HIGH-RISE
The Emporis Standards Committee defines a high-rise building as ‘a multi-story structure between 35-100 meters tall, or a building of unknown height from 12-39 floors’. What the Emporis Committee doesn’t say is that the modern-day high-rise is the continuing expression of the age-old symbol of an axis mundi: a pillar that connects earth to heaven and the four compass directions to one another.
High-rises are nothing new. They are as ancient as the pyramids. The skylines of many important medieval cities had large numbers of high-rise urban towers. Wealthy families built them for defensive purposes and as status symbols. The residential Towers of Bologna in the 12th century, for example, numbered between 80 to 100 at a time, the largest of which (The Two Towers) rose to 97.2 metres (319 ft). Further afield, in Florence, due to an excessive number of high-rises clotting the skyline (even medium-sized towns at the time such as San Gimignano are known to have had 72 towers up to 51 m height), a law of 1251 decreed that all urban buildings should be reduced to a height of less than 26 m.
An early example of a city consisting entirely of high-rise housing is the 16th-century city of Shibam in Yemen. Shibam was made up of over 500 tower houses, each one rising 5 to 11 storeys high, with each floor being an apartment occupied by a single family. The city was built in this way in order to protect it from Bedouin attacks.
A little later, an early modern example of high-rise housing could be seen in 17th-century Edinburgh where a defensive city wall defined the boundaries of the city. Due to the restricted land area available for development, the houses increased in height instead. Buildings of 11 stories were common, and there are records of buildings as high as 14 stories.
Though some of Glasgow’s high-rises may give the impression of being ancient, having sprung up out of the primordial swamp, most were built in the building boom of the sixties when modernism and austerity went hand in hand. The city is currently involved in a program to un-block Glasgow’s skyline with a large percentage of buildings set to be demolished. But others, like Kirkton, have been spared the whip, and have in fact been re-clad. Though they may not be everyone’s cup of tea, high-rises are, primarily for their verticality, remarkable microcosms of relations and connections.
The Emporis Standards Committee defines a high-rise building as ‘a multi-story structure between 35-100 meters tall, or a building of unknown height from 12-39 floors’. What the Emporis Committee doesn’t say is that the modern-day high-rise is the continuing expression of the age-old symbol of an axis mundi: a pillar that connects earth to heaven and the four compass directions to one another.
High-rises are nothing new. They are as ancient as the pyramids. The skylines of many important medieval cities had large numbers of high-rise urban towers. Wealthy families built them for defensive purposes and as status symbols. The residential Towers of Bologna in the 12th century, for example, numbered between 80 to 100 at a time, the largest of which (The Two Towers) rose to 97.2 metres (319 ft). Further afield, in Florence, due to an excessive number of high-rises clotting the skyline (even medium-sized towns at the time such as San Gimignano are known to have had 72 towers up to 51 m height), a law of 1251 decreed that all urban buildings should be reduced to a height of less than 26 m.
An early example of a city consisting entirely of high-rise housing is the 16th-century city of Shibam in Yemen. Shibam was made up of over 500 tower houses, each one rising 5 to 11 storeys high, with each floor being an apartment occupied by a single family. The city was built in this way in order to protect it from Bedouin attacks.
A little later, an early modern example of high-rise housing could be seen in 17th-century Edinburgh where a defensive city wall defined the boundaries of the city. Due to the restricted land area available for development, the houses increased in height instead. Buildings of 11 stories were common, and there are records of buildings as high as 14 stories.
Though some of Glasgow’s high-rises may give the impression of being ancient, having sprung up out of the primordial swamp, most were built in the building boom of the sixties when modernism and austerity went hand in hand. The city is currently involved in a program to un-block Glasgow’s skyline with a large percentage of buildings set to be demolished. But others, like Kirkton, have been spared the whip, and have in fact been re-clad. Though they may not be everyone’s cup of tea, high-rises are, primarily for their verticality, remarkable microcosms of relations and connections.
Shibam in Yemen.
No comments:
Post a Comment