1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910808108903321

Autore

Morshed Adnan

Titolo

Impossible heights : skyscrapers, flight, and the master builder / / Adnan Morshed

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Minneapolis, Minnesota ; ; London, England : , : University of Minnesota Press, , 2015

©2015

ISBN

1-4529-4295-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (313 p.)

Disciplina

720.1/08

Soggetti

Architecture and society - United States - History - 20th century

Technological innovations - Social aspects - United States - History - 20th century

Architecture, Modern - 20th century - Philosophy

Aeronautics and civilization

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction: The Aesthetics of Ascension; 1. Hugh Ferriss and the "Harmonious Development of Man"; 2. Ascension as Autobiography: Buckminster Fuller and His "Land to Sky, Outward Progression"; 3. The Master Builder as Superman: Norman Bel Geddes's Futurama; Epilogue: The God's-Eye Vision; Notes; Index;

Sommario/riassunto

The advent of the airplane and skyscraper in 1920's and '30's America offered the population an entirely new way to look at the world: from above. The captivating image of an airplane flying over the rising metropolis led many Americans to believe a new civilization had dawned. In Impossible Heights, Adnan Morshed examines the aesthetics that emerged from this valorization of heights and their impact on the built environment.The lofty vantage point from the sky ushered in a modernist impulse to cleanse crowded twentieth-century cities in anticipation of an ideal world of tomorrow.