If Buildings Were Bar Charts
stuart April 15th, 2009
We’ve decided to start some categories here at Figures. At the risk of being branded crack-pots, one of those categories needs to be ‘Crazy Notions’. This will be a place where strange whims (seldom indulged in the ‘rhetoric of neutrality’—as Robin Kinross has described it—the realm of information design) may be played out, to see what they might develop into. Good design process should never disregard crazy notions, at least not to begin with! And so, in that spirit of exploration, though it might lead us into dead ends, here is the first crazy notion post.
So, what if buildings were bar charts? What are city skylines showing us? The 20th century (economically rationalist) city is typified by the skyscraper, why? Generally speaking, the modern CBD rises towards the middle: The tallest buildings are to be found where the rental of floor space per metre is at its highest. Presumeably the rent is highest in the city at this position because its the most desireable position in the city from which to conduct business: Because it’s central (and/or it’s located near transport corridors or other influential, maybe geographical features). In this regard then, a skyline can be a bar chart measuring rental costs through altitude: The taller the building, the higher the rent at that point in the city. Of course this should mean that city skylines would be pyramidical in elevation, triangular in profile. Some are, but many aren’t. In the US, due to the more recent development of their cities compared with the old world, one is more likely to see this pattern. It occurs in Europe too, especially where cities were destroyed by bombing during WWII and were rebuilt from the middle of the century. Some German cities, Frankfurt and Köln for example, have a skyscraper skyline. Meanwhile, Rome insists that no buildings exceed the height of St Peter’s. Could one say that the ‘bar chart of buildings’ in Europe measures the degree to which your city was bombed during the war?
Could tall buildings also be a bar chart of the importance placed on economic rationalism in a city? Paris has its tall buildings tucked away in one quarter, La Defense, while it brands itself as a romantic city whose appearance precedes the 2oth century. London does something similar: Most of the skyscrapers exist at Canary Wharf to the south east of the CBD. Though in London, the tall ones do march more closely into the centre of the city. Is this an indication of a more economically rationalist nationalism? Or is it because much of London was also wiped out in WWII? We’d love your thoughts on this half-formed notion. Especially if you’re a town-planner or an architect!
Pics are borrowed from: Frankfurt; New York; Paris; Rome; Perth
Tags: architecture, bar charts, buildings, CBD, economic rationalism, information design, skyline
April 16th, 2009 at 4:05 am
What kind of city spaces does economic rationalism create for us to inhabit?
Richard Sennett in “The conscience of the eye: The design and social life of cities”, says that our contemporary cities, “in the urban realm are bland, neutralising spaces, spaces which remove the threat of social contact: street walls faced in sheets of plate glass, highways that cut off poor neighbourhoods from the rest of the city, dormitory housing developments”? Following on from Sennett, there does not seem to be much hope for the contemporary city as providing a context for communicative action, a context for dialogue.
Considering the increasing surveillance of the public space and the private space, this impacts upon how we use the city and arguably discourages social interaction (therefore spending more time online or watching television). How then can we construct community and discourse around our public spaces to enhance community dialogue?
April 16th, 2009 at 6:21 am
I think this would be very useful if it where to be combined with Hans Rosling’s visualization tool; gapminder.org You could compare the architecture of the skyline to cultural and historical events, rising and falling and compared to other cities. The strength lies in how much space can be visualized in the abstract bar graph. The Y value cannot be labeled prosperity, economic growth only height (which doesn’t have that much value) but does it need to? Through interpretation it can represent many things. This is a keeper.
May 15th, 2009 at 2:53 am
[…] this blog, we’ve discussed the idea of the ‘rhetoric of neutrality’ before. Now it’s time to look at one of things that rhetoric was not really designed for: […]
June 24th, 2009 at 4:35 am
Interesting and possibly valid though the collapse of the Bond empire in 1991 saw the top three floors of the Bank West tower vacant for a decade, the 50th floor is still currently vacant and no doubt other floors too. There are also issues concerning power and “who can build the tallest building”.