High price of high rise

Leading architects, the editors of Skyplane, discussed the impact of high-rise towers on city life and culture at the launch of the publication on 15 September.

Professor Ruan joined Richard Francis-Jones, a partner in Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp and Visiting Professor of Architecture at UNSW Built Environment, Lawrence Nield of Studio Nield and also a Visiting Professor at UNSW and Dr Deborah van der Plaat, of the School of Architecture at the University of Queensland in a vibrant discussion.

Content is a publication that explores the formal, cultural and technical issues of architecture through detailed drawings, photographs and text.

Professor Philip Goad, from the University of Melbourne launched the fifth edition of Content, Skyplane, saying ‘it was enriching and necessary reading’.

In Skyplane, leading international architects and thinkers examine the effects of high-rise buildings on the culture and sustainability of our cities, and how they have been particularly adapted in the Asia-Pacific region.

Professor Ruan said the modern tower building has become a neglected space; a stack of rooms with no clear sense of interior and serving as a viewing platform from which to look out.
‘You go from street to the summit but lots of people spend their days wither working or living in between,’ he says.

‘The common experience of life in an apartment or tower is that you don’t know your neighbours or who lives upstairs or downstairs. We need to embrace the idea of using vertical public space — it’s not just bars in laneways that make cities liveable. If towers are here to stay we can go further to give them new life.’

Click here http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/archived/bydesign/ to listen to the ABC Radio National interview with By Design with Lawrence Nield on Content.

Content 5: Skyplane was produced with the generous support of: Architectus, Bluescope Steel, Bligh Voller Nield, Connell Wagner, Cox Architects, Crone Partner Architecture Studios, Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp, Group GSA, Hassell Architects, Johnson Pilton Walker, Mirvac, NSW Government Architect, PTW Architects, Tanner Architects and UNSW Built Environment.

Skyplane can be purchased online at UNSW Bookshop