Adnan Morshed
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816673186
- eISBN:
- 9781452947549
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816673186.003.0002
- Subject:
- Architecture, Architectural History
Chapter 1 studies Hugh Ferriss’s imaginary city views, published collectively in his book The Metropolis of Tomorrow (1929). His drawings narrate both the scope of the future metropolis and the ...
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Chapter 1 studies Hugh Ferriss’s imaginary city views, published collectively in his book The Metropolis of Tomorrow (1929). His drawings narrate both the scope of the future metropolis and the people who would inhabit it. Ferriss’s ideation of the modern man was related to his brief subscription to mystical spiritualism in the 1920s.Less
Chapter 1 studies Hugh Ferriss’s imaginary city views, published collectively in his book The Metropolis of Tomorrow (1929). His drawings narrate both the scope of the future metropolis and the people who would inhabit it. Ferriss’s ideation of the modern man was related to his brief subscription to mystical spiritualism in the 1920s.
Adnan Morshed
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816673186
- eISBN:
- 9781452947549
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816673186.001.0001
- Subject:
- Architecture, Architectural History
Impossible Heights examines a distinct American cultural consciousness that came into focus during the interwar years, with the excitement about airplanes and skyscrapers, as well as their ...
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Impossible Heights examines a distinct American cultural consciousness that came into focus during the interwar years, with the excitement about airplanes and skyscrapers, as well as their anticipated roles in the creation of an ideal “world of tomorrow.” The book explores how this “aesthetics of ascension” contributed to a broader transformation of the architect as a master builder, whose idealistic perspective from above ushered in a modernist impulse to ameliorate the spatial and social problems of an allegedly chaotic world. Recasting the architect as a heroic aviator or an ascending figure, the book suggests that the aesthetics of ascension intersected with popular “superman” discourses of the interwar period. The book focuses on the work of three eminent figures in American design and architecture: Hugh Ferriss’s The Metropolis of Tomorrow, the drawings and writings of Buckminster Fuller, and Norman Bel Geddes’s Futurama exhibit at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Historians have studied the cultural influences of the airplane and skyscraper. Yet, Impossible Heights is the first comprehensive study of the superhero mentality that emerged from the cultural valorization of heights, enabled by airplanes and skyscrapers.Less
Impossible Heights examines a distinct American cultural consciousness that came into focus during the interwar years, with the excitement about airplanes and skyscrapers, as well as their anticipated roles in the creation of an ideal “world of tomorrow.” The book explores how this “aesthetics of ascension” contributed to a broader transformation of the architect as a master builder, whose idealistic perspective from above ushered in a modernist impulse to ameliorate the spatial and social problems of an allegedly chaotic world. Recasting the architect as a heroic aviator or an ascending figure, the book suggests that the aesthetics of ascension intersected with popular “superman” discourses of the interwar period. The book focuses on the work of three eminent figures in American design and architecture: Hugh Ferriss’s The Metropolis of Tomorrow, the drawings and writings of Buckminster Fuller, and Norman Bel Geddes’s Futurama exhibit at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Historians have studied the cultural influences of the airplane and skyscraper. Yet, Impossible Heights is the first comprehensive study of the superhero mentality that emerged from the cultural valorization of heights, enabled by airplanes and skyscrapers.
Adnan Morshed
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816673186
- eISBN:
- 9781452947549
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816673186.003.0003
- Subject:
- Architecture, Architectural History
Focusing on a little-explored period of Richard Buckminster Fuller’s life—from his self-published manifesto 4D Time Lock (1928) to his first book Nine Chains to the Moon (1938)—Chapter 2 examines the ...
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Focusing on a little-explored period of Richard Buckminster Fuller’s life—from his self-published manifesto 4D Time Lock (1928) to his first book Nine Chains to the Moon (1938)—Chapter 2 examines the “ascensional” roots of this visionary entrepreneur’s worldviews.Less
Focusing on a little-explored period of Richard Buckminster Fuller’s life—from his self-published manifesto 4D Time Lock (1928) to his first book Nine Chains to the Moon (1938)—Chapter 2 examines the “ascensional” roots of this visionary entrepreneur’s worldviews.
Adnan Morshed
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816673186
- eISBN:
- 9781452947549
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816673186.003.0004
- Subject:
- Architecture, Architectural History
Chapter 3 examines Norman Bel Geddes’s Futurama—the most visited show at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Bel Geddes sought to make his American utopia visually legible only to aerial spectators. ...
More
Chapter 3 examines Norman Bel Geddes’s Futurama—the most visited show at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Bel Geddes sought to make his American utopia visually legible only to aerial spectators. Consequently, fairgoers hovered over the exhibit by means of a gliding conveyor belt, which simulated flying in an airplane. The contemporaneous advent of the comic-strip hero Superman provides a foil for Futurama’s politics of renewing the American promise, from above.Less
Chapter 3 examines Norman Bel Geddes’s Futurama—the most visited show at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Bel Geddes sought to make his American utopia visually legible only to aerial spectators. Consequently, fairgoers hovered over the exhibit by means of a gliding conveyor belt, which simulated flying in an airplane. The contemporaneous advent of the comic-strip hero Superman provides a foil for Futurama’s politics of renewing the American promise, from above.
Adnan Morshed
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816673186
- eISBN:
- 9781452947549
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816673186.003.0001
- Subject:
- Architecture, Architectural History
The Introduction elaborates on the book’s theme through the lens of three prominent American designers; explains how this study sheds new light on American visual culture during the interwar period; ...
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The Introduction elaborates on the book’s theme through the lens of three prominent American designers; explains how this study sheds new light on American visual culture during the interwar period; and presents a brief summary of each chapter.Less
The Introduction elaborates on the book’s theme through the lens of three prominent American designers; explains how this study sheds new light on American visual culture during the interwar period; and presents a brief summary of each chapter.
Adnan Morshed
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816673186
- eISBN:
- 9781452947549
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816673186.003.0005
- Subject:
- Architecture, Architectural History
The Epilogue offers a broad assessment of the design philosophy of the three key figures discussed in the book, particularly in the context of shifting political sentiments in postwar America.
The Epilogue offers a broad assessment of the design philosophy of the three key figures discussed in the book, particularly in the context of shifting political sentiments in postwar America.
