The World's Tallest Buildings - America's latest Outsourcing -by Lynn Becker
What's behind the United States falling behind in the race for height, and could it have anything to do with the sapping of our precious bodily fluids? Edifice Envy OMA Cooks up a Stack of Mies in Louisville As American's weath flows to China, India and the Middle East via enormous trade deficits that leave ever increasing amounts of U.S. investment and debt in foreign hands, can the ebbing of American power and prestige be far behind? For better or worse, in this monetarized, post industrial age, the skyscraper has replaced the factory as the more Bloomboerg Tower, New York Citypotent symbol of national clout, and in the race to top, the United States is beginning to be left in the dust. The Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, in connection with the Emporis website, has just released its survey of the ten tallest buildings brought on-line in 2005, and exactly one of them, Cesar Pelli and Associates' Bloomberg Tower in Manhattan, is in the United States. No less than five were in China, two in Australia, one in Moscow and one in Dubai, incongruously named Chelsea Tower. Judging from the photos that accompany the announcement, the most adventurous part of most of these buildings is not their appearance, but their engineering. .... Cut to today, where another skyscraper becomes a St. Mary's Axe, Londonmetaphor for the darker side of desire. London's sensational new priapic tower, 30 St. Mary Axe, appears to take a starring role as erotic symbol in the mise-en-scene of Sharon Stone's upcoming sex and death potboiler Basic Instinct 2. It's the centerpiece of the very first shot of the trailer, and Stone's character Catherine Trammel actually appears to live inside its skin (her novels must really sell), making it the stage set for numerous reckless expressions of her fevered libido. Is that a gherkin I see in your pocket, Lord Foster? . . . cont'd... http://lynnbecker.com/repeat/ctbuh/ctbuh.htm _______________________________________________ in-enaction mailing list http://mail.architexturez.net/mailman/listinfo/in-enaction + Architexturez collaborative at http://portal.architexturez.org/
