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Form Follows Finance
Skyscrapers and Skylines in New York and Chicago
Carol Willis
ISBN 9781568980447
Publication date 11/1/1995
5.75 x 9 inches (14.6 x 22.9 cm), Paperback
224 pages, 170 b/w illustrations
Rights: World;
Carton qty: 26;
(312.0)
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$29.95
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Although fundamental factors of program, technology, and economics make tall buildings everywhere take similar forms, skyscrapers in New York and Chicago developed very differently in the first half of the twentieth century. In contrast to standard histories that counterpose the design philosophies of the Chicago and New York "schools," Willis shows how market formulas produced characteristic forms in each city--"vernaculars of capitalism"--that resulted from local land-use patterns, municipal codes, and zoning. Refuting some common cliches of skyscraper history such as the equation of big buildings with big business and the idea of a "corporate skyline," Willis emphasizes the importance of speculative development and the impact of real-estate cycles on the forms of buildings and on their spatial distribution.
Form Follows Finance cautions that the city must be understood as a complex commercial environment where buildings are themselves businesses, space is a commodity, and location and image have value.
Carol Willis is founding director of the Skyscraper Museum in New York City.
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Editorial Reviews
San Francisco Chronicle:
"What shapes towers? Not architects: the real answer is economics and zoning. A surprisingly quick read that sketches out why America's two largest downtowns look so different -- with plenty of soaring illustrations to amplify the prose."
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