skyscrapers
August 6th 2007 03:25
When I returned to Manhattan aged sixteen I photographed the World Trade Center from the plaza, looking up directly between the twin towers. Wow. I visited my uncle who worked on the 78th floor. I remember leaning against the glass window staring down. Wow.
But I’m fascinated by tall buildings and structures. They are an undeniably powerful and awe-inspiring modern architectural form. Some will argue they are simply crass, while others will marvel at their streamlined majesty. The new ones being built are ludicrously high. The Freedom Tower being constructed at ground zero in lower Manhattan will be an absurd height; 1776 feet to be exact (the year of the American Declaration of Independence).
Bu it gets even more absurd; the Burj Dubai (estimated 2047 ft), the Shanghai World Financial Center (1614 ft) and The International Commerce Center (1588 ft) in Hong Kong are all under construction and will have the three highest roofs in the world respectively when completed, but not for long.
There’s the proposed Chicago Spire (2000 ft) and The Pentominium in Dubai (1693 ft), which when completed in 2010 and 2011 will be the two tallest residential buildings in the world, second and third behind the Burj Dubai.
It all seems like a pissing contest to me.
Those artists' impressions look scary, like something out of a science fiction movie! I'm nostalgic at heart, so even though the Big Apple's Twin Towers have fallen, they have a fond place in my heart. And those other New York fixtures are also my favourites; the Chrysler, the Flatiron and the Empire State.
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Comment by Anonymous
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Comment by Raoul Duke
Style of Eye
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