i know what I like. My passions as it were. in no particular order: 1.Movies- all parts of the movie industry. From filmmaking to editing, to theatrical distribution and box office to DVDs and home viewings. 2.skyscrapers, bridges, and large scale engineering. 3. Rollercoasters 4.Food. Discovering new food, or cooking. 5.Exploring. Traveling but more than that. it doesn't have to be a far off land. Discovering some new and fantastic place in your own town is a joy. 6.sex. self explanatory.

I'm a member of several skyscraper forums. I visit them almost daily. Most people I know are well aware of this passion of mine. As dorky as it may come off, ive long ago stopped caring how it makes me look. My own contentment trumps vanity. I was asked yesterday at work why do I like skyscrapers so much and I nonchalantly answered that i view it as a piece of large scale art. Much like a movie, hundreds to thousands of people get together and work towards this common goal of group art. This towering monument of human achievement. my friend, half jokingly i assume, told me it was a deep statement. But it got me thinking. I naively haven't given it much thought as to how others perceive what a skyscraper is. I am well aware that what I see is not what the majority of others see. They see a structure that people live in or work in and keeps them out of the weather and keeps them warm in the cold. I see a living sculpture. It has been planned down to the smallest detail. The transparency of the glass, size shape and color. The texture of the outside. Steel, iron, a composite or brick, stone. perhaps brushed aluminum. the choices are limitless. Its a living structure because unlike a monument it has to sustain life. Its functional. It boggles my mind how incredible that is.

The biggest conflict in designing skyscraper art is the form vs. function debate. on these skyscraper website that I frequent there is a growing dislike for the box like skyscrapers that are the most common ones built. They are scoffed at for being banal and called skyline killers. I disagree. These epitomize the function side of the debate. there is nothing more efficient than a box. It maximizes on available space. but true, as beautiful as they can be on their own, they usually do not match the aesthetic value of non box. imagine if you will the empire state building as a straight box straight up 100 stories instead of the gentle tapered hypodermic needle that the world has fallen in love with. It loses the romance. It would never have been in so many film, or become the icon that it is. The world trade center was one of the most striking examples of a box tower. and they were hated when built. eventually the sheer mass of them overpowering lower manhattan forced them into the collective conscious. they were not nearly as beloved by all on September 10th as they are remembered now.

In the battle of form vs function designers have to weigh in a pleasing look to attract tenants to their tower. They have to do so while fighting cost cutting measures, local red tape, economy issues, and then the general difficulties of a multi year construction. Thousands of people are involved. Everyone works together and in the end you can end up with beauties like the Empire State Building, Chrysler building, Eiffel Tower, Turning Torso, the list is endless. This is one of the most spectacular forms of art I can imagine. to be a part of that team, to be able to gaze at your final product towering in a place of honor where billions of people will see it for the rest of their lives. awe inspiring. i honestly wish more people could understand how amazing this is. But mostly no one ever looks up. Even cheap ass dime a dozen apartment towers i consider to be art. Not all art has to be good after all. Anything that is built by man that can evoke a reaction in another is art. A house. a car. Bridges get there own chapter in my book. Sometimes i see them as even more impressive than towers. So i continue on my websites. i continue to take pictures of skylines and towers under construction here in NYC and submit them to SSP, SSC, WNY and our small group of like minds enjoy each others work and those of the builders. the true artists.

so the next time you are in town, look up. And enjoy.