The Urban Towers Handbook

The Urban Towers Handbook Eric Firley and Julie Gimbal with Philippe Honnorat For well over a century, the modern skyscraper has provided an ingenious solution to high-density living and working — accommodating the greatest number of people in a building with a minimal footprint. In the contemporary context of drastic urban growth, its role can only gain in importance. The question is how to avoid past mistakes and how to conceive the tower as a positive component of an existing or newly created urban fabric. In a thoroughly analytical and comparative way The Urban Towers Handbook provides answers to these questions and serves as a reference book and design tool for architects, planners and developers alike. Its comprehensive graphic documentation includes not only aerials and to-scale plans and sections, but also purpose-made photography, drawings and diagrams. The core of the book is made up of over fifty case studies which have been classified according to three major typological groups and their respective sub-groups: solitaires, clusters and vertical cities. Twenty-one of these examples feature detailed documentation, including classics such as the Rockefeller Center in Manhattan and Torre Velasca in Milan, as well as contemporary milestones such as Roppongi Hills in Tokyo and the making of Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai. Among others, several districts in Hong Kong, Shanghai and São Paulo have been analysed as existing examples of vertical cities. The case studies section of the book is consolidated by a second section that out-lines high-rise regulations in seven cities around the world, and highlights how planning authorities use tall buildings for the realisation of their urban goals and visions. The third and final section of the book addresses the uneasy relationship between high-rise structures and sustainability, placing the emphasis on the urban implications.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Section A: A visual dictionary of high-rise buildings 1st Group: Solitaires and Twin Towers 1 – Monument Main example: Kingdom Centre, Riyadh Secondary 1: Moscow State University Secondary 2: Burj Khalifa, Dubai 2 – Monument in block Main example: 30 St Mary Axe, London Secondary 1: Torre Agbar, Barcelona Secondary 2: Seagram Building, New York City 3 – Tower as block Main example: Commerzbank Tower, Frankfurt Secondary 1: Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco Seconday 2: Hotel Ukraina, Moscow 4 – Tower in block Main example: Torre Velasca, Milan Secondary 1: Kudamm-Karree, Berlin Secondary 2: Norddeutsche Landesbank, Hanover 5 – Twin towers Main example: Kungstornen, Stockholm Secondary 1: Marina City Towers, Chicago Secondary 2: Puerta de Europa, Madrid 6 – Tower as team player Main example: Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building Secondary 1: Thyssen-Haus, Düsseldorf Secondary 2: United Nations Headquarters, New York City 7 – Tower on infrastructure Main example: The Standard Hotel, New York City Secondary 1: Shard London Bridge, London Secondary 2: Tour Dexia (CBX), La Défense 8 – Tower as module / business as usual Main example: Tour Ar Men, Paris Secondary 1: DUOC Corporate Building, Santiago de Chile Secondary 2: Banco Atlántico, Barcelona 2nd Group: Clusters 1 – Integrated in existing city fabric Main example: Rockefeller Center, New York City Secondary 1: Villeurbanne Town Hall and new centre Secondary 2: Riverside Center, New York City 2 – Towers as urban pattern Main example: Quartier du Palais ('Immeubles Choux'), Créteil Secondary 1: Jianwai SOHO, Beijing Secondary 2: Stuyvesant Town, New York City 3 – Linear cluster Main example: Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai Secondary 1: Playa de Levante extension, Benidorm Secondary 2: Rue de la Loi masterplan, Brussels 4 – High-rise compound Main example: Moma and Pop Moma, Beijing Secondary 1: Marina Baie des Anges, Villeneuve-Loubet Secondary 2: Icon Brickell, Miami 5 – High-rise megastructure Main example: Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, Tokyo Secondary 1: Parque Central, Caracas Secondary 2: Pinnacle@Duxton, Singapore 6 – Towers in nature Main example: Hansaviertel, Berlin Secondary 1: Unité d’Habitation, Marseille Secondary 2: Newton Suites, Singapore 7 – Towers on podium Main example: Front de Seine, Paris Secondary 1: Jumeirah Beach Residences, Dubai Secondary 2: Tour 9, Montreuil 3rd Group: Vertical Cities 1 – US-American downtown: Main example: Downtown Houston 2 – High-rise as norm: Main example: Higienópolis, São Paulo 3 – High-rise as geographical obligation: Main example: Monaco 4 – City of monuments: Main example: Lujiazui, Shanghai 5 – European CBD: Main example: La Défense Secondary: La Défense extension (Tour AIR2) 6 – City of megastructures: Main example: Hong Kong Section B: High-rise building regulations in seven cities worldwide London Frankfurt Vienna Paris New York Hong Kong Singapore Section C: High-rise and sustainability Comparative table Bibliography Index Picture credits

About the Author :
Eric Firley is a French-German architect and urban designer. The author of The Urban Housing Handbook (John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2009), he is Assistant Professor at the University of Miami School of Architecture and heads an international research consultancy. Julie Gimbal is a French art historian with a special interest in high-rise architecture. She holds a doctorate from the University of Rennes on the subject of high-rise architecture in France and is responsible for the second section of the book on high-rise regulations. She also helped to inform the choice of case studies in the first part of the book. Philippe Honnorat, a French Engineer, heads the Paris office of WSP Flack + Kurtz. An expert in Mechanical and Electrical systems, he has worked in the UK and USA, and has extensive international experience in high-rise structures. Honnorat wrote the third section of the book covering sustainability issues.

Review :
"Informative and thought provoking both for practitioners and space syntax researchers". (JSS, December, 2011)