Exhibition
Tall Buildings
MoMA QNS, New York, USA

July 16 - September 27, 2004

The exhibition investigates new horizons in architecture and engineering, focusing on skyscrapers and their place in the twenty-first century.

The 25 buildings presented, many of them not yet constructed and some that exist only as proposals, were designed for New York City, Beijing, Paris, London, Hong Kong, and Mexico City, among others.

Exhibited by size each project is represented through scale models, drawings, and photographs. From the 57 meter tall "Edifico Manantiales" in Santiago, Chile, to the 610 meter tall "7 South Dearborn" in Chicago, Illinois, the exhibition examines the technological, urban, and programmatic innovations in skyscrapers designed within the last decade;

Edifico Manantiales, Santiago, Chile (1997-99)
187 feet (57 meters)
Architects: Luis Izquierdo W., Antonia Lehmann S.B., Raimundo Lira V., José Domingo Peñafiel E.
Engineer: Luis Soler P.

Electricité de France (EDF) Headquarters
La Défense, Paris, France (1995-2002)
486 feet (148 meters)
Architect: Henry N. Cobb, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
Engineer: Jean Heuber, SETEC

Landmark Lofts
New York, NY, USA (2001-04)
490 feet (149 meters)
Project Architect: Jean Nouvel, Ateliers Jean Nouvel

Fifth Avenue and Forty-second Street Tower
New York, NY, USA (2002)
585 feet (178 meters)
Project Architects: Steven Holl, Solange Fabião, Steven Holl Architects
Engineers: Robert Silman, Nat Oppenheimer, Robert Silman Associates

Swiss Re Insurance Headquarters
London, England (1997 - 2004)
590 feet (180 meters)
Architect: Norman Foster, Foster and Partners
Engineer: John Brazier, Ove Arup & Partners

New York Times Headquarters
New York, NY, USA (2000)
606 feet (185 meters)
Project Architects: Frank O. Gehry, Gehry Partners; David Childs, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Engineers: William F. Baker, Hal Iyengar, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Central Chinese Television (CCTV) Tower
Beijing, China (2002-08)
768 feet (234 meters)
Architects: Rem Koolhaas, Ole Scheeren, Office for Metropolitan
Architecture Engineer: Cecil Balmond, Craig Gibbons, Michael Kwok, Rory McGowan, Ove Arup & Partners

London Bridge Tower
London, England (2000-09)
1,016 feet (310 meters)
Architect: Renzo Piano, Renzo Piano Building Workshop
Engineer: Paul Nuttall, Ove Arup & Partners

South Dearborn
Chicago, Illinois (1998)
2,000 feet (610 meters)
Architect: Adrian D. Smith, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Engineer: William F. Baker, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Several proposals for the World Trade Center are also included as well as relevant drawings and models from the Museum's collection.

Since the 1933 exhibition Early Modern Architecture, Chicago, 1870-1910, organized by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, MoMA has celebrated the engineering marvels of skyscrapers and their role in the evolution of the modern sensibility.

The exhibition is organized by Terence Riley, Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art; and Guy Nordenson, structural engineer, New York, and Associate Professor of Architecture and Structures, Princeton University.

More about the exhibition MoMA QNS.