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Big buildings: General resources

Recommended resources on “big building” types, past and present, providing location info for print resources and links for digital resources.

Recommended books

Recommended for all architectural research

Specialized resources on related topics

"Beyond a certain scale," Daidalos, 1996, #61 (Theme issue)

Clarke, Michael Tavel, These Days of Large Things: The Culture of Size in America, 1865-1930,2007 (via Ebook Central)

Koolhaas, Rem, "Bigness, or the Problem of Large," in S, M, L, XL, (Office-NA1153.K64 S63 1995)

Orr, Frank, Scale in architecture, Van Nostrand Reinhold, NA2760.O76 1985

Robinson, John V., “The ‘Topping out’ Traditions of the High-Steel Ironworkers,” Western Folklore, Autumn 2001 (via JStor)

Salisbury, Joanna Merwood, “This is Not a Skyscraper,” AA Files, 2017, #75, p. 132-149 (via JStor)

Shapshay, Sandra, “Schopenhauer’s Aesthetics; The Sublime," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Speaks, Michael, "Not the last word: monster of the New Bigness," Any, 1994, #9, p.60-62

Stewart, Susan, "The Gigantic," in On Longing: narratives of the miniature, the gigantic, the souvenir, the collection, Duke University Press, P302.7.S68 1993

Van Leeuwen, Thomas A. P., The Skyward Trend of Thought: the Metaphysics of the American Skyscrapers, MIT Press, NA9053.S4L44 1988

Christensen, Julia, Big Box Reuse, MIT Press, 2014 (via Ebook Central)

Geers, Kersten, “Architecture without content” Harvard design magazine, Fall/Winter 2016, p.108-110

Mitchell, Stacy, Big-box swindle: the true cost of mega-retailers and the fight for America's independent businesses, Beacon Press, 2006 (via Ebook Central)

Sprawl Busters (Anti-megastore activists)

Blue Book Curtain walls vendor links (Useful searchable database)

Gonchar, Joann, “More than skin deep,” Architectural record, July 2010, p.102-111 (Kappe Library Bound Volumes)

Murray, Scott, Contemporary curtain wall architecture, Princeton Architectural Press, NA2940 .M88 2009

Sweets Curtain walls and glazed assemblies vendor links

Wigginton, Michael, Intelligent Skins, Architectural Press, Office-TH6021 .W53 2002

Yu, Mayine, Skins, envelopes, and enclosures : concepts for designing building exteriors, Routledge, NA2940 .Y8 2014

Banham, Reyner, The Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment, The University of Chicago Press, TH7011.B27

Cohen, Edie Lee, “LA story: at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown, AC Martin celebrates the city,” Interior design,” November 2017, p.215-223 (Kappe Library Bound Volumes)

Gueft, Olga, “Windows on the World,” Interiors, February 1977, p.80-[95] (On the WTC restaurant) (Kappe Library Bound Volumes)

Schittich, Christian (editor), Designing circulation areas: stairs, ramps, lifts: routing, planning principles, Edition Detail, 2013 (via Ebook Central)

Strakosch, George R. & Robert S. Caporale, Vertical transportation handbook, Wiley, 2010 (via Ebook Central)

Gabrielsen, William C., “People Movers,” Architectural Record, August 1968, p.132-133 (Kappe Library Bound Volumes)

Sweet’s Conveying Systems vendor links 

Gonchar, Joann, “Stadium roofs offer more than shelter,” Architectural record, June 2006, p. 257-260, 262

Gonchar, Joann, “Testing timber’s limits,” Architectural record, April 2010, p.92-96

Hart, Sara, “Buckminster Fuller's dreams of spanning great distances are being realized,” Architectural Record, May 2002, p.267-272,274,276

Jones, Will, “The sky's the limit: roofing,” RIBA Journal, September 2003, p.66-68

“King’s Cross redevelopment,” A+U: architecture & urbanism, August 2012, p.44-49

“Large-span roof structures,” Detail, July-August 2001 (Theme issue)

“Large structures,” Detail, 2008, #7-8 (Theme issue)

Corbett, David Peters, “Ashcan Perspectives,” American Art, Spring 2011, p.13-15 (PDF via Jstor)

Corn, Wanda M., “Painting Big – O’Keefe’s Manhattan,” American Art, Summer 2006, p.22-25

Sebbag, George, “The Antonelli Tower, or, how to become what you are,” l’Architecture d’aujourd’hui, September/October 2000, #333, p.78-83

Bonwit, Marianne, “Babel in Modern Fiction,” Comparative Literature, Summer 1950, p.236-247 (via JStor)

Harland, P. J., “Vertical or Horizontal: The Sin of Babel,” Vetus Testamentum, October 1998, p.515-533 (via JStor)

Hirshler, Erica E., “American Artists View an Icon of the Modern Age,” American Art Journal, Winter 1989, (via JStor)

Pastier, John, "The Skyscraper in Literature and Art," Design Quarterly, 1988, #140, p.3-47

The Tower of Babel, Genesis, 11:1-9

Denison, Edward & Nick Beech, How to read skyscrapers : a crash course in high-rise architecture, Rizzoli, NA6230 .D46 2019

Elliott, Kim S. & Colin K. Jolly, Multi-storey precast concrete framed structures, John Wiley & Sons, 2013 (via Proquest Ebook Central)

Johnson, Scott, Performative skyscrapers : tall building design now, Balcony Press, NA6230 .J64 2014

Kaufmann, Hermann, Manual of multi-storey timber construction : principles - structures - examples, Detail Business Information, TH1101 .K38 2022

Taranath, Bungale S., Tall building design : steel, concrete, and composite systems, CRC Press, TH1611 .T373 2015

Skyscraper chronology

Bletter, Rosemarie Haag, "The Invention of the Skyscraper: Notes on Its Diverse Histories," Assemblage, February 1987, p.110-117 (via JStor)

Lemire, Elise & Benjamin Sitton Flowers, Skyscraper: The Politics and Power of Building New York City in the Twentieth Century, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009 (via Ebook Central)

Landau Sarah Bradford & Carl W. Condit, The Rise of the New York Skyscraper 1865-1913, Yale University Press, NA6232.L361 1996

Shepherd, Roger (editor), Skyscraper: the search for an American style 1891-1941, McGraw-Hill, NA6232 .S52 2003

Solomonson, Katherine, The Chicago Tribune Tower competition: skyscraper design and cultural change in the 1920s, Cambridge University Press, NA6233 .C4 C466 2001

Sullivan, Louis H., "The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered," (1896) in Kindergarten Chats and Other Writings, NA2560.S82 (PDF via MIT Open Courseware)

Tigerman, Stanley, Chicago Tribune tower competition, Rizzoli, NA2340.C47 1981 (Oversize shelf)

Wigoder, Meir, “The "solar eye" of vision: emergence of the skyscraper-viewer 1890-1920,” JSAH, June 2002, p.152-169 (via JStor)

Arnaud, Leopold, “The tall building in New York in the twentieth century,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, May 1952, p.15-18 (via JStor)

Carson, J. Carson, “The skyscraper: logical and historical considerations,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, December 1959, p.126-139 (via JStor)

“Miniature skyscraper of blue glass and metal challenges postwar craze for over-building,” Architectural Forum, June 1950

“Tall office buildings: the process of development,” Architectural Record, April 1969, p.181-196 (Building types study)

Thomsen, Charles, "How high to rise," Architecture, April 1965, p.66-68

“Yama designs 110-storey World Trade Center,” Architectural Record, February 1964, p.14-15

Agrest, Diana, "Architectural Anagrams: the Symbolic Performance of Skyscrapers," Oppositions, Winter 1977, p.[26]-51

“High-rise office buildings: the public spaces they make,” Architectural Record, March 1974, p.127-142 (Building types study)

Khan, Fazlur, “The future of high rise structures,” Progressive Architecture, October 1972, p.[78]-85

“Optimizing structural design in very tall buildings,” Architectural Record, August 1970, p.133-136

“Tall Buildings,” Architecture, January 1973 (Theme issue)

Stephens, Suzanne, “W.T.C. 2023,” Architectural Forum, April 1973, p.[56]-61

Cohen, Stuart, "The Skyscraper as Symbolic Form," Design Quarterly, 1982, #118/119, p.[12]-17

"Grattacielo: casa dello specchio," Casabella, April/May 1980 (Theme issue)

Irace, Fulvio, "Emerging Skyline," Domus, February 1986, p.20-25

Morawetz, John, "The Rise and Fall of the High-Rise," Architectural Record, June 1983, p.39, 41

"High-Rise office buildings of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill," Architectural Record, March 1981 (Building types study)

Pelli, Cesar, "Skyscrapers," Perspecta, 1982, #18, p.134-151 (via JStor)

Rush, Richard & Nory Miller, "Tall Buildings: Form and Circumstance," Progressive Architecture, December 1980, p.45-57

"Skyscraper View," Design Quarterly, 1988, #140 (Theme issue)

"Tall Office Buildings: Design Directions," Progressive Architecture, December 1980 (Theme issue)

"The Third Wave in Skyscrapers," Space Design, September 1987 (Theme issue)

Betsky, Aaron, "Lost Horizons: the Birth and Death of the Skyscraper," Architectural Design, July/August 1995, p.8-15

Bluestone, Daniel M., "Skyscrapers Inside Out" Design Book Review, Winter 1992, # 23, p.42-46 (Reviews 5 books)

Douglas, George A., Skyscrapers: a Social History of the very tall building in America, McFarland & Co., NA6232.D68 1996

"High Rise Office Buildings," Architectural Record, October 1990 (Theme issue)

Huxtable, Ada Louise, Tall Building Artistically Reconsidered, Pantheon Books, NA6230.H89 1992

Irace, Fulvio, "Geopolitics of the Skyscraper," Lotus International, 1999, #101, p.6-40

Martin, Dan & Kevin McMeen, "Is There Gold at the Top of that Building?" Urban Land, October 1991, p.19-23 (On observatories and restaurants)

Monfried, Andrea, "High Profiles" (Decorative building crowns), Progressive Architecture, February 1990, p.49-54

Pedersen, William, "Strategies for the Design of Tall Buildings," Arca, November 1996, p.[2]-13

"Reaching for the Skies," Architectural Design, July/August 1995 (Theme issue)

Sabbagh, Karl, Skyscraper, NA6233.N5 W678 1991

Scuri, Piera, Late-Twentieth-Century Skyscrapers, Van Nostrand Reinhold, NA6232.S27 1990

​Sullivan, Ann C., "Asia's Tallest Towers," Architecture, September 1996, p.159-165

Yeang, Ken, The Green Skyscraper: the basis for designing sustainable intensive buildings, Prestel, NA6230 .Y43 1999

Betsky, Aaron, “Babylon revisited: the latest skyscraper designs,” Architecture, December 2002, p.[42-51]

“Bigness,” Architectural Review, August 2002 (Theme issue)

“Building Tall Reconsidered,” Architecture, December 2002

“The City in the Clouds,” Domus, September 2001 (Theme issue)

Faschan, William J., “Rising high,” Urban Land, November-December 2000, p.62-[67], 133

Howeler, Eric, Skyscraper, Universe Publishing, NA6230.H68 2003

Lubell, Sam, “Rebuilding lower Manhattan,” Architectural Record, June 2006, p.42, 44

Nash, Eric P., Manhattan Skyscrapers, Princeton Architectural Press, NA6232 .N37 2005

Schulze, Franz, “Towers for Tomorrow,” Art in America, May 2001, p.161-167

Snoonian, Deborah, “World Trade Center's robust towers succumb to terrorism,” Architectural Record, October 2001, p.22-28

Sorkin, Michael & Sharon Zukin (editors), After the World Trade Center: rethinking New York City, Routledge, 2002 (Ebook Central)

Sudjic, Deyan, “City of Towers,” Domus, October 2002, p.68-73

Sullivan, C. C., “Techno Towers,” Architecture, December 2002, p.52-59

“The tower and the city,” Domus, September 2001 (Successive articles on towers)

Al-Kodmany, “Skyscrapers and placemaking,” IJAR: International journal of architectural research, 2012, v.6, issue 2 (PDF via Archnet.org)

Gonchar, Joann, “More than skin deep,” Architectural record, July 2010, p.102-111

Gregory, Rob, “The gray lady: office tower, New York, USA,” Architectural review, April 2008, p.[42]-[51]

Hinshaw, Mark, “Gold rush: residential developers are finding riches in the sky,” Planning, February 2007, p.20-22

“Prime Tower Office High-rise with Annex Buildings Cubus and Diagonal, Maag-Areal: Zurich, Switzerland, 2011," A + U: architecture & urbanism, August 2014, p.14-33

Sheridan, Mike, “Tokyo skies: two towers are giving central Tokyo a sense of place,” Urban land, November/December 2002, p.70-73

“The short & the tall of it,” Architectural record, May 2012 (Building types study)

Please note

  • These guides are intended to provide initial orientation, and suggest a variety of different lines of investigation—not take the place of individual research.
  • All the resources cited here--print and digital--are available through the Kappe Library at SCI-Arc.Items not available at SCI-Arc are not included.
  • Surveys covering multiple projects are preferred over monographic studies focusing on specific works or individuals.
  • Resources on Los Angeles and Southern California are stressed.
  • Proprietary digital resources (Avery Index, Oxford Art Online, ArtStor, etc) can be accessed on-campus at SCI-ARC via any SCI-Arc internet provider. Off-campus they can be accessed 24/7 via the Kappe Library proxy server, and a valid SCI-Arc Network username and password.

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