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Anatomy of a Skyscraper
Penguin
November 2011
On Sale: November 10, 2011
208 pages
ISBN: 1594203032
EAN: 9781594203039
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
From the author of The Works: Anatomy of a City
comes a gorgeous graphic tour through the inner workings of
skyscrapers. The skyscraper is perhaps the most recognizable icon of the
modern urban landscape. Providing offices, homes,
restaurants, and shopping to thousands of inhabitants,
modern skyscrapers function as small cities- with
infrastructure not unlike that hidden beneath our streets.
Clean water is provided to floors thousands of feet in the
sky; elevators move people swiftly and safely throughout the
building; and telecom networks allow virtual meetings with
people on other continents. How are these
services-considered essential, but largely taken for
granted- possible in such a complex structure? What does it
really take to sustain human life at such enormous heights?
Exploring the interconnected systems that make life
livable in the sky is the task of Kate Ascher's stunningly
illustrated The Heights: Anatomy of a Skyscraper.
Ascher examines skyscrapers from around the world to learn
how these incredible structures operate. Just how do
skyscrapers sway in the wind, and why exactly is that a good
idea? How can a modern elevator be as fast as an airplane?
Why are skyscrapers in Asia safer than those in the United
States? Have new safeguards been designed to protect
skyscrapers from terrorism? What happens when the power goes out in a building so tall?
Why are all modern skyscrapers seemingly made of glass, and
how can that be safe? How do skyscrapers age, and how can
they be maintained over decades of habitation? No detail is
too small, no difficulty too big to escape Ascher's
encyclopedic eye. Along the way, The Heights introduces the reader to
every type of person involved in designing, building, and
maintaining a skyscraper: the designers who calculate how
weight and weather will affect their structures, the workers
who dig the foundations and raise the lightning rods, the
crews who clean the windows and maintain the air ducts, and
the firefighters-whose special equipment allows blazes to be
fought at unprecedented heights. More than a technical survey, Ascher's work is a triumphant
ode to the most monumental aspect of modern civilization.
Saturated with vivid illustrations and unforgettable
anecdotes, The Heights is the ultimate guide to the
way things work in the skyscraper.
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