Montage as Symbol The semiotics of

skyscraper, unlike a sculp- final design was chosen by ture or painting, cannot be the Transamerica’s then-CEO work of a single artist. It arises and ended up becoming Visit harvardmag. A from numerous contingencies the symbol of the company com/extras to see and collaborations among architects and itself, to ’s Burj Khal- more examples of CEOs, steelworkers and engineers, bank- ifa (formerly Burj Dubai), skyscrapers ers and billionaires. Like the Great Pyra- a national monument to modernity and mids of ancient Egypt, the skyscraper is— global reach, tall buildings signal aspira- in our own time—perhaps the ultimate tions. , for example, at 2,717 symbol of cultural production. The period feet, is taller than Chicago’s Sears Tower since 9/11, thought by some likely to sig- and Manhattan’s nal the demise of huge towers, has instead combined. seen the biggest surge ever in their con- Johnson traces a number of the forces

struction. Nearly half of the world’s sky- that have created skyscrapers, including ©Wolfganghoyt/Esto scrapers have been built since 2000. the increasingly prosperous cities of Asia There is “no artifact more synthetic and the Middle East and the rise of mixed and comprehensive in our contemporary use. “In 1996,” he says, “eight of the 10 tall- world than the skyscraper,” writes Scott est buildings were in the United States, Johnson, M.Arch. ’75, in Tall Building: Imagin- and only one was mixed use”—retail, rec- ing the Skyscraper (Balcony Press, $34.95). As reational, office, and residential. Today, all a principal of the California architectural 10 of the world’s tallest buildings are out- firm Johnson Fain, he has designed more side the United States and all of them are than a few tall buildings himself. mixed use. “We are moving vertically to en- inkampphotography e

Expedience, transcendence, ambition, act all the rituals and activities of our dai- t inkampphotography S e s t e S and dominance: these are the principal rea- ly lives,” he explains. “Living on one floor, s e sons why tall buildings emerged and why shopping on another, exercising, seeking they continue to be built, says Johnson. Ini- open air, attending parties on others. It’s tially, land values in places like downtown transformational.”

Chicago and New York City drove expan- Bioclimatic concerns—air and light— Jam by photograph ; e ; photograph by Jam by photograph ; e sion skyward, enabled by technological de- have been another important shaping in- ctur e ctur velopments like elevators, curtain walls, and fluence in modern buildings. English ar- e high-strength steel. chitect Norman Foster has found ways to But today, “like so much in our lives, skyscrapers have become semiotic things,” Top: The National Commercial Bank, ordon gill archit gill ordon G

ordon gill archit gill ordon in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has shaded interior

G Johnson said in an interview. From San windows, an environmental response to Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid (de- its desert environment. Burj Khalifa, in Dubai, signed by Pereira Associates, Johnson

United Arab Emirates (at right and below), + smith drian A © drian smith + smith drian at 2,717 feet, is the world’s tallest tower.

A Fain’s corporate predecessor), where the ©

Harvard Magazine 21 Montage channel natural light to the Clockwise from left: Norman Foster very center of his buildings, designed the Swiss Re building in London to channel light and air throughout its astral while the Malaysian archi- form; a skyscraper in Doha, Qatar, advertises tect Ken Yeang gouges out the 2006 Asian games; Peter Eisenmann’s his buildings’ skins to cre- unbuilt design for the Max Reinhardt Haus ate profusely planted mi- rethinks the linearity of tall buildings. croclimates in sun or shade. Just as in the 1950s and ’60s there were reached tall buildings. In an clear resonances between the world of extension of their semiotic

architecture—with its “pure, sleek” sky- role, their surfaces are being s e scrapers—and the minimalist creations rethought to carry visual tty imag tty

of the fine arts world, says Johnson, today content and information. In e

the influence of the information age has certain places in city cen- itt/g ew

ters, their exteriors have h e

become not only battle- mik grounds, but also more valuable than the space within. Johnson recounts landlord struggles with residential neighbors both- vation) ered at night by illuminated signage, on the e st El st

one hand, and with tenants angered by re- e l, W l,

duced daylight after an advertising scrim is e suddenly hung on the building. Recently, a developer was offered more money for the

exterior of a building than the residential mod (1:200 rank F

units inside could generate. ick D r The fight for the exterior of tall build- e ings, Johnson says, is clearly the next big conversation. If we are indeed on the cusp hotograph of a new reason for building skyscrapers, P cts, cts, Johnson’s view is that public art might e rchit

play a role­. “A tall building is de facto a po- A rs e

tential work of art,” he argues. “It may be nman e artn

P privately financed and occupied, but it is sy Eis sy e r + r

e in the public realm—it is a wall of the pub- ost F lic right of way.” vJonathan Shaw court

Brown surprised everyone by winning the A Cautionary Tale Senate seat that Edward M. Kennedy ’54, LL.D. ’08, had held for nearly 50 years. Inflation and its painful aftermath Suddenly there was the 82-year-old Volcker, summoned to the White House by david warsh to stand at President Barack Obama’s side as he announced that “the Volcker rule” would guide the administration’s efforts obert j. samuelson ’67 had the financial cataclysm of the last couple of to reform the banking industry—federally bad luck to send The Great Infla- years. insured banks should be barred from spec- tion and Its Aftermath: The Past and Lucky Sam. It turns out that there’s a ulative activity unrelated to their busi- R Future of American Affluence to double-barreled moral to his story. A little ness. Yet it had been more than 20 years the printer the spring before the recent like Edward Gibbon, Samuelson started since Volcker had retired as chairman of financial crisis became acute. The book out to write a history and finished with a the Federal Reserve reached stores just in time for the No- cautionary tale. Board. The banking Robert J. Samuelson, vember 2008 election, and, even though it Anyone born after, say, 1965, might have lobby, and the Senate, The Great Inflation received respectful reviews, it was swept been puzzled at the sudden prominence quickly dismissed his and Its Aftermath: The Past aside by events. Now Samuelson is back assigned to Paul Volcker this past January. rule. What could the and Future of American with a paperback edition, somewhat re- The Democrats had just lost their super- old man add? In fact, Affluence(Random vised and updated, with a new introduc- majority. A little-known Massachusetts under the circum- House, $17 paper) tion addressing the significance of the Republican state senator named Scott stances, Volcker was

22 May - June 2010