Why Skyscrapers Are Losing Their Tops

1. An Architect friend told me this many years ago. He presented his design proposal for a multi-storey commercial building. The client asked it he could make the exterior less “Bland”. He replied “Yes”, if the client would let him increase the external walls to 1foot thick. The client took a piece of paper and a pencil. He calculated the loss of usable floor space on each floor, multiplied that by the number of storeys, multiplied that by the annual rent per square foot. Sighed and said “Bland is Grand”

I'm an architecture student and having to design buildings ONLY with "Modernist" rules is the most boring thing ever... I'm even thinking about dropping out of college because of it...

Neoclassical and Art Deco are my favorite architecture styles. I hope the new generations of Architect will revive those styles.

another factor I've heard contributed to the thoroughness of the lack of postwar ornamentation is that the mass-produced ornament factories mostly shut down due to decreased demand, so it got quite expensive to even consider that kind of decoration

Growing up in NYC in the 1960s, I fell in love with the great Art-Deco skyscrapers that dominated Manhattan at the time. My favorite was the Empire State Building, and not just because of its height. The detailing is actually pretty sober -- much more so than the Chrysler Building, for example. But it's the massing, with its beautifully proportioned set-backs, culminating in that fantastic spire at the top, that really floats my boat. I was lucky enough to have a beautiful view of it from my bedroom window. I didn't realize how lucky I was until I was an adult. However, my favorite skyscraper design is Eliel Saarinen's unexecuted design for the Chicago Tribune Tower, which I far prefer to Howells and Hood's as-built tower. Saarinen combines the massing of an Art-Deco skyscraper with ornament that recalls a late Gothic cathedral, with that tremendous vertical energy surging to the top. Magnificent!

For a time, Ulm Minster was the tallest building in the world. Tall buildings absolutely don't have to be ugly. They can be beautiful landmarks.

this Chicago native has been gone since the 70's, but this city has always been a place of pride for me in no small part because of it's magnificent architecture. the Wrigley building, the Water Tower, the Michigan Avenue bridge and my favorite, Tribune Tower, wher you could actually touch stones from all over the world!

I think the issue involves what is practical, stylish, or popular. I remember when the AT&T was built. Many architects and historians ridiculed Johnson’s design. In some circles, it was maligned for years. Now, it’s safe say it adds to the uniqueness of Madison Avenue other structures like the IBM Tower, the old Art Deco Newsweek building, the Lotte Palace, the rear of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and the rest of post WW II International Style structures.

Two things to consider: 1. Cities have little wild nature, the sky is usually the biggest natural space. The sky is often beautiful, with al kinds of clouds and many colors during the sunset. How do we treat the sky? Old buildings celebrate the sky and invite you to look up. Modern buildings usually just draw a horizontal line, like a prison wall, communicating hopelessness and boredom. But it gets worse. The sky is often used like a garbage dump, some leftover space where modern buildings put put all kinds of boxes, vents, pipes. Not only are you not invited to look up, you are actively discouraged to do so. 2. Invisible details are not useless, they give a feeling of abundance. Often when you pass by an old, ornate building, it gives you a good feeling instantly, but at the same time it makes you feel that there are more presents waiting for you, if one day you would take more time to study it. Walking through a beautiful old city can feel like you are handed presents everywhere, more than you can open. Not being able to see many of them reinforces this feeling of never ending riches, and because they are designed by humans, it also feels like an abundance of love given to you by previous generations. Functionalism gives exactly the opposite effect, everything feels poor and loveless. It even suggests a shortage of time. Because playful, silly details give the feeling that there is time to play and that the time you take to watch and enjoy this is valuable, not wasted.

That's so sad for the bottoms, I hope they all can find new tops

I loved the details of the Jewelers Building that you shared. It’s really interesting to discover the details and history of the skyscrapers that I’ve seen for my entire life (which is a very loooong time). The view of Chicago’s skyline from over the Marina is breathtaking. The conception of the Marina Towers with spires was terrifying! Can you imagine walking across those little bridges?!? Another wonderful video, Stewart.🌸

2:47 The flying buttresses are very cool. What gets me about them is no one can see them, they're obviously decorative and completely non functional at that altitude but they're made to look authentic as a structural feature. The smaller ones further down 'could' be functional but they're obviously far too small do a thing and are therefore deliberately decorative. The clever interplay of reversing the positions of decorative looking functional and the functional being only decorative isn't lost on me. It's great stuff.

Chicago's one of those cities where you'll walk into what looks like a roman cathedral and find out it's literally just a Walmart. The city's a pretty fun place if you like architecture.

just finished the video, and i really loved the section on setbacks. in addition to the wind and sunlight advantages you mention, stepped designs also allow for creative uses of outdoor space. i used to live in a downtown apartment building with retail and offices on the lower floors that acted as a pedestal. the residential portion was set back on top of it and surrounded by a private courtyard with gardens and fountains. the lower pedestal blocked most traffic noise from reaching the courtyard, which created a quiet, bright, and airy space outdoor space for residents in the middle of the city

Something that occured to me that I don't think you mentioned is how tall buildings interact with each other. The occupants of a skyscraper have a "ground level" view of the skyscraper across the street, especially in densely vertical cities like NY and Chicago. Detailing in those façades now becomes visible, but not to the general public.

I do like some modern skyscrapers that have quite pretty crowns, if it’s because of how they play with light. My favorites are the Bank of America Center in Charlotte (designed by Cesar Pelli) because of how the illuminated glass poles enhance the setbacks and make the tower look ethereal; the never-built Bank of the Southwest in Houston (designed by Helmut Jahn) because of how the roof is helped by the visually interesting corner setbacks; and the Ping An Finance Center in Shenzhen (designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox) for the same reason as the previous one, but with a crown more suggestive of a brilliant cut gem.

I remember the first time I saw the Jeweler's Building as a kid 20 years ago while on a boat tour on the Chicago River, I was six years old, yet I instantly recognized it as the inspiration of one of the buildings in SimCity 2000. On a related note to the car elevator in the Jewelers Building, the Art Deco-style Carew Tower in Cincinnati once had an automated car parking garage that would lift cars on an elevator up to parking spots, which opened alongside the rest of the building in 1930. A control panel at the bottom of the garage allowed people to store and retrieve cars, much like a giant mechanical filing cabinet, though people often did not understand how to use it, which led to it becoming operated by attendants. Sadly, that portion of the Carew Tower complex was demolished in the 1980s after becoming obsolete and useless, a victim of a changed culture around cars where parking and retrieving your car manually from a garage or surface lot was seen as more desirable, as well as the increased size of automobiles, which the limited size and capacity of the machinery designed for smaller 1920s and 1930s cars could not accommodate.

It's so great to hear that you think of it as the Adventures in Babysitting building too! I was so excited when I visited Chicago years ago and saw it. As a kid I had no idea that it was a real building and thought it had been made up for the film.

'Boring' is a very kind word, most skyscraper built since mid 2010s have forgettable silhouette, while ugly is subjective, chance are you won't be able to tell which is which and forget its name in days, there is indeed some reviving movement to being back the details of the building. Aesthetics do in fact serve a function, it is the cultural identity of the city it situates, it inspire audience, think of it as a hierarchy of needs in terms of actualization, the art deco movement in 1920s symbolized the progression era, even the cross bracing facades of John Hancock building in the 60s 70s represented the re-emphasis of forms follow function while not omitting the details. While there is indeed a need for skyscrapers as functions, and of course social need should be taken care of before decorations, but that do no justify putting another glass box in the middle of historic skyline and tearing the old one down, you would not worship a stainless stain ladle over a pearl necklace, would you? Saying we are progressing and therefore must forgone the aesthetics is a pathetic dystopian excuse for lazy and banal designs. it is not an issue of against new, but against poor design and bad decision.

I'm fine with the stylized tops of post modern skyscrapers they are just too far up to be noticed and modern buildings have important requirements for energy efficiency and wind loads. However, I wish there was more attempt to improve the pedestrian experience at the ground level. Sometimes i wish they would just make bolt on exteriors on the first 10floors of buildings that artists could design and remodel over time.