Friends of the American Supertall
The Middle East and Asia are getting all the attention these days. Supertall tower this, sustainable city that. This makes me feel bad for the U.S. — they’re used to getting all the attention! It must be hard to be deprived of the architectural spotlight. Afterall, we are designing half of these towers abroad anyway.
[Image: A few of the world’s future tallest tower’s currently under development. Courtesy of NY Times.]
This leaves me wondering, would the American ego be appeased if we just start planning more of our own supertalls? Maybe then we would still be supercool as our friends, the French, would say.
To further highlight the ineffectiveness of American development to build higher, the NY Times spotlights how we have become a bench-warmer in the game of mega building. In order to do so, they demonstrate that the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat is adding salt to the wound by releasing a list of the 20 tallest buildings in 2020. Our crowning achievements - the Empire State Building and the Sears Tower - which once allowed us to stand tall, literally, will no longer be in the top 20. Even our newest efforts - the Chicago Spire and Freedom Tower - only make the list at 6th and 11th.
A little underachieving, don’t you think?
Perhaps we need a grassroots movement to save us from this mediocrity and a page 2 listing in the record books. Therefore, I propose starting a group called ‘Friends of the American Supertall.’ If New York tells us anything, this should ensure success based on the obstacles overcome by the ‘Friends of the High Line.’
The organization could become a national agency, and start by choosing 10 American cities to overtake the top 10 spots of the 2020 list. They could start the easy way, and select the top 10 ranked by total population. Realizing, however, that cities may begin to encourage population growth in hopes of cracking the top 10, population rank will be determined by the following process…
First, an estimate will be extrapolated from the population change between the years 2000 and 2005. This will give us a recent 5 year window with which to predict the population trajectories of the top 20 cities. Second, this number will be averaged with the actual population numbers in 2010 of the top 20 cities. The top 10 cities based on the averaged number will then be considered finalists. In addition to creating a fair and balanced means of ranking American cities, this will give us time to predict the heights of the tallest buildings in 2020 in order to surpass them.
Of course, we can’t make all cities equal.
There will need to be another process to determine the ranking of the 10 finalists. This will be done through a bidding process, similar to the pursuit of hosting the Olympics, where each city will have to develop a comprehensive proposal. The proposal will include the following…
- comprehensive urban study to determine the building’s location and develop a masterplan
- an architectural package that will illustrate the exterior and core design concept
- structural studies illustrating the feasability of the proposed tower
- LEED pre-certification
- a committed, anchor tenant
- cost-benefit analysis and schedule of all construction phases
- line item budget estimate
- final bid offering for number 1 ranking
To evaluate each package, a jury will be created consisting of architects, planners, economists, and members of ‘Friends of the American Supertall.’ This group will then select a city to receive the top spot and determine the ranking of the remaining 10 finalists. Each city will then be awarded their rank and given approval for a building of a predetermined height based on this ranking.
Just imagine the rush of patriotism released by the display of the American flag waving symbolicly atop the world’s tallest building. Can you hear the tourism dollars rolling in?
[Image: American flag waving as if it were atop the world’s tallest building. Courtesy of Spiritual Oasis.]
Through this group and the selection process, the U.S. will be able to reposition itself atop the record book of building height, thus ensuring the elevated global status of American architecture. Along the way, the process would exemplify the American way and provide an example for the rest of the world to follow in our footsteps.
Wait… wouldn’t we then just have to start this process all over again?
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or we could just allow rampent world wide secret tax havens to flourish in the hearts of our biggest cities, pump up our industry by means of indentured servaturde and if a couple indonesian laborers fall into the concrete forms we can always just pretend we didnt know - just like Dubai!