The skyscraper continues to inspire architects and visual artists of all types. More than a century of literature, art, film, and new media representations have built an image of the skyscraper inside the space of our collective imagination. A towering physical presence, the skyscraper has come to embody many of our unexamined notions and secret desires about wealth, ambition, and dominance. Paradoxically, as the skyscraper building type changed to address shifting socioeconomic conditions, its perception by mainstream culture has become simpler and more consumable. Featuring rarely seen images and lively text, Building Tall explores the phenomenon of the skyscraper - from its legacy of supreme technical achievement to the meanings of its various artistic interpretations.

The skyscraper continues to inspire architects and visual artists of all types. More than a century of literature, art, film, and new media representations have built an image of the skyscraper inside the space of our collective imagination. A towering physical presence, the skyscraper has come to embody many of our unexamined notions and secret desires about wealth, ambition, and dominance. Paradoxically, as the skyscraper building type changed to address shifting socioeconomic conditions, its perception by mainstream culture has become simpler and more consumable. Featuring rarely seen images and lively text, Building Tall explores the phenomenon of the skyscraper - from its legacy of supreme technical achievement to the meanings of its various artistic interpretations.


One of the most highly regarded architects in Los Angeles, Scott Johnson is also one of the few architects who is well-known to the general public and the design profession alike. He is best know for his gracefully resolved tall building designs. A number of his best-known designs have been widely published and have become local landmarks. He and William Fain acquired the landmark Los Angeles architectural firm Pereira Associates now known as Johnson Fain in 1987. Johnson is the author of Figure/Ground: A Design Conversation and The Big Idea: Criticality and Practice in Contemporary Architecture.