Description

“PERFORMATIVE SKYSCRAPER: TALL BUILDING DESIGN NOW examines current trends in high-rise design and the technologies that are shaping the new forms. Scott Johnson, a well-known architect of tall buildings, describes how the combination of highly sophisticated modeling software and demands for ever increasing environmental sustainability have led to an overwhelming emphasis on high-performance. Johnson takes the reader through examples of high-performance window-walls, state-of-the-art parametric modeling for super-tall structures, and the current state of vertical mixed-use towers.”

Technologies and practices that allow the construction of seemingly limitless forms are turning our cities into futuristic landscapes. But the forms are far from an architect’s whim. PERFORMATIVE SKYSCRAPER examines the creation of these new forms and explains how buildings can now respond intelligently to climate, optimize the use of structural materials and more sensitively reflect their cultural sources. Scott Johnson, a prolific architect well-known for tall buildings, describes how the combination of highly sophisticated software and demands for ever increasing environmental sustainability have led to an overwhelming emphasis on high-performance. Appealing to our cultural attraction to science and enabled by our ability to measure all things, designers, clients and their teams come together as never before to create performative skyscrapers. Johnson takes the reader through examples of high-performance window walls, state-of-the-art parametric modeling for super-tall structures, and the current state of vertical mixed-use towers. The final chapter looks at conditions in seven diverse world capitals to explore the urban context as a factor in how well these marvels of architecture and engineering perform. PERFORMATIVE SKYSCRAPER captures the breadth and immediacy of tall building design now.