimes fortuitous, and always educational and entertaining. Colorful and affordable, 1,001 Skyscrapers is fun for builders of all ages.Amazon.com Review
The world's love of skyscrapers is so great that architectural book publishers never will stop thinking of ways to create new books about them--as evidenced by this clever, colorful, and fun Filofax-shaped interactive number. It takes vertical shots of 27 of the world's most famous tall buildings; scales them all equally; cuts them into bottom, middle, and top; and, then, through the magic of a loose-leaf ring binder, allows you to flip around their various three parts to see, say, what New York's 1913 Woolworth Building--Cass Gilbert's legendary faux-Gothic "cathedral of commerce"--would look like with the base of its neighbor from a few blocks away, Emery Roth and Sons' 1972-3 World Trade Center (schizophrenic, to say the least)... or how Skidmore Owings & Merrill's 1969 Hancock Center in Chicago would look if it were topped off by the richly patterned minaret-like crowns of Cesar Pelli's twin Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur (a perfect geometric fit, actually (if not a stylistic stumper), thanks to the Hancock's ever-tapering shaft). The funny thing is that so many of the towers of the past few years look like Deco by LEGO, with their stepped-back stories and sexy chevron-like styling. Take, for example, Murphy Jahn's 1990 Messeturm in Frankfurt; or SOM's fabulous "space-age pagoda," the 1998 Jin Mao Building in Shanghai--these actually line up very nicely with the Chrysler and the Empire State, while that midcentury-modern chock-a-block batch in the middle of the book (Seagram, Sears, and Pei's Boston Hancock are among the usual suspects) truly don't jibe with the "phabulous phalli" of either today or the pre-WWII era.

Thanks to those brainy folks at Princeton Architectural Press, each 'scraper comes with some annotation that ranges from the very sharp (they astutely call the hastily erected and artfully set-back Empire State "a spectacular surrender of architecture to economic forces and zoning restrictions") to the academically overcooked (the small, 18-inch windows of the WTC's twin towers "minimize the occupants' acrophobia," we are gratefully informed, "thereby inscribing the notion of vertigo into the buildings themselves"). It's also hard to get a clear view of any one building whole, as the three parts of each wobble on their rings--suggesting rather chillingly what the edifices might look like moments after cracking into three pieces under the force of an earthquake--but, no matter, as you probably have seen coherent versions of all of these longtime and recent classics elsewhere. And the book is so much fun to play with that it's the perfect gift both for kids--whom it might turn into architects--and architects--whom, to the benefit of their careers, it might turn back into kids. --Timothy Murphy ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Not a good guide to skyscrapers
This is a book for 5 year-olds and that's about it.I really regret buying it.

1,001 Skyscrapers
Whoa, if its archiecture, and skyscrapers that your looking for, this could be the one for you! this particular book is crammed with pictures, information and stats about skyscrapers! i was very impressed with the great detail they used to brig this book together, ... Read more