Manhattanism: Beyond the Event, the Form of Human Spirit
A thesis submitted to the Miami University Honors Program in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for University Honors
By
Scot Teti
05/2004 Oxford, Ohio ABSTRACT
MAHATTANISM: BEYOND THE EVENT, THE FORM OF HUMAN SPIRIT By Scot Teti ‘04
The former World Trade Center site in New York City has come to represent a number of emotional and intellectually charged issues for people across the world. This project is to look critically at the meaning of the World Trade Center past, present, and future with the intent to manifest its evolving meaning into architectural forms. The emphasis of this project is not to use the tools of literary discourse to expose the power of the former and future World Trade Center site but to use the art of design for expression. Architecture has and will continue to be based on visual experience, and it is the intent of this project to maintain this proven continuity of communication for this discipline. Specifically, the project proposes that the former World Trade Center site in New York City become a forum for expression composed of an Expression Forum, a New World University, and an International Media Center. The beginning of the project introduces New York City as a place of advanced culture and social activity created by distinct historic events. New York City’s historic evolution and context has been termed Manhattanism, and has come to be defined and symbolized by the city grid and skyscraper. The city grid had been initially created for an efficient and organized urban layout for development. However, the grid due to its geometric and urbanistic character soon proved to be a driving force in how Manhattanites lived, worked, and built their city. And it had been the skyscraper that Manhattanites became particularly interested in due to its amenable nature to business, competition, and the city grid. The city grid and skyscraper were an ever dominant force at the former World Trade Center and both are reinterpreted in the project’s proposed designs. The proposed design for the former World Trade Center looks to the site’s historic precedence in communication as a driving concept in manipulating the grid and skyscraper. It becomes evident that communication has always been the motivation behind activity on the former World Trade Center site from architecture to even terrorism. This communicative context is understood to be the identity of the site, so the designs proposed here pay a close respect to this character. However, the project looks critically at how communication and expression have been stunted at the site and how they can supersede these obstacles. Ultimately, the final design looks to create a gradient of communicative freedom that allows people to see the extent that society controls expression.
ii Manhattanism: Beyond the Event, the Form of Human Spirit
By Scot Teti
Approved by:
______, Advisor (Dr. Sergio L. Sanabria)
______, Reader (Gerardo Brown-Manrique)
______, Reader (Craig L. Hinrichs)
Accepted by:
______, Director, University Honors Program
v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to begin by thanking the drive, dedication, and true sincerity my advisor Dr. Sergio Sanabria inspired in me throughout the project. The seriousness of the topic had been like none other I have worked with, and I do not believe the respect it deserved could have been achieved without Dr. Sanabria’s understanding and advice.
I am also truly indebted to Diane Fellows and her studio for allowing me the opportunity to travel with them to New York during my site visit to Ground Zero and the city of New York. The dialogue I was able to hold with Diane and her students were provocative and contributed significantly to the creation of my program for the site.
Throughout the semester I held a number of critiques including the final presentation in December. I would like to thank all of the critiquers who were always more than happy to contribute to the development of this project, they include: my advisor Dr. Sergio Sanabria, Gerardo Brown-Manrique, Craig Hinrichs, Dr. Robert Benson, Linn Song, and Paul Dean.
It would be a mistake to not include all of my fellow classmates in the Architecture Department at Miami University in the list of my acknowledgments. Throughout the semester my classmates were always happy to let me bounce ideas off of them and provide me with their own critical feedback.
Lastly, I would like to thank my family, particularly my parents, for coming down to observe my final presentation. My parents’ support could always be counted on even when the project appeared to take over all my thoughts.
vii TABLE OF CONTENTS
Text - Manhattanism: Beyond the Event, the Form of Human Spirit…...... ………………9-22
References………………………………………………………………..……………...... 23-24
Appendices A-E (Selected Outlines of Significant resources)....……….………………………....25-53
Site Pictures……………………………………………...... …….………………………..54-61
Design Development………………………………………………………...... …………62-77
Final Presentation…………………………………………………...... ………………….78-84
Expression Forum………………………………………….…………...... ……………….85-92
Node 1………………………………………...... …………………………………….....93-101
Node 2………………………………………………………...... ……………………...102-107
Node 3……………………………………………………………………...... ………....108-113
Housing…………………………………………………………………………...... ….114-117
viii 9
MANHATTANISM: BEYOND THE EVENT, THE FORM OF HUMAN SPIRIT
An Introduction to New York
New York is to a number who know her a contradiction of terms, the embodiment of the profane and righteous. She is the city that has experienced all life could ever throw at humanity. With her everyone else feels confined to follow suit because she knows, she has already experienced, and she is telling you not to even bother. However, despite New York’s brashness and overbearing character, which may be warranted, one cannot help the desire for her embrace. Yes, New York may have already accomplished what only some could imagine, however, she still maintains a human side that makes mistakes and is still struggling like everyone else. A select number in life find this whole condition daunting and are easily turned away. Others see the bigger picture and chose to maintain a respectful distance. Finally, there are those who see this big city as a family member, good or bad, they cannot help but love it; accepting every bit of it knowing full well she may not be as accepting in return. Of course there are other cities in the world that do not carry as much baggage as New York, but then again there is no city quite as full of realistic ecstasy as she. There is no city that could possibly bring you to the heights or absolute lows as some New Yorkers have gone. What is rapacious are not the dizzying heights, because only a small number ever get there, but missing opportunities and watching others succeed at them. The idea of New York can be defined as wholesome, not in the same respect we view a good mother, but in the sense that everything is real that everything anyone tries to experience, create, or discuss you can touch, smell, hear, and see in New York City. 10
The History and Reasoning Behind Manhattan’s Grid and Skyscraper
Manhattan can be dated back to the well known history of Henry Hudson’s discovery of the island in 1609 by the Dutch East India Company. However important the role the Dutch played in forming the initial mentality of Manhattanites, the first significant event had been in 1807. It is at this point that Simeon de Witt, Governor Morris, and John Rutherford laid out a grid of 13 x 156 blocks giving Manhattan a total of 2,028 blocks. Rem Koolhaas critiques this event as an example of
“shortsightedness of commercial interest” on the part of the planners. The grid provides a landscape that offers the opportunity for efficient and seamless development. On the other hand, Rem Koolhaas would agree, this historic event carried significant influence in shaping the future of those on the island.
The significance of the original plan to lay out 2,028 blocks on the island of Manhattan goes well beyond simply the ordering of the site by a systematic structure of streets. The fathers of urban planning for New York were aware of the circles, ovals, and other shapes that could be used to beautify the city but chose against any deviance from a strict utilitarian system. “Manhattan is a utilitarian polemic” (Koolhaas 19). Therefore, the grid should not be taken lightly or simply overlooked as a meaningless bit of information, but rather used as a tool to understand the city and its people. Yes, the grid can be simply viewed as a way to order buildings efficiently. What can be extracted from this mundane element is how the grid was not elaborated upon or reduced by New York’s city planners beyond the two-dimensional map. The grid gives the people of this island a profound way of life. Those who decide to build are challenged to define their own block. The grid does provide a limited choice for the ground plain, obviously, being framed in by the surrounding streets. The grid’s influence ends on this two-dimensional level, and New Yorkers were quick to realize this freedom. “The Grid’s two- dimensional discipline also creates undreamt-of freedom for three-dimensional anarchy. The Grid defines a new balance between control and de-control in which the city can be at the same time ordered 11
and fluid, a metropolis of rigid chaos” (Koolhaas 20). Ultimately, New York’s historic entrails tell a story about a people given a limited fabric. New Yorker’s reaction to this limitation, the urban forest that had sprung upward, is not only revealing of its particular character but of natural human organic behavior.
The forest of skyscrapers in New York is misunderstood as simply a continuation of the city’s obsessions with efficiency. Yes, the grid is the ultimate efficiency mechanism guiding New York, but the skyscraper is the antithesis. Hording mass amounts of energy, material, and money the skyscraper is a monument but not to the ‘neutral grid’ from which it springs. “Hence the paradox that an instrument designed to save space should be invented where space was proverbially abundant” (Leeuwen 82). By stepping back to view the situation, one is presented with a neutral grid, a city and country founded on the grid, and then the skyscraper. The question then arises as to why Americans, and New Yorkers, in particular felt inclined to confine themselves to a point in a vast land with a tall structure.
Thomas A. P. van Leeuwen presents the idea that the skyscraper was man’s response to an unbridled wilderness and an attempt to control it. It would seem an unlikely idea in paralleling wilderness and nature to the most unnatural urban element known to man-the skyscraper. This argument centers upon the grid. The grid is already a neutral arena allowing for equal opportunities, uncontrolled movement, and void of borders, or points of significance. “But man did not use these qualities to his benefit. Paralyzed by the urge to compete, not with nature, but with his companions, he confined himself instead to a fixed point within the grid” (Leeuwen 83). What Leeuwen addresses is man’s need for competition, man’s need to take control of a part of the world, and man’s need to channel his power to attain his desires. Upon founding the nation of the United States of America a vastness unseen before in history induced Americans to transplant philosophies and systems already established in Europe to begin to understand and grasp a hold of the new country. However, because the United States was beginning a new period, a new era its history became disjointed from the past. Americans were looking for methods to find its identity and meaning within the vast emptiness its existence was born from. This is not to say 12
that the early colonizers were erecting towers within their quaint towns to attain meaning in their world.
Rather, the skyscraper becomes the skyline of American’s development upon the rest of the world. Once established America still needed to find its place its position in the world and so this identity crisis was still open for resolution at the birth of the skyscraper. Ultimately, it would be America’s development relative to Europe that would influence Americans to compete and fight for identity. The intercontinental competition resulted in Americans fixating on a point within America and building upward to create new stages from which to compete.
The Former World Trade Center: A Stage of Communication
Ground Zero throughout history even prior to becoming the home of the World Trade Center has possessed a historic pattern based upon communication. The pattern of communication found at the site is not a unique phenomenon; however, due to its symbolic significance in the world it requires particular attenuation. Due to the site’s place in world context it has and should continue to be closely tied to the dissemination of ideas on a global scale.
After World War II the area of the future World Trade Center had been characterized by small businesses of home electronics acquiring the name, Radio Row. Stepping back just slightly to understand the significance of Radio Row, it can be seen that the main electronic for sale, the radio, was meant as a means of mass communication. Despite the fact that Radio Row to a number of developers and Modern
Urbanists represented the blight of the city that needed to be cleared for the rolling expansive super block, it still possessed a symbolic meaning. What is provocative is the radio had been the Industrial
Revolution’s first true child of mass media and communication. The radio came to its height in World
War II when for the first time Americans across the country were able to hear the President speak to the country in their own homes. The radio became technologies answer to the ancient forum for the dissemination of ideas. Ironically, the Urban Modernists in their attempt to create a contemporary forum 13
of ideas for Lower Manhattan saw the solution as creating an unprecedented volume of office space in a part of the city already saturated with offices. Not only did these Modernists see this as the solution but saw the only means to accomplish the goal was to eradicate the last remaining economic activity that diversified Lower Manhattan. Ironically, this economic activity had been trading the first American means of mass communication.
Despite the planners sweeping action in the area of the World Trade Center Site, the final result bore witness to tremendous urban sculpted offices as well as a forum styled palazzo. The plaza had not been intended as a forum for expression, however; over time people were able to embrace the humanless architectural space and bring diversity to the program of the buildings and the site. Austin Tobin, David and Nelson Rockefeller were intent on creating a contemporary forum of sorts based not on the words of politics and the social conditions but on the goods and products of the world market. Their intervention, the World Trade Center, however overwhelming; had been intended to mark the beginning of a new era of globalization never seen before. The developers did not look at the Austin Tobin Plaza as their forum of ideas but rather the markets of business that occurred behind the walls of the buildings at the site.
America was at the head of creating a new world order that found its footing on the free exchange of goods and most importantly the exchange of ideas. This globalization had gained enough significance and strength that it was creating a new paradigm of life for every person in the world. This new way of life, based on the market and based on the close relationship between every part of the world found itself inexplicably connected to communication and uncontrolled expression. The former World Trade Center at the end of the 20th century began to embody this ideal of fluidity of ideas, by acquiring a diversity of tenants and representing for the rest of the world—globalization.
The description of the World Trade Center as an impetus to a new world order is not to disregard its lack of cohesiveness with the rest of the surrounding urban fabric. As Jane Jacobs described in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, the life of a city is really at the street and that it is only in acknowledging this rule of the organic nature of cities can a built form truly be successful. 14
The World Trade Center ignored this rule with a sterile defiance to the extent as being labeled a dinosaur upon its completion. The designers went as far as to take the immense amount of commercial activity most amenable to street life and place it below a large field of concrete below street level. In fact, disregarding the rest of the city and looking at the complex as a merely a successful place for offices, the buildings remained largely empty until the mid-1980’s gaining its zenith in activity in the 90’s up until its destruction in 2001. The point to remembering the complex’s early criticisms serves two purposes.
First, the criticism reveals that obviously the success of a building is largely dependent on the people, and that regardless of its design inadequacies it did achieve its original intent to becoming the symbol of globalization and the spread of ideas. And second, the program of the site became inexplicably connected to communication and expression adding another layer of communicative history to the site.
The next step in this discourse would be to obviously jump into what the program of the site will now become after coming to understand the innate patterns of history that have informed its previous activities. However, the patterns in history must be looked at critically one more time to then understand the clarity that the new program for the site possesses. Radio Row and The World Trade Center were described as disseminators of ideas each an unprecedented development respective to its time. The radio became a tool to express ideas with freedom only limited by one’s access to a radio booth. Radio stations grew in numbers giving its listeners options in what ideas and thoughts they wanted to listen to.
Executives in this field would profess that it was because of the wide variety of options in radio stations, people were enjoying a freedom of ideas-the radio had become a forum. This situation may seem copious; however, it is the access to the radio booth that becomes a point of conflict. The myriad of radio stations were each singly controlled by large agglomerations. Each agglomeration based their decisions of ideas on money and those who had it or could make it for them. Therefore, the Industrial Revolution’s first means of mass communication held out one hand with the words and ideas of its radio personalities for all to hear while holding out another hand for the money to sustain itself. 15
The World Trade Center had been intended and did come to symbolize the intangible force known as globalization. The World Trade Center and its philosophies of globalization spoke of the freedom and flow of ideas which is true within its own paradigm and system of thought. However if an individual, group, or culture does not want to adopt the paradigm, then the system of free flowing ideas becomes not only restrictive but oppressive. The success of globalization depends heavily on a world consensus that the system of trade and ideas can and will complement each owns respective culture.
With this understanding there occurs once again a conflict between the intent of free dissemination of ideas and the reality of market forces. Regardless of even this conflict, by momentarily adopting the system of thought created by globalization the true intent, however manipulated, is to communicate, to express, and to incubate unbridled freedom of activity-a forum.
The Appropriateness of the Site
The events of 9/11 are what Rem Koolhaas has said New York by definition is always at the brink of but never experiences – catastrophe. On the other hand the events horrific as they were, in regards to the built form fit into New York’s destructive and creation pattern found throughout history.
Why is the World Trade Center a site that should be used in identifying and then reaffirming
New York’s identity? Could a designer simply choose an equally large development such as the one occurring at the Columbus Circle near Central Park as a means to send a message? Of course, any other site in New York may be appropriate for a designer’s theoretical exploration into the future of
Manhattan. The only way to begin answering the question of why to use the World Trade Center site is to discuss what choosing the site was not motivated by. The site has not been chosen because it will be a louder microphone to advertise personal design beliefs. The site has not been chosen because it can be an exploration into terrorism. The site has not been chosen because the World Trade Center had been a failure in design. The site has not been chosen simply to reconstruct and apply a bandage to a large 16
gapping wound. The site has been chosen because what occurred on 9/11 was not New York. What occurred on 9/11 was not chosen by a committee of New York businessmen, what occurred on 9/11 was not an attempt at destroying the old from which to create the new, and what occurred on 9/11 was in direct opposition to New York and what it stands for. This is the only site where a wound exists in New
York from which the organs of Manhattanism can be exposed and understood in the new light we live under. Only at this site can Manhattanism be created again without the routine of development and allow a designer to reassess Manhattan and its symbolic place and influence in the world now and in the future.
The new program for the former Radio Row and World Trade Center is to be the forum that the past activities of the site danced around but never fully achieved. The forum is not to be in the physical sense a large field of seating or concrete from which speakers take turns rambling to a crowd about their prophesies or the inadequacies of public services. The forum is to take a physical formation focused upon public assemblage and expression. The difference between this forum and those of the past is that it looks to the current time for the appropriate physical manifestation outside a system of monetary determinacy. This new forum will allow itself to manifest into a more malleable environment that can easily be adopted by a changing society and culture. 17
The Program
The Main Programmatic Elements: *The Expression Forum
*The International Media Center
*The New World University – NWU
The Expression Forum
The Expression Forum is to take the form of a message board applicable to any medium humans can use for expression. The Expression Forum will be a tower arching to the sky consisting of three main structural forms or elevator cores. The elevator cores will hug a super structure of laced steel that supports a 1151’ tall digital screen. The actual elevator cores will only serve to provide a means to ascend and descend the tower and as a way to access the forum. The forum will be within the super structure of laced steel with the digital screen running from below grade up through street level to the structural top of the tower. People entering the Expression Forum will not have to pay an entrance fee, will not have to arrive between particular times, and are not required to reserve time to enter. It will be the strict program of the Expression Forum simply to be a forum of ideas without any type of censure.
When a person decides to enter the Forum he or she may go to any level at any time of day and remain within the Forum for any amount of time. Upon entering the actual forum space the individual will have the freedom to either paint, draw, write, place a photograph, or affect the transparent floors, walls, or ceiling however they wish. The actual intervention upon the surfaces of the forum will only be 18
limited by the tools needed to effect their expression onto the transparent surface. Expressions of ideas will not be limited to simply visual creations but also audible ones as well. Individuals are welcome to bring any form of audio equipment or instrument and affect their desired forum space with their audio production. Audio productions can be recorded by the skin of the forum spaces and gradually move to other forum levels filling the spaces with their sounds. Once any of these ideas have been expressed visually or audibly their physical or audio existence will survive within the forum space of the individual for however long the person decides to stay in the space. Once the person leaves his or her forum level to either go to another level or leave the Expression Forum the manifested idea will begin to ascend upward on the digital screen through the rest of the forum spaces to the top of the tower. Every manifested idea will take an exact 24 hours after completion to ascend to the top of the tower before leaving the transparent surface indefinitely. All manifested ideas will not be recorded by the forum for permanent record at any point so that once an idea is manifested its existence within the forum will only exist for one day on earth.
Sculptural or three dimensional creations will not be created within the forum spaces. Three dimensional objects will be excluded for several reasons. To begin, three-dimensional objects begin to approach the full realization of an idea and lack the impermanent nature that two-dimensional or audible manifestations can possess. The point to the Expression Forum is not to create ideas that have the possibility of obtaining immortality beyond the creator’s own existence. The Expression Forum is intended to create the most fluid arena for ideas. The Forum is continually looking to be open to unheard ideas avoiding any individual’s intent on permanence and avoidance of change.
Thus the Expression Forum will become alive, depending on people’s bravery at that point in time, with the sounds and visuals of people. Ultimately, the tower creates a forum of unrestricted expression allowing the victims of 9/11 to grieve, the general populace to express their current ideas, or even in the most extreme case a place for those in support of the terrorist acts of 9/11 to find a means of non-violent expression. Of course, those who desire to express ideas that the collective does not agree 19
with will find it harder to express their ideas. The forum is not intended to make it easier for any individual to communicate, but it is the intent of the forum to at the very least provide an unprecedented opportunity to express any idea.
The International Media Center
It will become the directive of the United Nations to require every member nation to occupy an office in the new International Media Center. It will be the responsibility of the United Nations to open an invitation to any and all non-member nations an office in the new International Media Center as well.
The International Media Center will be a large complex, housing facilities of news agencies of any media. The “offices” will allow any journalist to have a place to work, record, or broadcast their news.
The International Media Center will possess a close physical and programmatic relationship with the Expression Forum. The actual IMC will be physically framed by the Expression Forum resulting in the opportunity to observe the ideas expressed at the forum from any point within the IMC offices.
The New World University – NWU
The final anchor to the former World Trade Center Site will be a New World University. The
New World University will once again fall under a directive of the United Nations to require all member and non-member nations to provide a predetermined number of professors to teach classes for a five year cycle. The curriculum of NWU is intended to be continually influx being manipulated by the newest group of professors and faculty. The university despite its chaotic nature and high turn over will be of 20
the highest level of education for any individual. Anyone wishing to attend the university needs to simply apply and all expenses including travel to the university will be absorbed.
The point to having a university placed in a highly concentrated city in an already concentrated site is purposeful. The forum and the media center possess great potential in providing a space on earth with unprecedented expression of ideas. However, despite this potential freedom it would still be easy for the programs to fall into political or social control by a singular power. By adding a purely academic institution to the site the forum and media center will begin to take a very purposeful and serious mission. NWU will have an opportunity that no other school on earth will ever have in exposing its students to the most relatively unbiased events, news, and ideas of the world. The media center is intended to provide an integral link for the forum to the rest of the world, and with NWU the forum will attain yet another link.
The Program’s Physical Layout
The proposal reinstates the Manhattan grid back onto the 16 acres of the former World Trade
Center site. Greenwich Street will also be reintroduced into the area allowing for a strong north south axis to be created on the site. The proposed buildings will all fall into and respect the grid except for the
Expression Forum which will sit at the center of the site straddling Greenwich Street. The purpose in creating this opposition to the grid is to highlight the significance of the Expression Forum and to create an impacting visual presence on Greenwich Street. Moreover, any individual using a subway to and from the site will have to use the Expression Forum since it will be the only way to access the subway from the site.
The remaining programs, the university and the media center will be broken up into smaller fragments and located in three nodes. The purpose in breaking up the programs into smaller pieces is to create a stronger fluidity and interrelationship between all of the programmatic elements. If the media 21
center or university were to reside within their own respective buildings it would be easy for either institution to avoid contact or hold any sort of dialogue. Therefore, the university has been divided up by its respective departments and reorganized to create a complementary matching of departments with media center offices and studios. The actual nodes will need to be housed in skyscrapers because of the large amount of square footage needed for the university and the media center. Each node is created formally to mimic and reflect its respective university departments and media center studios (although there is enough flexibility to allow completely new programs to use the buildings if either the university or media center were to fail). Each node follows a basic pattern in layout which consists of independent utility cores, office cores, and studio plates. The utility core which normally houses elevators for skyscrapers and is located in the center has been either broken up into multiple cores or pushed to the exterior of the building. The offices will occupy cores as well on the perimeter of the building hugging the large floor plates that houses studios for both the university and the media center. The floor plates in the center of the towers are open allowing media center studios to be closer to the elevator cores while the university studios are relegated to the exterior of these open floor plates. The effect of the layout of these nodes is a constant mixing of people of one program with the people and activities of the other.
Therefore, since a student will constantly be walking past media center studios to go to class or their respective studio they will continually have chance encounters to see or discuss news events with journalists or media center employees.
The rest of the site is composed of housing that will infill the remaining space of the site. The housing blocs are to maintain a relatively low 4 to 6 story profile with public commercial activities occurring at street level and apartments or dorms in the upper stories. All of the housing is open to students, university and media center employees, as well as the general public. The intent of the housing is to provide both basic housing and an urbanistic link with the rest of the city. By allowing people who have no connection to the proposed programs to live within the 16 acres creates unprecedented opportunities for the rest of the city to become aware and involved in the activities of the site. 22
Conclusion: The Gradient of Activities
The intent of creating a tripartite program is to create activities that provide both a freedom and a realistic relationship with money allowing spectators to see the gradient of control money exerts on society. Of the three programmatic elements, the Expressions Forum is the most anarchic and thus least tainted by monetary influences. Because anyone can enter the Expression Forum and express any idea, market forces or fiscal influence is nonexistent in the tower. The remaining elements of the proposal create the gradient of freedom for expression. Speaking to the New World University, academic institutions claim to be unbiased but are continually having to bow to its constituents to maintain a steady income or appease certain benefactors’ opinions to ensure the next donation. Therefore, the New
World University despite the high ideals it will set out for itself will ultimately be influenced by money slightly more then the Expression Forum. On the other hand media has come to be understood as a capitalistic tool very much controlled by money. The drive is to run the story that will receive the most attention, sell the most copies, and show the organization in the best light. By designing a gradient of programmatic elements a balance will be created ensuring the site does not become one sided, obsessed purely about anarchic expression or fiscal advancement. Ultimately, the final design looks to create a gradient of communicative freedom that allows people to see the extent that society controls expression. 23
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF RESOURCES
Burrows, Edwin G. and Mike Wallace. A History of New York City to 1898. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Davis, Mike. Ecology of Fear. New York: Metropolitan Books and the Henry Holt and Company, 1998.
Davis, Mike. City of Quartz. New York: Vintage Books, 1992.
Dudley, William. The Attack on America: September 11, 2001. San Diego, Greenhaven Press, 2002.
Gillespie, Angus K. Twin Towers: The Life of New York City’s World Trade Center. New Brunswick: Rutgers University, 1999.
Harris, Bill. The World Trade Center. Philadelphia and London: Courage Books, 2001.
Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House, 1961.
Koolhaas, Rem. Delirious New York. New York: The Monacelli Press. 1994.
Kouwenhoven, John A. The Columbia Historical Portrait of New York. New York, Evanston, San Francisco, London: Icon Editions, Harper & Row, Publishers, 1972.
Landau, Sarah Bradford and Carl W. Condit. Rise of the New York Skyscraper 1865-1913. New Haven and London: Yale University Press New Haven and London, 1996.
Leeuwen, Thomas A.P. The Skyward Trend of Thought. Cambridge Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1988.
Reuters Itd. September 11: A Testimony. New York: Pearson Education, 2002. 24
Ruchelman, Leonard L. The World Trade Center: Politics and Policies of Skyscraper Development. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1977.
Stern, Robert A. M., Thomas Mellins and David Fishman. New York 1960. New York: The Monacelli Press, 1995.
United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science. Learning from 9/11. Washington, U.S. Congress, 2003. 26
Appendix A
Delirious New York
I. Introduction A. A Retroactive Manifesto i. The theory – Manhattanism ii. NYC inspired ecstasy about architecture, therefore its implications are found to be often ignored on the rest of the architecture world iii. “Manhattan’s architecture is a paradigm for the exploitation of congestions” (10) II. Prehistory A. Program i. “Manhattan is a theater of progress” (13) ii. “North American barbarism was to give place to European refinement” (13) – Gives way to a cyclical state of creation and destruction B. Project i. Discovered by Henry Hudson in 1609 by the Dutch East India Company ii. 1626 Peter Minuit buys Manhattan for $24.00 – Falsehood – Peter Minuit does not even live here C. Prediction i. 1807 Simeon de Witt, Governor Morris and John Rutherford plan out gird 13 x 156 = 2,028 blocks – shortsightedness of commercial interest D. Report i. “Manhattan is a utilitarian polemic” (19) ii. The grid challenges because you’re pushed to define each block from another yet an unrestrained freedom exist in the 3- dimension iii. The block prevents a large ego from taking over the city E. Carpet i. Even Central Park’s natural elements – artificial but crafted to amplify landscape effect by the designers ii. “Central Park is a synthetic Arcadian carpet” F. Sphere i. Otis presents his elevator at World’s Fair – cuts cable – potential disaster 27
ii. **This potential disaster is what NYC and progress is all about** iii. “Manhattan is an accumulation of possible disasters that never happen” (27). III. Coney Island: The Technology of the Fantastic A. Model B. Infrastructure C. Cartography i. **Creation and destruction the 2 poles that define Manhattan’s “Abrasive Culture” D. Fiasco i. Discussion of elites among socialists who in reality can’t accept the masses when confronted with them in the flesh despite their theoretical relationship that makes socialists admire them E. Conquest i. Coney’s original urbanism, - an oasis for the masses originally about escape to nature but turns into the apex of urban density ii. Really a testing ground for the strategies intended for Manhattan IV. The Double Life of Utopia: The Skyscraper A. The Frontier in the Sky i. The Manhattan skyscraper born between 1900-1910 ii. A convergence of three urbanistic breakthroughs 1. Reproduction of the world 2. Annexation of the tower 3. The block alone B. Alibis i. Skeleton of 1909 Theorem – Manhattan skyscraper a utopian formula for unlimited creation of virgin site on a single location ii. **Each site beyond architects control – unknowable urbanism C. Camouflage i. Technology created at Coney Island transferred to Manhattan but disguised as pragmatic technology – not the fantastic technology that it is ii. **I am business. I am profit and loss. I am beauty come into the hell of the practical” (88) D. Control i. The block becomes a “park” in the tradition of Coney Island ii. Blocks become individualistic, competing against each other 28
E. Cathedral i. Woolworth first built amalgamation ii. ***But fails at skyscraper potential – Filled top to bottom with business*** F. Automonument i. Skyscraper just through its physical scale becomes a monument even if the activities inside are not deserving of monumentality ii. ***Cannot avoid being a symbol G. Lobotomy i. Builders see opportunity in how inside and outside was stressed past breaking point so they took opportunity to complete the lobotomy – unprecedented freedom ii. Gaudi’s scheme pushed the lobotomy – Vertical disconnect between floors, not as much dependence on one another not, therefore, major changes within not significant (106) H. 1916 Zoning Law I. Congestion i. It would be a mistake to solve Manhattan’s problems but to somehow embrace them/or forever insurmountable (123) J. Campaign i. In Manhattan the new and revolutionary is presented, always, in the false light of familiarity (135) “ ii. By Swallowing up the past the new buildings that take or replace the old accumulate the old strengths of all the past buildings on its site (136) K. Dream Planning i. Empire State Building not content, pure product of process, building is sheer envelope (141) L. Tentacles i. (New) Waldorf Astoria becomes the new metropolitan answer of home – serves all needs frees up time to take part in complex sophisticated social life – Manhattan’s first skyscraper house (148) M. Cow i. In Manhattan’s culture of congestion, destruction is another word for preservation (151) N. Definitive Instability: The Downtown Athletic Club i. Downtown athletic club – each floor a different activity (153) V. How Perfect Perfection Can Be: The Creation of Rockefeller Center A. Mountains 29
i. Hood’s answer to congestion in a city – small independent cities within (174) ii. Manhattan 1950 – city activity chaos swallowed by buildings so outside is calm while inside is chaotic B. Paradox i. Essence and strength of Manhattan is that all its architecture is “by committee” and that the committee is Manhattan’s inhabitants themselves (178) VI. Europeans: Biuer! Dali and Le Corbusier Conquer New York A. Redesign 1 i. Le Corbusier try to prove NY is not modern while Dali tries to prove it does not want to be modern (263) ii. Le Corbusier’s influence – Purity of function of form and city = Anti-Manhattanism Anti-Congestion – The essence of Manhattanism. Therefore, Lincoln Center is just a theater
VII. Postmortem VIII. Appendix: A Fictional Conclusion A. New York’s metropolis strives to an artificial reality so that all of man’s desires can be satisfied i. Over time this artificial land begins to be taken for granted and becomes like the Nature that once existed B. Manhattan has its own unique metropolitan urbanism – a Culture of Congestion i. This culture of congestion requires its own unique architecture that can develop this culture of congestion further C. The City of the Captive Globe (1972) i. Each block is an ideological laboratory for speculative activity ii. Each can expand upward as far as they can iii. Changes in the skyline will be quick and eventful iv. Together these institutes create an incubator for the world v. All based on the Grid, lobotomy and schism vi. The Grid – change always occurring within each island and because of such the system never has to be changed vii. Lobotomy and Schism – each skyscraper develops its own folklore 1. Through the double disconnection of lobotomy and schism by separating the exterior and interior (interior develops in small autonomous installments) – exteriors can only focus upon formalism and interiors only to functionalism 2. Resolve forever the conflict between form and function 30
Appendix B
Rise of the New York Skyscraper 1865-1913
I. The Urban Context and the Office Building, 1850-70 A. The Shape of the City in 1865 i. Broadway the commercial spine ii. Northern limit of building development 50th iii. After 1865 commercial and residential development was moving north B. The Office Building i. Office functions became distinct from other manufacturing/ production work ii. More office workers meant more training, payroll transactions, each requiring more staff iii. At the end of the 18th century earliest specialized banking buildings iv. English commercial buildings influential on New York styles C. The Insurance Company i. Development of a specialized building for offices paralleled Insurance company developments ii. Insurance offices close in standard requirements of spaces as other commercial enterprises D. The Hotel and the Apartment i. Some of the earliest tall buildings were hotels ii. Permanent residents became a commonality in hotels
II. Technological Preparations A. Evolution of the Iron Frame i. Tall buildings possible with traditional masonry materials but land values, building costs, and rental spaces necessitated iron frame construction ii. Greater intrinsic strength, superior elasticity – high tensile strength B. Wind Bracing i. Two factors to consider: movement of air and pressure on objects in its path / what can be done to counteract it ii. Formulas derived from hydrodynamics looked at the skyscraper as a vertical cantilever with maximum bending at grade C. Foundations and Manhattan’s Geology 31
i. Uppermost layer – schist distribution is inconsistent – way below street level between downtown and midtown ii. Along Broadway consistently high iii. Bedrock distribution associated with skyscraper distribution iv. Manufacturing and other zoning also attributed to physical development v. Also concentration of infrastructure connecting to surrounding boroughs reflect concentration of high-rises D. Fireproof Construction i. Most early fireproofing – hollow tile or fire resistant ceramic encasement E. Heating i. Central heating essential to skyscraper development F. Ventilation 1. Need for ventilation in urban areas essential G. Plumbing 1. Development of plumbing and heating pipe is parallel H. Elevators i. Obvious necessity in skyscraper development ii. Concentration of people in one area more pronounced in the US pushing need and desire for the skyscraper iii. Elisha Graves Otis – invented safety brake I. Lighting 1. Last utility to enter skyscraper development J. Power-Operated Construction Equipment
III. Toward the Skyscraper: Architectural and Technical Achievement in New York Before 1870 A. Early Iron Framing i. Hard to recount because much of it documented in newspapers and watercolors, etc. ii. Began to be used in exterior façade detailing iii. Began to be used as structural components in public buildings iv. Cast-iron construction is an exact forerunner of the curtain-wall construction associated with the skeleton frame B. The “Commercial Palace” and Iron Framing i. Commercial palaces designed in newly imported palazzo mode ii. This new commercial architecture was to mark the age of a commercial splendor C. Mid-century Banks and the Maturing of the Iron Frame i. As a result of New York’s increasing significance as the financial center bank buildings proliferated in the mid-1850’s 32
ii. This period of financial growth soon brought the advent of the panic of 1857 D. The Second Empire Commercial Building i. New building boom soon followed the panic ii. The plain marble palazzo which was the high-class commercial image was soon to find a new style iii. As building heights increased the flat roof palazzo no longer was appropriate and so designers began looking to emphasize this new verticality iv. New style associated with Napoleon III’s regime however people still were enamored by the style E. The Second Empire Hotel 1. Again hotels were often the tallest buildings
IV. The “First Skyscrapers”: Innovation in the 1870s A. The Equitable Life Assurance Society Building 1. Because of its: elevator accessible height, “fireproof” construction, extensive iron framing, large window area, rent free owner quarters justify for some that it was one of the 1st skyscrapers B. The Equitable Rivals: The Mutual and New York Life Buildings 1. The rivalry between insurance company’s technologies, height, and design in their buildings was a reflection of their business relationships C. The Western Union Building 1. French Renaissance style of bony-grid like wall treatment influenced many future designs D. The Tribune Building i. Huge masonry wall ii. Critics argued people would not like it because of its height, but in fact people eagerly rented the top floors first and enjoyed the lighting and absence of noise and dust E. The Coal and Iron Exchange and Evening Post Buildings F. Other Innovative Work of the Decade i. Seaman’s Bank for Savings by Robert G. Hatfield had an innovative cast iron façade as well as innovative truss work. ii. Prefabrication of building V. The Future Revealed: Technical Developments and Formal Solutions in the 1880s A. The City in 1880 i. 1880 was a time when the technological, architectural, sociopolitical character of New York was set B. A Fear of Heights 33
i. People were wary of the possible negative effects if buildings heights were not regulated ii. Everyone involved in the creation of these buildings were needed in addressing these concerns iii. It was here that building these skyscrapers became more a scientific technology than a building craft C. The First Mammoth Office Buildings: The Post, the Mills, Temple Court i. With the Post and Mills buildings George B. Post introduced the U-shaped commercial block ii. U-shape significant innovation in allowing more natural light and better ventilation than the light courts provided iii. Was the forerunner of the skyscraper H-plan D. The New York Produce Exchange i. The most significant technological step made in this building was the early use of skeleton or skyscraper construction despite William LeBaron Jenney’s claim which was found to be primitive and based on already established principles E. The Washington Building and Other Notable Office Buildings of the Early 1880’s i. Cotton Exchange notable for its sophisticated pluming and water supply system F. Mammoth Apartment Houses of the Early 1880s i. Apartment buildings like their office building counterparts were bearing wall construction with iron floor beams and girders and iron roof rafters ii. Without the 1885 law regulating their height apartment buildings would have continued to rival offices in their height G. The Potter Building: A Thoroughly Fireproof Creation i. One of the largest office buildings yet constructed ii. Previous building on site burned at a record time so Potter employed the latest state-of-the-art techniques of fireproof construction H. Prominent Low-Rise Commercial Buildings of the Decade i. Some of the best designed buildings were those of the low-rise and warehouse category I. Steel Construction i. Local interests in local iron manufacturing somewhat prolonged the time before steel came into wide use despite its proven advantages J. Transitional Skyscrapers: Aldrich Court, The Times Buildings and Others i. People of Louis Sullivan’s school would agree that the Times 34
Building was typical of early New York Skyscrapers – confused in conception with too many indistinct divisions in the facades K. Technical Progress and the Tower Building i. The first complete skeletal structure built without masonry adjuncts as well as first complete system of wind bracing with surviving drawings
VI. State of the Skyscraper Art, 1889 to the Mid-1890s A. Utilities: Lighting, Plumbing, Elevators i. Utilities had progressed to a new level of complexity and now the architect was in a new position to fully address them in the design phase B. Iron and Steel Framing i. As typical in an early stage of a building method skeleton framing was not uniform across projects and defects were highly debated ii. Concern over the corrosive nature when exposed to moisture iii. Iron frames still novel although bearing wall, cage-wall, curtain wall thickness were finally becoming obsolete C. Principles and Criteria of Functional Design i. A list of priorities set up in 1893 still similar to todays: 1 easy elevator access, 2 receive maximum amount of light 3 Utilities D. Constructing the High Office Building i. Construction still quite similar to what it is today ii. Major advance came in the office of general contractor who took responsibility for the entire construction process including subcontractors E. Outstanding Problems and Some Solutions i. Water level decreasing in the Lower Manhattan area exposing wood piles to air and rot ii. Pneumatic caisson a new technique used iii. Fire still a major issue especially because iron framing was often left exposed F. The New York Building Code i. The city’s successive building codes addressed issue of fire and wind relating to soil conditions but the codes grew in complexity leading often to controversy G. Skyscraper Style i. A Neo-Renaissance mode had caught on, architects giving up the pre-Renaissance arcaded styles in favor of revived classicism found in the Columbian Exposition ii. Column/tripartite aesthetic predominated but one could sense even this was not fully resolved in designers’ minds as the solution 35
H. Opposition to the High Building i. Opposition paralleled a general antagonism against the buccaneering methods of finance ii. Environmental concerns for the urban space iii. C.H. Blackall was a proponent arguing if building high was economically justified it should be done but the problem was to find an appropriate architectural design and solution to the environmental problems
VII. Monuments to Commercial Power and Corporate Prestige, 1889-95 A. Madison Square Garden and Transitional Structures of c. 1890 B. The World Building: A Monument to Success i. Tallest yet built ii. Structure was massive, solid, conservative, and cage-framed iii. Topped by a rotunda with palazzo imagery throughout suggests the cosmopolitan nature of the newspaper C. Skeleton-Framed Skyscrapers Number Two and Number Three D. The Havemeyer Building: “An Organic Idea” i. Potentially Post’s best work E. Maturity of Design: Some Extraordinary Office Buildings of 1892-95 i. Between these dates the adaptation of academic-classical and Beaux-Arts design produced the dignified classicizing image of a high-rise for the next two decades F. Flamboyance vs. Respectability: Manhattan Life and New York Life Buildings i. Manhattan Life steel-skeleton construction ii. Electric and lighting said to be the most efficient iii. Criticized for unclear tripartite division iv. In contrasts the New York Life building projected a more conservative image v. The image projected stability and longevity – reactionary but in step with the style of the time G. Twenty Stories and Up: American Tract Society and American Surety Buildings i. By the end of the decade New York surpassed Chicago’s tallest (around twenty story mark) ii. Tower like in its form and dimensioning – American Tract Society iii. Criticized for its 6 division of the façade – a reflection of religious influence (characteristic of cathedrals) iv. Surety classical realization of the three part division with Greek influence and considered one of the first simplified isolated towers 36
v. Steel-skeleton construction with curtain walls vi. Building next door sued because of the tower infringing on the light and air of its neighbor but this highlighted the issue at hand
VIII. The Syndicate-Built Skyscraper, Technical Advances, Continuing Debate, 1895-1900 A. Artful Investments: The St. Paul Building and Bowling Green Offices i. The tallest building yet built ii. Innovative steel framing construction iii. Horizontal mode of skyscraper with a tripartite organization iv. Mainly vertical lines in the Bowling Green building-contemporary B. Efficiency and Early Obsolescence: Central Bank and Gillender Buildings i. Central Bank compared to as a Doric Order while the Gillender Building looked as an elegant counterpart and demolished only 13 years later
C. A New Record: The Park Row Building i. Design is rigorously frontal and vertically divided tallest until the Singer Building
D. Vertically Designed and Technically Advanced Skyscrapers i. Typical treatment: tripartite organization including 3 variation – vertical emphasis, horizontal emphasis, or a neutral window pattern in the shaft ii. Easier to experiment on shorter buildings because they were preoccupied by the structural tapering of height E. Speculation Downtown and Uptown: Empire and St. James Buildings i. Elevator precautions taken seriously 2. Characterized as a rusticated pillar F. Revival of the Insurance Company Image: The Washington Life Building i. Very well liked as a design G. Sullivan in New York: The Bayard Building i. Sullivan’s only work in New York and according to FLW his favorite work ii. Its aesthetic may appear alien to its surroundings but its infrastructure is very New York iii. Hoped to influence the design of New York skyscrapers but didn’t and New York already had its own solution H. A Model of its Kind: The Broadway Chambers Building i. Epitomizes the New York solution ii. Columnlike proportions and rusticated surface I. Assessment at the End of the Century 37
i. Construction at its height at the end of the 19th century ii. The debate over the impact of skyscrapers on the urban landscape would continue iii. Zoning would damping to some extent the harshness of the skyscraper
IX. Skyscrapers and the Urban Scene at the Turn of the Century A. Building Costs, Land Costs, and Related Statistics i. Building of skyscrapers at a relatively constant rate ii. As buildings went up in height their cost per foot increased proportionally B. Status of the Metropolis: Critical Views i. Status of metropolis and quality of life put into question ii. Understood as a world port and financial, industrial, commercial leader iii. Europeans viewed it’s a place of uncontrolled individualism iv. Not sure if it could be viewed as the Paris of the US v. Despite its criticism had a strong civic spirit C. Status of New York Architecture: More Criticism i. Believed American architects couldn’t handle the large amount of work after the war and that people in general couldn’t understand the difference between engineering and architecture ii. Atmosphere in the office of the architect intense and commercialized but he still produced quality D. Planning, Public Works, Civic Improvement i. Efforts were made to beautify the city
E. Skyscraper Economy and technology i. At turn of century all demands of the owners could be technically satisfied ii. Construction with power operated equipment became a standard
F. Besetting Questions of Architectural Form and Height Limitation i. Skyscraper had come into its own and set the foundation for an even larger skyscraper boom ii. Still not resolved as whether acceptable
X. The Skyscraper Comes of Age, 1900-1910 A. First Skyscrapers of the New Century: Mutual Life, Atlantic Mutual, Broad-Exchange, and Flatiron Buildings i. Broad-Exchange largest office building construct ii. Flatiron buildings tallest north of the financial district 38
B. Design Successes: Bank of the Metropolis, Blair, and Sixty wall Buildings C. The Times Building: “City’s Tallest Structure from Base to Top” i. Site induced the Gothic style
D. Gothic Neighbors: Trinity and U.S. Realty Buildings, One Wall Street
E. Giants West of Broadway: U.S. Express, West Street, City Investing Company, Hudson Terminal, and Whitehall Buildings i. Development west of Broadway ii. Even more skyscrapers to be built then in previous year seemed like a race iii. The skyscrapers to be higher and larger in floor space iv. City Investing a show of simple greed in its large mammoth presence v. An expensive lobby showed the importance company’s placed on it as a sign to the world F. Reinforced Concrete Buildings and Other Unusual Works of the Decade i. Liberty Tower a precursor to the Woolworth building ii. Stood in striking juxtaposition with the Singer Tower in the skyline G. The Skyscraper Hotel i. Even though hotels were often part of the race to build high once office buildings reached 20 hotels no longer competed ii. 17 stories typical height – they began to spread out iii. Apartments hotels continued to rise through the 1920s their heyday was over by 1910 H. Physical Growth and Mounting Problems in the First Decade i. Height seemed limitless ii. In 1910 upper limit for rate of return was 50 stories
XI. Culminating Works and Envoys of the Future A. The Singer Tower: An Aesthetic and Practical Triumph i. Would become the world’s tallest building ii. An addition to an existing building iii. Enriched the aesthetics of the city showing the sculptural possibilities with steel-frame B. The Metropolitan Life Tower: 700-Foot Wonder i. Taller than the Singer ii. Concrete major fireproofing material C. The Municipal Building: “A Modern ‘Colossus of Rhodes’” 39
i. City needed new office space – contemplated numerous possibilities ii. Competition held – freedom in the design iii. Winning entry chosen for its civic style D. The Bankers Trust Building: Halicarnassus Aloft E. The Woolworth Building: Climax and Conclusion i. Still a strong movement against the tall structures existed ii. Frank Woolworth answered the questions of why so high by saying he wanted to produce the largest income of any property iii. Cathedral of Commerce iv. No expense spared for its abstract program and figural ornament F. Finale: The New Equitable Building and the Report of the Heights of Building Commission i. Equitable last of city’s unregulated large office buildings ii. 1916 zoning law mandating height limits by districts and setbacks iii. Architecture in service of engineering and profit motive and the identity of New York City became identified by its skyline 40
Appendix C
Skyward Trend of Thought
I. Some Notes on the Theme ‘The Skyscraper – Innovation or Tradition’?
A. The skyscraper is inexplicably a tall commercial building B. Many foreign visitors would unconsciously or not draw parallels between the skyscraper and the past i. These people sensed or believed there to be a historical continuum
C. People couldn’t help being mystified by these large forms i. Fed a lot of myth about the new world ii. Scholars traced cities such as New York to divine places of the past iii. The buildings subsequently meant more than space but of idealistic building principles D. The Chicago Tribune Competition i. The competition brought up what world was to be defined as when claiming to build the most beautiful building in the world ii. Lack of representation of European Modernists surprising a. Progressivists saw Chicago the symbol of the unscrupulous functionalism b. Competition results a celebration of the present not a look into the future the real issue E. Chicago World Fair of 1893 – Death or plague that killed Chicago School (officially dead 1922) i. People who thought they understood taste the future who loved the fair didn’t realize its retrogression ii. Results seen in the Chicago Competition F. The Frame seen as the image of the new age i. Only those buildings with the frame could be taken into consideration as a skyscraper ii. Modernists reinforced this concept because they believed the identity of a building came from the frame iii. Saarinen truly understood the definition of the word world believing it meant more than the US and the present (why his work his appreciated 41
G. American skyscraper, poetic imagination and brutal materialism welded perfectly i. Dreams while steeped in business necessary in the creation of the skyscraper ii. The hard-core matter-of-factness of the 1880s and 1890s was subtly transformed into the metaphysics of the 1920s iii. The true tower to define space and bring order into chaos iv. Significant because it couldn’t rely on the past for technological or truly design direction and instead had to create it from scratch II. Apokatastasis or the Return of the Skyscraper A. The American skyscraper to some historians is viewed as the fulfillment of the Babylonian promise B. Apokatastasis i. Johann Fischer von Erlach first to write history of architecture ii.Fischer’s notion of what should be seen as historical was a combination of what belonged in the past and what was not affected by the course of time iii. Belief that the old world and new world possess strong parallels iv. In observing the development of the new world one will see “Genesis” v.This is why the American skyscraper is related to the Tower of Babel vi. Manifest destiny pervaded Anglo-American utopian expectations C. ‘The Final Cosmetropolis’ i. Americans attracted to arch-cosmopolis ii.American chosen as the successor to the greatest civilization and responsible for the progress of civilization iii. With this establishment the Great Circle of Civilization was closed
iv. Whitman’s parallel’s between the new and old wonders of the world strengthened the concept of purposeful succession in the development of creation v.History then assumed New York as the rightful successor to the paradigmatic trinity D. ‘I love it! It says city’ 42
a. New York centrality in this history sparked controversy between it and Chicago b. Despite numerous tall buildings in Chicago only a few are truly skyscrapers E. Re-invention of architecture a. American architects looking frantically for what would become the American style i. An extremely stressful and pivotal position to be, as the successor of civilization ii.Needed to reinvent architecture from the beginning iii. First skyscrapers designed by builders enthusiastic desire to build in celebration of something they themselves weren’t too sure of iv. War and destruction the elements that made order out of chaos/the skyscraper is the intention to bring order to the built environment II. Sacred Skyscrapers and Profane Cathedrals A. Some felt it was imprudent when there was a formal and ideological concoction that hinted at impersonation – the Cathedral of Commerce B. ‘Not a church enters into it’ i. Religion very much an integral element of American culture C. The Cathedral of Commerce i. Frank W. Woolworth and architect Cass Gilbert’s Woolworth Building D. The transcendence of materialism i. Success in business was the equivalent of deliverance ii. Democratic architecture – FLW – an individual non-conformist architecture which would suit the equally non-conformist individual Self-Made-Man E. Paedomorphosis
i. Success and survival in the field of business were uniquely dependent not on education but on the ability to compete F. Competition i. Since men like Woolworth were self-made-men they had not tradition or culture to fall back upon so it has to be self-made culture G. Self-Culture H. ‘Gloriai. de’ The Prencipi’ power expressed and sought in America if it could become matter would be transformed into buildings 43
ii. Once money and power had been accumulated the building oddly becomes a public rather than a private palace I. The Cathedral of Learning i. Again war and destruction the elements used to create order this is what the skyscraper did in the great wilderness of America ii. What the builders of the Cathedral of Learning sought by expressing the meaning of a University by a great high building J. ‘Restore the Cross to the Skyline’ i. Church felt bitterness and injustice being overcome by these commercial towers ii. Temporary solution the Convocation Tower a church and office tower in one iii. Its realized form the Chicago Temple K. Theomorphism III. The Myth of Natural Growth A. The grid of American cities and its neutrality provides for no hierarchy, topography, or exceptions to the rule B. Myth that the 1916 zoning law was charged by the power of the civic institutions and people i. The law was a result of an agreement between businessmen to allow the free growth of each others tower – following laws of nature (trees) C. The hortus conclusus i. Myth that skyscrapers were really invented to save space especially in America where there is a lot of land ii. But instead invented to control the land and channel it iii. Therefore the grid originally neutral gained numerous obstacles in a forest of buildings iv. However the neutrality of the grid allowed development of Man’s Nature v. The competition between men not nature resulted in him fixating on a point and building up creating stage sets ultimately demonstrating scarcity that in reality did not exist with the land D. The ever-changing skyline i. Became the standard code to describe prosperity ii. The skylines instead of being the result of economic law were billboards of its simulated operations iii. These archetypal centers strangely existed in a grid which was designed not to have centers E. Hortus Congestus i. The skyscraper is really an exploitation of synthetic congestion 44
F. Distance-corrective media i. America’s chief characteristic has been its display of energy a reason and feeling for comfort for the concentration of activities ii. Congestion often a yard stick for success G. Hortus Speculativus i. According to Charles Harris Whitaker the purpose of the skyscraper had only one purpose – allow the owner to cash in on his land H. The dearth attraction paradox and commercial agoraphobia i. New York’s skyscrapers paralleled San Gimignano ii. Nobility (in San Gimignano) showing their might from within the confines and safety of their city walls I. The centripetal force J. Printing House Square – a sado-masochistic arena K. ‘A brick and mortar giraffe’ i. American press unlike European had established itself not merely as the provider of news but as the ethical standard commercial as well as political ii. To solidify this position of authority the result is the vertical skyscraper L. The Great Moral Organ M. The skyscraper – a feudal baron N. ‘Toute valorisation est verticalisation’ i. Eventually it became customary for the powerful to take the upper floors O. Two Dreams i. The battle between newspapers took was transferred to the built form each seeking to outdo the other ii. In order to build high and prove power need a comparison so The World moved as close as possible to the Tribune to erect its vertical monument iii. Meant it to be a people’s palace P. Acromegaly i. As soon as they had concentrated themselves in a vertical forest they just as quickly departed IV. The Myth of Natural Growth II A. Wild Work
i. Businessmen’s feverish pace translated to their desire to construct just as fast 45
ii. These owners took firm control often as in Newspaper Row of the ultimate look of the buildings B. ‘The skyscraper problem’ i. Once firmly established in construction techniques designers looked to stabilize and form its aesthetic order ex: tripartite system ii. Sullivan mastered this technique but emphasized the vertical fluted portion C. Sullivan’s Problem i. How to deal with the sterile mass of skyscrapers and communicate its sensibility and culture ii. Solution Form Follows Function (often abused) iii. However Sullivan’s interest was purely focused on the expression not its economics of movement D. The function of function i. View that elevators not germane to the issue ii. For Sullivan the issue was not the social or external function but the biological-internal, or organic function E. Architectural alchemy i. Sullivan meant for the skyscraper to impart in its form its action, however, this was not successful ii. Beyond this a significant designer in the metaphysics of architecture but maybe not directly associated with modernism F. Claude Bragdon G. Frozen Music i. A theory developed by Bragdon not necessarily original H. The Frozen Fountain i. Bragdon saw in the three monarchs of the skyscraper: RCA, Chrysler, Empire State – the idea of arrested motion ii. The behavior of vertical motion embodied in fountains found in the more successful skyscrapers I. Sinbad J. Stabat Mater i. During the 1920’s with the Chicago Tribune Competition the pure excitement of tallness wading to side overshadowed by beauty K. Energy L. An artistic coup d’etat i. 1920s produced a lot of Saarinen-inspired, set back fountains – Art Deco M. An idyllic garden N. Epilogue i. The skyscraper is as a man-made mountain, the image of the centre of the world 46
Appendix D
The Columbia Historical Portrait of New York
I. Ways of Looking at the City A. Obviously, a picture, print, or photography can be interpreted in a number of ways but it also must be understood it can be intentionally constructed in just as many ways II. Plans and Prospects, 1614-1800 A. The city starts off as any number of colonial settlement did with a focus on protection and survival B. The City is significantly influence by its Dutch founders in character that carries through more than just the people’s outlooks but its physical forms C. Despite changing hands a select number of times the city maintains its own identity steeped in financial and maritime business D. Regardless of who is in control the city is understood for its significance in as a focal point in the area E. Begins to develop its own culture III. The People Get in the Picture, 1800-1845 A. The city continues to grow and prosper B. A focus now has shifted by the recorders (artists of these prints) from the simple focus and drive to build and maintain the built city to the development of people and their culture C. Despite the prosperity that begins to build up the poor are finally shown in their natural environment D. Civic institutions begin to grasp a hold IV. Mid-century Panorama, 1845-1855 A. The city continues to spread out and grow but also begin to acquire and develop its density B. First views of the city from above at the large number of buildings that begin to sprawl out on the island C. Manufacturing, commerce, and maritime trading continue to grow at a frantic pace D. Few tensions between groups of people begin to be noticeable V. Documents of Change, 1855-1870 A. The city’s outlying developments take old B. The city like the rest of the country goes through the national historic events of the time 47
C. Density continues to rise D. The distinct metropolitan culture of New York develops E. Manufacturing and other industrial innovations become a focus VI. The City in Motion, 1870-1890 A. Photography is first used B. Photography allows people to understand fully the significant power an artist has in depicting scene by comparison with actual photographs (even here there is still bias) C. The unmentionable parts of culture become evident throughout the city such as prostitution and the poor D. The Industrial Revolution takes a firm grasp of the city providing unique utilities never before experienced E. With the expansion of business and the Industrial Revolution those in power begin to establish or at least refine their affluent lifestyles and places VII. Transit to the Greater City, 1890-1910 A. The city begins to incorporate the multiple modes of transportation that now move people through the city B. The skyscraper explodes up into the skyline constantly changing and growing higher C. People begin to address, adjust, and live with this new entity of their city D. Immigration occurs in massive ways adding the density of the city and country E. Infrastructure takes on new significance in a city of skyscrapers VIII. “The Shapes Arise,” 1910-1953 A. The city continues to explode upward to what appears to be an out of control forest B. The supremacy not only financial and in business is established but also its cultural influence on the nation and subsequently the world C. The culture of the grid good and bad produces brilliant spectacles D. Inof triumphthe massive and forestsuccess of asbuildings well as unforgivingpeople continue despair to triumph in creating the spaces distinct and their own in culture and business E. The grid is reflected upon and what is truly a neutral fabric gives way to a brilliant spectacle of human activity 48
Appendix E
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
I. The Peculiar Nature of Cities A. The uses of sidewalks: safety i. A city’s streets and sidewalks the vital organs that hold its life and establish it either as an interesting city or not ii. If people don’t feel safe then they will begin to use them less and create a snowball effect iii. The solution is not to thin people out iv. Not to create a mixture of public and private that is hard to discern but clearly organized v. Give people reasons to be on the street at all times of day and people attract more people vi. You want strangers on your streets so you don’t have just the people living there using the streets preventing maximum usage vii. All based on eyes on the street and a city order that has not been replaced with the new idea of what urban is suppose to be B. The uses of sidewalks: contact i. Formal events cannot exist with just direct public attention but must possess a private informal life ii. Public activity essential iii. The reason projects and cities with forced socialization places fail is because they lack balance iv. This balance is largely made up of small, sensitively managed details such as essential privacy and differing degrees of contact v. Store vendors offer supervision, places to loiter, and great opportunities for public contact vi. People who have no real opportunities to experience public activity often end up recluses afraid of “entanglement” that won’t site well on the “public plane” vii. The magic of a sidewalk is not really magic but provided if the facilities are present viii. Los Angeles example of a city with little public life and dependent on contacts of a private social nature ix. Los Angeles embarked on dint of “togetherness” or nothing – social insularity lacking the ability to bring together ideas 49
C. The uses of sidewalks: assimilating children i. People assume because of the symbolic significance of parks that they are best for children as opposed to streets ii. In fact streets due to their continual surveillance by people on or living on the street are safer iii. City planners stupidly try their hardest to take children off the streets into huge enclaves that often turn out to be more dangerous iv. Streets can be great opportunities for learning for children v. City streets are truly important and vital for children in their opportunities to play, learn, and grow D. The uses of neighborhood parks i. Open spaces are too often assumed by city planners inherently effective in providing good spaces for people ii. Parks are not “automatically real estate stabilizers or community anchors” iii. Failed parks have snowball effects – increased violence of the area, vandalism, waste of space iv. Mixture of uses around the park provides a mixture of people who will patron the park – Functional physical diversity equals diversity among users and their schedules
v. Successful parks tend to have: intricacy, centering, sun, and enclosure E. The uses of city neighborhoods i. Neighborhoods are simply organs of self-government ii. Three types: The city as a whole, street neighborhoods, districts of subcity size iii. Street neighborhoods can end up being the most helpless in a city but a district neighborhood is a good balance of power to the city to help the street iv. If the only truly effective unit is the city as a whole each part should work had creating a cohesive network to ensure voices and needs are met v. Districts shouldn’t look to self-contain itself and become totally independent but rather effective in communication and link to the city vi. City’s collection of opportunities and fluidity are an asset to a neighborhood’s stability otherwise neighborhoods become characterized by too much sameness and narrow income ranges 50
large amount of diversity of businesses and activities iii. But size will guarantee diversity of people or choice iv. For successful diversity: 1. District must serve more than one primary function 2. Opportunities and streets to turn corners must be frequent 3. District must possess buildings that vary in age and condition 4. Concentration of people B. *The need for primary mixed uses i. Successful city streets need to have people appearing at different times of the day ii. An example would be downtown tip of Manhattan iii. Miserable at providing services and amenities proportionate to the need iv. No real cultural opportunities v. Problems arise from lack of people in area after 5:30 vi. City planners understand the importance of this time factor so are planning for new residential neighborhoods vii. However the people brought in must work with those who come during working hours so as to infuse the people needed at the dead hours viii. Also there needs to simply be a draw to bring people down all original ones have been uprooted ix. Primary uses should not bring people out at the same time otherwise the time spread goal is lost x. Secondary services are primarily geared toward serving primary services however over time they in themselves become a primary use xi. Primary uses also must be used in combinations otherwise sameness produces stagnation C. *The need for small blocks i. Long city blocks tends to isolate them which is dangerous ii. Path of people could be mixed iii. Consider Rockefeller Center it would lack any center had the streets not been cut iv. Garden City and Radiant City planning of course argue more streets are wasteful – A destructive theory v. Short blocks valuable in the cross use they provide D. *The need for aged buildings i. If there are only new buildings it limits the area to those who can afford new construction 51
II. The Conditions for City Diversity A. The generators of diversity i. Big cities generators of diversity ii. Cities provide the adequate number of people to support the ii.Deals with economics of time iii. Cities therefore need old buildings to cultivate primary diversity mixtures as well as secondary diversity iv. Old buildings because of low cost become incubators for new businesses and manufacturers – Brooklyn is a prime example v. When an area is new in a city it provides no economic possibilities to city diversity E. *The need for concentration i. Everyone notices concentrations generally lead to diversity ii. Dwelling densities by traditional city planners are assumed to be evils in cities when the truth is exactly opposite iii. Although not areas of all high density of dwelling do well iv. There is no magical limit or number at which dwelling densities should be v. Not easy but important to reconcile high densities with great variety in buildings vi. Not good to pack high dwelling densities with open spaces in a city b/c the open spaces are impossible to control in a city vii. Numerous streets provide valuable “open space” F. Some myths about diversity i. Cities can provide something for everyone if they are created by everyone III. Forces of Decline and Regeneration A. The self-destruction of diversity i. What happens is competition turning the success of the area into a fad ii. Winners though will only represent a small segment of those who created the success iii. Streets or areas with only one predominant type of function often make the street deteriorate iv. Pattern usually occurs when new diversity that is being introduced is in competition with already existing diversity v. To avoid this: 1. zoning for diversity 2. staunchness of public buildings 3. competitive diversion B. The curse of border vacuums 52
i. Borders provide problems because they form dead ends ii. Tend to create vacuums of use around them iii. Placing uses at strategic points along the perimeter would help iv. Some borders cannot be solved but can be dampened by concentration strong counterforces nearby C. Unslumming and slumming i. Problem with slums is that too many move out of them and others cannot wait to get out of them ii. First sign of an incipient slum is stagnation or dullness iii. Foundation for unslumming is a slum lively enough to enjoy city public life and sidewalk safety iv. Signs of unslumming are people remaining in the community despite people leaving it and is quite often necessary D. Gradual money and cataclysmic money IV. Different Tactics A. Subsidizing dwellings i. It is wrong to separate one group of the population from the other based on income ii. Subsidize the poor so that private owners would get involved and so they are guaranteed economic marketability iii. In this situation capital costs for the building would be fed by the rent and not directly by the government iv. Wouldn’t need to use eminent domain to clear large tracts of land for public housing v. Allow for mixing of incomes vi. Too rapid replacement not good B. Erosion of cities of attrition of automobiles i. Too much blame is placed on automobiles, in reality the problems we have with them are a reflection of other city functions we have failed to solve ii. Our mistake was using each automobile to replace each horse iii. We need to focus on reducing the number of cars and have them work more efficiently iv. Attrition of vehicles is significant in reducing cars – the need of car is reduced because any other option is not desirable v. Attrition of automobiles occurs by making conditions less convenient for cars C. Visual order: its limitations and possibilities
i. Cities cannot be understood as something which can be 53
resolved by converting it into a piece of art because that is not what it is ii. City’s systems and structure extremely complex and should be understood in their own terms not in terms of another system iii. Good city streets need visual interruptions 1. Not good to use it for a street with one kind of use 2. Not good if all street had visual interruptions 3. Should not be dead ends but corners 4. Should be exception to the rule 5. Natural eye-catcher iv. Functional value in dotting a city with civic buildings instead of clumping them together v. Relates to landmarks and their uses – good for clarifying order, and marking a places importance vi. All concerned with capturing city order (not imposing it) because it is all made up of bits and pieces that support each other
D. Salvaging projects i. First problems with projects is that they are projects set apart from the rest of the city ii. First need to focus on introducing diversity of uses other then residences E. Governing and planning districts i. Important for cities to learn to administer in terms of ii.administrative Today we do not districts have enough at understandable practice scale iii. Except in the form of constantly more inadequate adaptations of little-city government F. The kind of problem a city is i. Life sciences helpful in understanding the complexities of city planning ii. Helpful to think of processes, work inductively, seek unaverage clues which reveal more about how large and average things are operating iii. Statistical averages are not helpful in understanding cities but pinpoint facts iv. It is a waste of time to search for the solutions to city problems in rustic unspoiled surroundings because these areas are largely homogeneous areas v. Large lively cities carry the seeds necessary for their own ills as well as others S i t e
P i c t u r e s . . . . 55
F E l m a p t i i r r e o n S . t . a . t . e . . B . u . i . l . d . i . n . g . . . . 56
S B C t a h o t i c t n k e a r T E y o x w c P n h a . a r . n k . g . . e ...... 57
T h e
C i t y ...... 58
R G o r c o k u e n f d e l Z l e e r r o . C . e . n . t . e . r ...... 59
B a t t e r y
P a r k ...... 60
G r o u n d
Z e r o ...... 61
G r o u n d
Z e r o ...... D e s i g n
D e v e l o p m e n t 63
I n i t i a l
C o n c e p t
S t u d y . . 64
I n i t i a l
C o n c e p t
S t u d y . . 65
S i t e
P r o g r a m
S t u d y . . . . . 66
S i t e
P r o g r a m
S t u d y . . . . . 67
S i t e
P r o g r a m
S t u d y . . . . . 68
I n f i l l
F o r m a l
S t u d y . . . . 69
C o n c e p t
D e v e l o p m e n t . . . . 70
F o r m a l
S t u d y ...... 71
C o n c e p t
M o d e l s ...... 72
C o n c e p t
M o d e l s ...... 73
C o n c e p t
M o d e l s ...... 74
C o n c e p t
M o d e l s ...... 75
C o n c e p t
M o d e l s ...... 76
S k e t c h
M o d e l s ...... 77
S k e t c h
M o d e l s ...... F i n a l
P r e s e n t a t i o n 79
S i t e
P l a n ...... 80
S u b w a y
P l a n ...... 81
E a s t
S i t e
S e c t i o n ...... 82
S o u t h
S i t e
S e c t i o n . . . . . 83
P r e s e n t a t i o n
M o d e l . . . . . 84
P r e s e n t a t i o n
M o d e l . . . . . E x p r e s s i o n
F o r u m 86
F l o o r
P l a n ...... 87
F F r o o r n u t m
E D l i e a v g a r t a i m o . n ...... 88
S i d e
E l e v a t i o n ...... 89
S e c t i o n ...... 90
I P n e t r e s r p i e o c r t . i . v . e . s ...... 91
P r e s e n t a t i o n
M o d e l . . . . . 92
P r e s e n t a t i o n
M o d e l . . . . . N o d e
1 ...... 94
F l o o r
P l a n ...... 95
F r o n t
E l e v a t i o n ...... 96 S i d e
E l e v a t i o n ...... 97 S e c t i o n ...... 98 T h e a t e r
F l o o r
P l a n . . . . . 99 I n t e r i o r
P e r s p e c t i v e . . . 100
P r e s e n t a t i o n
M o d e l . . . . . 101 P r e s e n t a t i o n
M o d e l . . . . . N o d e
2 ...... 103 F l o o r
P l a n ...... 104 F r o n t
E l e v a t i o n ...... 105 S e c t i o n ...... 106 P r e s e n t a t i o n
M o d e l . . . . . 107 P r e s e n t a t i o n
M o d e l . . . . . N o d e
3 ...... 109 F l o o r
P l a n ...... 110 F r o n t
E l e v a t i o n ...... 111 S e c t i o n ...... 112 P r e s e n t a t i o n
M o d e l . . . . . 113 P r e s e n t a t i o n
M o d e l . . . . . H o u s i n g ...... 115 S e c t i o n
+
F o o r
P l a n . . . . 116 P r e s e n t a t i o n
M o d e l s . . . . 117 P r e s e n t a t i o n
M o d e l s . . . .