Author: Cesar Pelli Publisher: Academy Press ISBN: Category : Architecture Languages : en Pages : 136
Book Description
In a world with Jumbo jets, microchips and artifical hearts, architecture had appeared to have lost its wonder, but with the building of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, now the tallest buildings on earth, this has changed and their construction has rightly restored architecture as a world wonder. It is not just because the towers are the tallest that they can make this claim. Their design by Cesar Pelli also reflects a melding of East and West. The towers embody the great spirit born of the American mid-West and now found all over the world. They also reflect the latest technology in making tall buildings, with modern materials such as stainless steel cladding which makes their spires glisten on the horizon. The design of the Petronas Towers began with an international design competition. In June 1991, eight firms were invited to participate. The architects were asked to providee a general plan for the Kuala Lumpur City Centre and a more detailed design for two towers to be occupied by Petronas, the national petroleum company of Malaysia. The Petronas Towers were expected to define a gateway, "a place that people can identify as unique to Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia." It was never discussed that the towers should become the tallest buildings in the world, only that they be beautiful.
Author: Jason M. Barr Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199344388 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 457
Book Description
The Manhattan skyline is one of the great wonders of the modern world. But how and why did it form? Much has been written about the city's architecture and its general history, but little work has explored the economic forces that created the skyline. In Building the Skyline, Jason Barr chronicles the economic history of the Manhattan skyline. In the process, he debunks some widely held misconceptions about the city's history. Starting with Manhattan's natural and geological history, Barr moves on to how these formations influenced early land use and the development of neighborhoods, including the dense tenement neighborhoods of Five Points and the Lower East Side, and how these early decisions eventually impacted the location of skyscrapers built during the Skyscraper Revolution at the end of the 19th century. Barr then explores the economic history of skyscrapers and the skyline, investigating the reasons for their heights, frequencies, locations, and shapes. He discusses why skyscrapers emerged downtown and why they appeared three miles to the north in midtown-but not in between the two areas. Contrary to popular belief, this was not due to the depths of Manhattan's bedrock, nor the presence of Grand Central Station. Rather, midtown's emergence was a response to the economic and demographic forces that were taking place north of 14th Street after the Civil War. Building the Skyline also presents the first rigorous investigation of the causes of the building boom during the Roaring Twenties. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the boom was largely a rational response to the economic growth of the nation and city. The last chapter investigates the value of Manhattan Island and the relationship between skyscrapers and land prices. Finally, an Epilogue offers policy recommendations for a resilient and robust future skyline.
Author: Dr Yat Ming Loo Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN: 140947299X Category : Architecture Languages : en Pages : 455
Book Description
Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia, is a former colony of the British Empire which today prides itself in being a multicultural society par excellence. However, the Islamisation of the urban landscape, which is at the core of Malaysia’s decolonisation projects, has marginalised the Chinese urban spaces which were once at the heart of Kuala Lumpur. Engaging with complex colonial and postcolonial aspects of the city, from the British colonial era in the 1880s to the modernisation period in the 1990s, this book demonstrates how Kuala Lumpur’s urban landscape is overwritten by a racial agenda through the promotion of Malaysian Architecture, including the world-famous mega-projects of the Petronas Twin Towers and the new administrative capital of Putrajaya. Drawing on a wide range of Chinese community archives, interviews and resources, the book illustrates how Kuala Lumpur’s Chinese spaces have been subjugated. This includes original case studies showing how the Chinese re-appropriated the Kuala Lumpur old city centre of Chinatown and Chinese cemeteries as a way of contesting state’s hegemonic national identity and ideology. This book is arguably the first academic book to examine the relationship of Malaysia’s large Chinese minority with the politics of architecture and urbanism in Kuala Lumpur. It is also one of the few academic books to situate the Chinese diaspora spaces at the centre of the construction of city and nation. By including the spatial contestation of those from the margins and their resistance against the state ideology, this book proposes a recuperative urban and architectural history, seeking to revalidate the marginalised spaces of minority community and re-script them into the narrative of the postcolonial nation-state.
Author: Cesar Pelli
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Author: Mark Thomas
Author: Catherine M. Petrini
Author: Mark Thomas
Author: Jason M. Barr
Author: Dr Yat Ming Loo
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Author: Karen Grikitis
Author: RIGBY