LOUIS SULLIVAN AND THE EVOLUTION OF SKYSCRAPERS

Pastier, John. “Skyscraper Revolution and Evolution.” Design Quarterly, no. 140, 1988, p. 12., doi:10.2307/4091183.

This journal reviews the evolution of skyscrapers. John Pastier gives us a vivid description about the changes and advancements in skyscrapers right since historicism to modernism and postmodernism.

“If the run of the mill modernist skyscraper is like a bread and water diet, its postmodern counterpart is like a banquet of chocolate mousse and whipped cream; neither one is satisfying over the long haul.” (Pg. 13)

According to him, historicism adapts old styles and ornamental details, either traditional or attractive whereas modernism seeks to explain the technical building process by reducing form and detail and focusing more on the structure, geometry and various materials for expressing the function of the building. Between the two World Wars, the stylistic pendulum moved from eclecticism to nondogmatic modernism based on simple form and detail and restricted expression of materials. In the postwar period the visible ideology of the design was accepted even to conservative clients since the economic logic played an important role at the time of increase in cost and diminishing construction skills. During the French Revolution there had been a rapid abandonment of conventions without a clear idea of what to replace with the discarded philosophy. As a result, there is an unhinged fumble about the form and appropriation for the older and recent architectural styles. In postmodernism’s defence, Pastier emphasizes on how diversity and complexity have returned to tall buildings after being oppressed by the reducing atmosphere of postwar modernism. Historicism therefore, welcomed the richness of form accompanied by detail in structures whereas with the reduction in the stylistic rules during modernism, the structure often lacked credibility and intellectual discipline. Each period is marked by larger structures and forms; prewar modern skyscrapers are bigger than the eclectic forerunner but, smaller than their modern descendant. According to Pastier, the hierarchy was prominent till ten years, in order to keep the skyscrapers flat-topped and minimalistic where one wished them to be better structured and more detailed. The benefit of postmodernism is the refurbishment of the complex form to the skyline at an adequate scale to question the boxlike structure that had come to rule the urban stage. Pastier later discusses the importance of bases of skyscrapers that is critical to the life of a city. Bases explain the relationship to its visitors and streets. During Modernism, the simplistic shapes of the skyscraper rose to great heights and were set back from the street in independent separation. Some towers were constructed on stilts as though unwilling to touch the ground. Respect to the street wall, and the fundamental spatial pattern of the town has been one of postmodernism’s strengths. By emphasizing on eloquent detail and traditional precedent, this era has restored the importance of entrances, lobbies and bases. Pastier addressed Postmodernism as “A Noah’s Ark of Styles” because the architects of this era are trying to populate the cities with every possible style, just like how Noah had stocked his ark with all kinds of existing species of animals. Recent tall buildings are in another group altogether, they are neither modern nor postmodern but are occupying a space in between them. In this article Pastier expresses how in the postmodern era towers have grown from the randomly selected stylistic representations and how they have enriched the skyscraper genre. Postmodernism has redirected importance towards the street form, city context and the scale of the ground level. Pastier says that by combining a few ideas of modernism with postmodernism, could lead to an architecture of style and substance. This article gives me a clear idea of how skyscrapers evolved from modernism to postmodernism. Postmodernism’s respect for the street and the sky, its meaningful diversity and context and Modernism’s concern for structure and material would result in a perfect architectural form.

OGorman, James Francis., and James Francis. OGorman. “The Tall Office Building Inconsistently Considered.” Three American Architects: Richardson, Sullivan and Wright, 1865-1915, The University of Chicago Press, 1992, pp. 93–111.

“Sullivan’s stated concern was that the external, artistic expression of the tall office building should reflect its internal spatial divisions and declare itself tall, every inch of it tall.” (Pg. 98)

In this book, the author gives us a description of the ideas and viewpoints of Louis Sullivan who was known as the Father of Skyscrapers. His name is firmly attached to the tall office building. Sullivan was supposed to design several individual buildings, but as a body they lacked consistency that originates from Sullivan’s incapability to frame and communicate his aims clearly. The author considers the Wainwright Building as Sullivan’s first mature work which he constructed under the influence of Richardson who was the predecessor of Sullivan. Lippincott’s Magazine carried an article that was based on “The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered,” in which Sullivan tried to emphasize on the poetic and functional aspects of skyscraper model. The author places emphasis on the phrase, “form follows function” which was repeated several times in Sullivan’s articles. Sullivan’s structures failed to attain a clear relationship between the space, function and the exterior outlook. According to Sullivan social conditions lead to the rise of the tall office building. Elevators made vertical travel easier and steel construction helped on achieving such great heights. His requirements of spatial planning have also been discussed in this chapter. Each component required its own outward expression. Sullivan was only considered with the facade of the building and did not regard utility as a design factor. He stated that the external appearance of a building should reflect the interior spaces, that is, form should follow the function of a building. In this chapter, the author states that the main problem in Sullivan’s design was the eloquent, articulation of the façade of the tall office building. Material played an important role in determining the function of the building. The author addresses Sullivan as a poet, rather than a logician. The author criticizes Sullivan’s works by pointing out the lack of continuity and consistency in a variety of his solutions. The author discusses Sullivan’s learnings from Richardson. He learned about urban scale and solid forms. The author also addresses Sullivan as an ‘ornamentalist.’ Sullivan’s use of ornament was like the inconsistency of articulation of the tall office building. This inconsistency sabotages the idea of solidity that characterizes the visual interaction of “structure” and “nature” elsewhere on the exterior. According to this reading, Sullivan lacked the precision of purpose. His unsteady character was similar to the lack of his conceptual clarity. He managed to combine the traditional ornament with Richardson’s legacy and served as a link between the two masters. Louis Sullivan failed to achieve in his writings and buildings a comprehensive solution of the tall office building. His achievement in the field of design was partial.

Abalos Iñaki, et al. “Evolution of Topological Planning in the High-Rise Building: The Mixed-Use Skyscraper.” Tower and Office: from Modernist Theory to Contemporary Practice, MIT Press, 2003, pp. 218–257.

In this book the author describes the superimposed functions and the multi-use of skyscrapers. He focuses on finding geometric and functional order and emphasizes on the aspects of interpretation, to search for new forms and structures and to speed up the rate of change into the construction of a space.

“The skyscraper was no longer a product of repetition but was discontinuous, configurable-a three-dimensional reorganization of functions and circulation.” (Pg. 222)

According to the author, Skyscrapers are exploratory models that provide an opportunity to identify new concepts and their structure and placement in the city show these changes. The high-rise office building failed to be accepted in modernist terms as a single-function structure made of monotonous stacked floors. Instead, it began to be visualised as a multi-use organisation of different spaces that were not only interlinked but also connected to the larger urban systems. The skyscraper eventually contained the entire city. The complex character of this expansion was shown in the section rather than the plan which resulted in an urban form that was “multicentred” instead of “hierarchal”. The author emphasizes on how the workspace and the skyscraper deserted the urban model of practical zoning. The characteristics of the skyscraper such as monotonous floors and comprehensive replication was no longer taken into consideration as an ideal. What expanded instead, was a skyscraper connected to the urban contours, its utility and section disordered with an exclusive presence. The author helps us gain knowledge about Ludwig Hilberseimer’s Vertical City which was based on merging the workplace and residential practices in structures. The skyscraper was no longer an outcome of replication but was considered to be erratic. The skyscraper instead of being located at the centre of the city, became the city and the centre. The author explains how the functions of the European skyscraper contrasted with the American archetype of centrality. With the concept of perpendicular spatial distribution of functions, the higher floors of the skyscraper started to be occupied by residential components and the offices were shifted to the lower levels to enable mobility. The building was thus divided into two parts, private and public that was depicted through verticality. Also, in this chapter, the authors later focus on planning and technology in design. Units around the multiuse structure were connected through transportation networks. The modern skyscraper gave way to a rising collaboration between “structure” and infrastructure”. Overall, the authors demonstrate how the technical analysis associated with modernist theory has given rise to a variety of flexible and environmental approaches. They have given way to new urban and architectural forms. Through this reading, I have gained knowledge of how the skyscrapers evolved from modern office spaces to multi-use skyscrapers.

Al-Kodmany, Kheir. “Sustainability and the 21st Century Vertical City: A Review of Design Approaches of Tall Buildings.” Buildings, vol. 8, no. 8, Mar. 2018, p. 102., doi:10.3390/buildings8080102.

“Many cities around the world are embracing or re-embracing the tall building as a major building typology and are attempting to make it sustainable.” (Pg. 35)

The idea of this article is to survey the consequence of green design concepts on high rise buildings. The author tries to explain the implementation of these green design ideas into the buildings. Several projects have been discussed in this reading which illustrate how sustainability and strategies help in meeting the functional demands that result in an appealing form. ‘Green Architecture’ and sustainability has become an essential architectural criterion today as due to the increased population, natural resources are depleting. The population explosion which is on a rampant rise year after year, calls for some urgent developments to support the human basic needs and requirements for survival with limited natural resources. The essence of the word ‘sustainability’ can be realized is the need for basic existence in a complicated scenario with scarce natural resources, quick depletion of which can lead to problems of survival for the generations to follow. Skyscrapers or tall buildings are the call of the day. “The green meets the blue” (Pg. 140) implying the tallest of skyscrapers need to adopt efficient methods to preserve and minimize depletion of natural resources. The use of renewable sources of power and energy need to be used extensively to build such buildings. As per the author recycling methods need to be promoted to consume natural resources. The cities various examples of skyscrapers around the world provide information of how sustainability has taken over these tall buildings. On the other hand, the author also criticizes certain architectural works with fancy roof tops on high rise buildings which completely go against today’s concept of sustainability. The author strongly emphasizes on the need to go green and adopt more eco-friendly methods to reach out to the blue sky. Examples show that the structure and form of skyscrapers are designed in such a manner so that wind and solar energy can be used gainfully to provide vertical support and effective air circulation. Lately architects have been diversifying towards employing natural methods to offer a calm and serene environment within the skyscrapers to enable people to relieve their stress of their daily routine. The author cites the example of Singapore, which owing to the conducive climatic conditions of Singapore favors the growth of natural vegetation. According to the author, designing a skyscraper is an extremely challenging task considering a whole lot of variables which need to be examined in detail. In a bid to promote sustainability through eco-friendly ‘go green’ planning industrialists tend to take advantage of the situation by cashing in on developing new methods to offer a high-profile technological base for the same purpose. Through this reading I have gained knowledge about how sustainability has become the need of the hour and how it is impacting skyscrapers which are slowly becoming eco-friendly.

Al-Kodmany, Kheir. “Tall Buildings and Elevators: A Review of Recent Technological Advances.” Buildings, vol. 5, no. 3, 2015, pp. 1017–1104., doi:10.3390/buildings5031070.

“Efficient vertical transportation has the ability to limit or expand our ability to build taller and taller skyscrapers, and recent innovations in elevator design promise to significantly reduce energy consumption.” (Pg. 1071)

In this reading, the author enlightens us about how elevators have become an important source of vertical transportation in buildings. It gives us a clear understanding of the technological advancements of the elevators and collaborates the diffused information on the multiple aspects of the design of elevators. The author has also tried to discuss the advancements through various case studies from around the world and has given us knowledge about the future prospects of the functionality and concept of elevators which would eventually help the architects to establish new structures that are tall and large and can be used for multiple purposes. In the long run it will only be possible to build vertically rather than horizontally due to increasing land scarcity and population. Systematic and well-organized vertical travel only make it possible to have such high-rise buildings. The author compares the role of an elevator to that of an automobile. While cars help in horizontal movement that is travelling from one place to another, elevators similarly help in vertical travel that is from one floor to another. The author focuses on collaborating sustainability with elevators that are power saving. There is an urge for designing elevators that do not consume much power and produce pure energy. The author emphasizes on the word ‘green’ as this has become a very important and necessary language to communicate design in order to make it sustainable. Various manufacturers of elevators are making an attempt to design energy saving elevators that consume minimal energy but also produce electricity that the building can utilize. The author further addresses the recent advancements in technology of elevators. He gives the architects an idea on how to improvise the newer elements and devices of elevators that will increase sustainability. During the earlier days’ elevators were only used to carry freight. These elevators were very slow in speed. With the removal of direct current motors and the implementation of alternating current motors passenger elevators were introduced which enabled smooth vertical acceleration. It is essential to have high speed elevators today, in order to avoid overcrowding in lobby areas. In the near future, it is essential to have an appropriate organization in order to ensure the proper functioning of vertical travel through the usage of elevators. According to the author, the structure and form of a building influences the functioning of elevators. This reading has helped me gain knowledge about how vertical travel became possible through elevators which has eventually resulted in even taller buildings to accommodate more people. Massive urbanisation places a major demand for ‘green’ elevators.

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