Skyscraper: The Making of a Building
by Karl Sabbagh
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Everyone loves to watch a building taking shape: How high can a skyscraper go? How do engineers know it will actually stand? Who decides what it will look like and what materials should be used?This spellbinding "peek through the fence" lets every sidewalk superintendent watch as a vacant lot is transformed into one of New York City's most impressive new skyscrapers. Skyscraper offers insight into how architects design, engineers apply their technical know-how, and construction workers put show more it all together. And it goes behind the scenes, to reveal the sometimes selfish concerns of developers, community activists, politicians, and others involved. The personalities, the plans, the headaches, and the ultimate exhiliration are all here, in a dramatic story of a magnificent achievement-and the human forces that made it happen. show lessTags
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I have very pleasant memories of watching the PBS miniseries about the building of this building, in about 1990. I recently picked this book up cheap, hoping it would be as compelling, but I'm sad to say that it's not. The photos and drawings are amateurish (MacPaint?!), and the writing is unfocused and not very evocative. Still, there are some interesting transcripts of conversations with the builders and others, and it's a pretty nice building, after all.
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Author Information
22+ Works 1,038 Members
Karl Sabbagh is a British writer, journalist, and television producer. The author of several books, including A Rum Affair, The Riemann Hypothesis, and Power into Art, he lives in England
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- English
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- 4
