House of Babel

Dream to reach out the God is rather common phenomenon throughout the history of mankind. Skyscraper as an architectural type, owes their origin to Manhattan, where the height of the building was growing up along with the cost of the site. Gradually the altitude becomes a self-sufficient function, as the peculiar way of satisfying the ambitions of the customer. Nowadays, the race for leadership among high-rise building has turned into independent discipline, where the primacy is rather symbolic.

To date almost every country, city or corporation is seeking to obtain ultra-high building to get rid of an inferiority complex. Progress of construction technology has brought to life the buildings of such height that life in them has become almost impossible. The higher they raise the more space inside is taken up by the carcass and elevators, and therefore the harder it is engineering support. Thus, the symbolic content gradually kills the practicality. The global financial crisis was the last decisive argument against such a situation. But it hardly appears a deterrent on the way up.

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TEXT AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY NIKITA ASADOV