Of all the definitions of the word skyscraper, a pretty brilliant one is found in the book and podcast The invisible city, by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt: “Machine designed to convert land into money.” Cities began to grow upwards for economic reasons. It took a lot of technology to get so high and we were lucky that Mr. Elisha Otis found the solution in 1854 and invented the safe elevator. The race that began then in Chicago is not yet over.
The architecture critic of The New York Times Michael Kimmelman published an exhaustive article in October titled 'When the skyscraper you hate blocks the skyscraper you love'. He was talking about the Empire State Building, a prodigious and colossal tower that was welcomed by New Yorkers with enormous affection for being in 1931 the tallest building in the world and a symbol of overcoming the Great Depression, which also mixed office workers and garment workers with bankers. and diamond merchants. Until recently, when you left the Flatiron Building behind and entered Madison Square Park, near Fifth Avenue, you would glimpse the hypnotic profile of the Empire State Building and all your visual memory would kick in. However, when you head towards the northwest exit of the square today, you see a dull skyscraper that prevents you from appreciating the Empire State. Says Kimmelman: “Those who spent a dollar in 1931 could visit the observation deck and see New York like a god. Like the Brooklyn Bridge in the 19th century, the Empire State Building turned the city's stratosphere into a public plaza, and the skyline into a resource that New Yorkers felt they shared. And he regrets that today the price is 72 dollars to have a new 262-meter luxury tower in front of him. Is this new skyscraper a symbol of progress? Should New York regulate its skyline?
Miriam Berman, conservationist and author of the book Madison Square: The Park and Its Celebrated Landmarks In addition to being a professional guide, he used to invite visitors to pay attention to the visual dialogue that the bow of the Flatiron has maintained for years with the muscles of the Empire State across Fifth Avenue. In his opinion, “the conservation of a meritorious line of sight is as important as that of an emblematic historical monument.”
The Empire State is blurred. “Another super-sized anorexic for millionaires, which rises on 29th Street, hides it,” says Kimmelman, and in that absence one remembers the time when he left the subway and looked at the sky and oriented himself thanks to the iconic skyscrapers, and even remembers the Twin Towers of Minoru Yamasaki, who suffered from acrophobia, the phobia of heights.
New York's unrecognizable skyline is, Kimmelman continues, “occupied by billionaire apartments, and has increasingly come to symbolize the city's growing income gap and skyrocketing housing costs.” In the course of his investigation, he has learned that the pencil-thin building (at 262 Fifth Avenue) that spoils views of the Empire State Building is designed by the Russian company Meganom, will have 56 floors and, according to the agency Crain's, will contain only 26 apartments!
When the Empire is fortunately seen again in all its splendor from 28th Street, one remembers Fran Lebowitz talking about the skyscrapers of her city in Pretend it's a City; “The incredible thing about Chrysler is the details and its beauty. I think it's for sale now, not that I'm going to buy it, but to me it's the perfect size to be a one-person house.”
#skyscraper #sight
