About half of the high-rises around the world were built in the past ten years. This construction boom has turned the high-rise into a formative element of the most important sphere of collective life today: the city. Its symbolic power, however, often seems to be larger than life, for even in the twenty-first century, the high-rise is still the embodiment of the city as such, while in the eyes of others, it is leveled against the city.
This publication shows contemporary buildings and projects in their cultural and urban-planning contexts, which, depending on whether they are in Europe or Asia, for instance, can be very different. The book also inquires into the lives of individuals within the larger framework, taking a look at everyday life in the high-rise and the towering buildings as part of everyday experience. Artistic works expand the architectural horizon and question the aesthetic and ethical claims that are linked to these kinds of outstanding structures. (German edition ISBN 978-3-7757-2992-5)
 
Exhibition schedule: Museum für Gestaltung, Zurich, August 31, 2011–January 2, 2012