Skyscraper delight.

EXPRESSING STRUCTURE--THE TECHNOLOGY OF LARGE-SCALE BUILDINGS

By Virginia Fairweather. Basel: Birkhauser. 2004. [euro]65

This book, although it doesn't say so, is actually a monograph on the work of the American engineers Thornton-Thomasetti, formerly of the famous American firm Lev Zetlin & Associates.

The introduction discusses 'Expressed Structure and Building Technology in Design'. Among major works mentioned are two in Hong Kong--the Bank of China and Hongkong and Shanghai Bank (neither covered in detail in the book since they were not engineered by Thornton-Thomasetti) and the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. This section refers back to Louis Sullivan who said, 'form ever followed function and this is the law [...] the shape, form, outward expression, design or whatever we may choose, of the tall office building should in the very nature of things follow the function of the building'. The introduction goes on to stress collaboration between engineers and architects to achieve the most efficient elegant and 'correct' form. It is good to read that this philosophy is now prevalent in the USA where until recently, with certain exceptions, structure has been driven largely by cost and speed of construction

The next section is the introduction to 'Skyscrapers' with eight case studies, one in Shanghai, one in Kuala Lumpur, and the remainder in the USA. These case studies are fascinating with a mass of detail including diagrams, working details and construction photographs. They include a comprehensive text and provide invaluable insight into the business of designing tall buildings.

'Large Interior Spaces' follows and again concentrates on structures, some I have to say more interesting than others, but again with structural diagrams and construction photographs.

'Long-Span Structures' is the title of the third section of the book. Long span yes, mainly in steel, but an absence of lightness of touch in the European sense. One does not see the genius of a Peter Rice/Arups, a Marc Mimram, a Jorg Schlaich or other well-known European engineers.

I started off inclined to dislike this book as its initial section is somewhat of a PR exercise. However, the book is worthwhile for the section on skyscrapers alone (particularly the section on the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur which includes details of the Skybridge).

Thornton-Thomasetti obviously have a large and deserved reputation which was unknown at least to me. For any designer interested in the technology of tall buildings this book is a very useful addition to our knowledge and will, I think, enhance their reputation in Europe for their engineering skills and collaborative attitude to designing with architects and others.