Skyscrapers of the Future

Carlo Aiello

Jan 2011 · eVolo Book 2 · eVolo Press

About this ebook

No other architectural genre captures our imagination and reflects our cultural and technological achievements like these towers that pierce the sky. We start off with the history and evolution of building high, from the Egyptian pyramids, Gothic cathedrals, and first American skyscrapers to the contemporary reality in Asia and the Middle East. We present two fascinating interviews, the first one with Carol Willis, the founder and director of the Skyscraper Museum in New York City, who explains the true genetics and economics behind the birth and future of the skyscraper. The second one with Italian artist, Giacomo Costa, who shares his vision about the relationship between the natural environment, human activity, and supernatural reality with provocative images of an apocalyptic urban future. Javier Quintana exposes the time gap between new architectural concepts and their built reality like Arne Hosek’s City of the Future designed in 1928 and materialized in 1998 by Cesar Pelli as the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur or Sergei Lopatin’s 1925 idea for the Veshenka Tower in Moscow, later observed as the Willis Tower (former Sears Tower) in Chicago in 1974. Another group of essays explore the global influence of Manhattan as a contemporary Babylon to be replicated across the world, or the role of the Italian Futurists, Japanese Metabolists, and Archigram, who influenced generations of architects and designers to push forward the concept of vertical living. 

In the Opinion section you will find critiques on some of the latest ideas for skyscraper design by some of the most forward-looking architects like the concept of pixilated tectonics in Le Project Triangle in Paris by Herzog & de Meuron and the Sky Village by MVRDV. On the other hand, Jean Nouvel redefined the Italian loggia towers of the seventeenth century with the Tour Signal in La Defense, Paris; while Morphosis Architects explores new programs for vertical density with The Phare Tower. Lastly, Studio SHIFT masterfully integrates their Miyi Tower in Sichuan, China, with the existing landscape. 

Central to this book are thirty projects from eVolo’s 2009 Skyscraper Competition which look into the future of the skyscraper with the use of new technologies, programs, and aesthetic expression. Sustainability, globalization, flexibility, and adaptability are just some of the multi-layered elements explored by some the entries. You will find examples of cities in the sky, horizontal skyscrapers that link various cities, or emergency architecture for disaster zones.

About the author

Carlo Aiello is Faculty at the School of Architecture at the University of Southern California. Carlo Aiello graduated from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) at Columbia University in New York City. After collaborating with Asymptote Architecture and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill he established eVolo Press in New York City for which he is Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director. 

In 2013 Carlo Aiello founded Los Angeles-based studio Carlo Aiello Design, an atelier that focuses on innovative contemporary industrial design. In the same year, Mr. Aiello received the highest industrial design honors, the GOOD DESIGN Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and the RED DOT Award. In the same year he received the prestigious International Contemporary Furniture Fair Studio Award (ICFF). His designs are part of the permanent collection of The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco.