03234nam a2200361 i 4500 31968 BD-DhAAL 20211115123449.0 170808s2015 mnua s001 0 eng 38236 38236 2014024833 9780816673186 (hardback) 9780816673193 (pb) DLC eng DLC rda DLC BD-DhAAL NA2543.S6 M67 2015 720.108 23 ARC005000 DES008000 ARC004000 bisacsh Morshed, Adnan. 21919 Impossible heights : skyscrapers, flight and the master builder / Adnan Morshed. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 2015 xi, 291 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 27 cm. Includes index. Introduction : The Aesthetics of Ascension -- Hugh Ferriss and the "Harmonious Development of Man" -- Ascension as Autobiography : Buckminster Fuller and His "Land to Sky, Outward Progression" -- The Master Builder as Superman : Norman Bel Geddes's Futurama -- Epilogue : The God's-Eye Vision. " The advent of the airplane and skyscraper in 1920s and '30s America offered the population an entirely new way to look at the world: from above. The captivating image of an airplane flying over the rising metropolis led many Americans to believe a new civilization had dawned. In Impossible Heights, Adnan Morshed examines the aesthetics that emerged from this valorization of heights and their impact on the built environment. The lofty vantage point from the sky ushered in a modernist impulse to cleanse crowded twentieth-century cities in anticipation of an ideal world of tomorrow. Inspired by great new heights, American architects became central to this endeavor and were regarded as heroic aviators. Combining close readings of a broad range of archival sources, Morshed offers new interpretations of works such as Hugh Ferriss's Metropolis drawings, Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion houses, and Norman Bel Geddes's Futurama exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Transformed by the populist imagination into "master builders," these designers helped produce a new form of visuality: the aesthetics of ascension. By demonstrating how aerial movement and height intersect with popular "superman" discourses of the time, Morshed reveals the relationship between architecture, art, science, and interwar pop culture. Featuring a marvelous array of never before published illustrations, this richly textured study of utopian imaginings illustrates America's propulsion into a new cultural consciousness. "-- ARC 31968 Architecture and society United States History 20th century. 21920 Technological innovations Social aspects United States History 20th century. 21921 Architecture, Modern 20th century Philosophy. 21922 Aeronautics and civilization. 21923 Architecture 42653 ddc BK 0 0 ddc 0 720_108000000000000_MOR 0 60965 BRACUL BRACUL GEN 2017-07-31 Development Book Agency 4444.00 2 30 720.108 MOR 3010031968 2021-12-23 2021-12-15 1 4444.00 2017-07-31 BK