Skyscrapers: A History of the World's Most Extraordinary Buildings by Judith Dupre

Review
"An eye-popping shelf-scraper...an elevating experience." (Gene Shalit, Today )

Product Description
At a stunning 18 inches tall and celebrating all of today's most significant superstructures, this all-new edition of Skyscrapers features 15 exciting new buildings and a brand-new interview with Adrian Smith, the world's foremost architect of supertall buildings.

Retaining all of the qualities that made it a major bestseller—informative commentary, historic facts and architectural information, and glorious photography— this groundbreaking, shelf-scraping international bestseller is a Skyscrapers for the new millennium.

Unique in scale and design, the book has been expanded to 160 pages and features more than 60 buildings by such well-known architects as Santiago Calatrava, Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Philip Johnson, Morphosis, Jean Nouvel, Renzo Piano, Cesar Pelli, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Arranged chronologically, it includes features on such topics as the ancient roots of skyscrapers and visionary cities of the future-as well as a fascinating interview with Adrian Smith, designer of the Burj Dubai, the tallest structure in the world. Each informative spread includes photos, plans, diagrams, background, technological information, and more, all in an elegant design.

From the Inside Flap
Rising majestically above the hubbub of crowded cities or standing in solitude against a natural backdrop, skyscrapers captivate the eye, excite the imagination, and inspire awe. Wonders of creativity and ingenuity, they embody the best of our practical achievements and reflect our highest aspirations.

This magnificent chronological tour of the world’s tallest buildings—thoroughly revised and updated since its initial publication, and featuring cutting edge work by today’s international superstars of architecture—stands as the most thorough, authoritative, and eye-popping book on the subject, as dramatic in presentation as the structures it celebrates. Breathtaking photographs capture the buildings’ details as well as their monumental scale; architectural drawings and plans invite you behind the scenes as new buildings take shape; and lively commentary on each building explores its particular significance and provides historic context. Throughout, informative profiles, features, and statistics make Skyscrapers an invaluable reference as well as a visual feast.

From a church built to the glory of God to monuments that symbolize national or civic pride, to buildings so forward thinking that they contribute to the betterment of the environment, the 62 structures included here encompass the very best and most ingenious of our history, spanning some 125 years and circling the globe. The 15 astonishing “supertalls” that have been added to this edition represent flights of imagination and feats of engineering that the skyscraper’s earliest pioneers could never have dreamed of.

“To say that the megatall landscape has changed since this book was first published in 1996 is an understatement,” comments the author in her forward. “We are in the midst of a new skyscraper boom…Skyscraper design, now embraced by the global community, has entered a flamboyant, no-holds-barred era of exhilarating, highly personal exploration of the extreme frontiers of structural and creative possibility.”

Every civilization has expressed in buildings both sacred and secular the eternal quest to reach ever upward toward the sky. Skyscrapers invites you to relish in the stunning works born of that quest.




About the Author

Judith Dupré writes about art, architecture, and engineering in ways that delight and educate. She has written six award-winning books of illustrated nonfiction that have been translated into ten languages, including Skyscrapers, Bridges, Churches, and Monuments: America’s History in Art and Memory. She holds degrees from Brown University in English literature and studio art, and did postgraduate work at Hunter College and the Open Atelier of Design and Architecture, both in Manhattan. Currently, she is at Yale Divinity School doing advanced studies on the impact of time, memory, and ritual on architecture. She lives outside New York City.

Architectural Digest, January 2009

The Architecrural Digest issue of January 2009.
With Brad Pitt on the covers and story.

See how how his house is.

Hollywood At Home (Architectural Digest)

Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
Readers who love the glamour and mystique of Hollywood will be eager to peruse this collection of profiles of famous stars and lush color photographs of their often magnificent homes, inside and out. The book encompasses starlets from the early days of Hollywood on up to some of today's biggest names. Great fun is to be had gazing at the opulence of some of the stars' homes, from Cher's eternity pool (which viewed from her terrace looks as though it reaches the ocean) to the many paintings that decorated the walls of Greta Garbo's New York apartment. Not all of the celebrities profiled here were ostentatious--Clark Gable and Carole Lombard purposely cultivated a simple image with their ranch. And the true attention grabbers are the more unusual celeb abodes, like Angelica Huston and Robert Graham's angular, modern dwelling or Jayne Mansfield's pink-carpeted bathroom. This delightful look at the homes and intimate lives of stars is sure to be a popular title. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description
Among the most popular articles in Architectural Digest's illustrious eight-decade history is the series featuring the homes of Hollywood movie stars and directors since the 1930s. Hollywood at Home presents 25 of the best of those articles, offering an intimate look at some of the silver screen's most fascinating personalities, as reflected in their lavish, inventively designed, and, at times, outrageously opulent homes.

Mixing the old with the new-from Jean Harlow and Clark Gable to Steven Spielberg and, more recently, Diane Keaton-Hollywood at Home provides an up-close-and-personal room-by-room tour of the private residences of such Tinseltown immortals as Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Cary Grant and Randolph Scott, John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Katharine Hepburn, Dennis Quaid, and Cher. The text and images appear as in the original articles, with minor editorial updates and, in a few cases, additional photography not seen in the original feature. Our endless fascination with the lifestyles of the rich and famous continues unabated, and this glamorous book will enthrall celebrity watchers as well as those interested in architecture and design.

About the Author
Architectural Digest is the world's leading design publication.

Paige Rense joined Architectural Digest in 1970 and shortly thereafter was named Editor-in-Chief. Under her direction, the magazine has become the world's leading design publication, and circulation has grown from 50,000 to 850,000, with a total audience of 5 million readers.

Journalist and biographer Gerald Clarke is the author of two books: Get Happy: TheLife of Judy Garland and the New York Times best-seller Capote. He lives on Long Island, New York.