Highrise: Idea and Reality

Did you know that around half of the world’s extant highrise structures were erected only within the past ten years? Highrise: Idea and Reality offers a comprehensive examination of the highrise phenomenon and its surprisingly recent international ubiquity. A wide range of contemporary highrises are explored in their broadest cultural and civic contexts—contexts which can vary greatly from continent to continent, and from culture to culture—illuminating not only the effects of these imposing buildings upon their immediate landscapes, but also the everyday lives of their inhabitants. Alongside a wealth of photographic documentation, essays by architectural scholars and journalists Karin Gimmi, Andres Janser, Andres Lepik, Clifford A. Pearson, Eric Schuldenfrei, Martino Stierli and Marisa Yiu offer theoretical elaborations on the function of the highrise and its symbolic power as the signature structure of the modern city.