>> I love tall buildings. A few years ago it seemed like every spare plot in central Manchester promised a skyscraper to compete with the peerless Beetham Tower. Buildings like this
and this
And then the credit crunch hit, and we were left with the slightly worrying Student Castle as the only significant change to the Manchester skyline. A shame.
Beetham Tower, however, features in Kate Ascher’s fantastic new book The Heights. It’s a coffee-table book you might actually read, as comfortable telling us how tall buildings withstand wind as it is detailing the intricate history of tall buildings and their social impact. And nowhere, surely, have tall buildings had such an impact in such a small space of time as in The Emirates. So it was fascinating to talk to her about not just the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, but also skyscraper design, use and function.
Click here for the full interview with Kate Ascher in The National.
