The Skyward Trend of Thought
The Metaphysics of the American Skyscraper
Thomas A. P. van Leeuwen

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Author(s)

Thomas A. P. van Leeuwen

Publication, year

Cambridge MA : The MIT Press, 1988

Scope

176 Pages, illustrated, 27 cm.

ISBN

0262220345

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Is the skyscraper really just a manifestation of America's pragmatic values? Thomas van Leeuwen rejects the functionalist view of skyscraper production put forth by Sigfried Giedion, Nikolaus Pevsner, and others, and instead sets up a very different argument - one that resurrects the powerful aesthetic and ideological values of the mythical skyscraper. Van Leeuwen takes up all the metaphors for tall buildings: the skyscraper as Tower of Babel, as analog to man, as frozen fountain, as secular cathedral.

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Location

Cabinet 28 - 5: Culturele benadering van de (stedelijke) ruimte

Extra themes

Architecture and Art

Remarks

Incl. Bibliographical References