2024-05-05T04:25:34-04:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/27830290/the-history-of-the-skyscraper Alexander Walter 2011-11-17T20:52:48-05:00 >2018-01-30T06:16:04-05:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/jc/jcrl2kl0rmzzq38m.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>Consider for just a moment the modern skyscraper. [...] The Chrysler Building in New York. The World Financial Center in Shanghai. The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world. They transform skylines and help define what it means to be a modern metropolis. But once upon a time, they were just places for people to work. Kate Ascher traces that history in her new book, "The Heights: Anatomy of A Skyscraper."</p></em><br /><br /><p> Directly related, this quote from the article's commentator KylgoreTrout: "The Burj in Dubai is a magnificent achievement: Except for the trucks waiting to dispose of the sewage hauled from it every day, in lines that take 24 hours of waiting. The visible structures are splendiferous; the non-existent infrastructure, not so much. - <a href="http://boingboing.net/2011/11/08/what-happens-when-you-flush-a-toilet-in-the-worlds-tallest-building.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">What happens when you flush a toilet in the world's tallest building</a> (source: Boing Boing)"</p>