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Justin Davidson: Why glass towers are bad for city life -- and what we need instead
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There's a creepy transformation taking over our cities, says architecture critic Justin Davidson. From Houston, Texas to Guangzhou, China, shiny towers of concrete and steel covered with glass are cropping up like an invasive species. Rethink your city's anatomy as Davidson explains how the exteriors of building shape the urban experience -- and what we lose when architects stop using the full range of available materials.
Justin Davidson - Architecture critic
Justin Davidson writes about a broad range of urban, civic, design and arts issues. Full bio
Justin Davidson writes about a broad range of urban, civic, design and arts issues. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
Imagine that when you walked
in here this evening,
in here this evening,
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you discovered that everybody in the room
looked almost exactly the same:
looked almost exactly the same:
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ageless, raceless,
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generically good-looking.
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That person sitting right next to you
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might have the most
idiosyncratic inner life,
idiosyncratic inner life,
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but you don't have a clue
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because we're all wearing
the same blank expression all the time.
the same blank expression all the time.
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That is the kind of creepy transformation
that is taking over cities,
that is taking over cities,
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only it applies to buildings, not people.
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Cities are full of roughness and shadow,
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texture and color.
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You can still find architectural surfaces
of great individuality and character
of great individuality and character
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in apartment buildings in Riga
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and Yemen,
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social housing in Vienna,
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Hopi villages in Arizona,
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brownstones in New York,
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wooden houses in San Francisco.
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These aren't palaces or cathedrals.
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These are just ordinary residences
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expressing the ordinary
splendor of cities.
splendor of cities.
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And the reason they're like that
is that the need for shelter
is that the need for shelter
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is so bound up with
the human desire for beauty.
the human desire for beauty.
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Their rough surfaces
give us a touchable city.
give us a touchable city.
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Right? Streets that you can read
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by running your fingers
over brick and stone.
over brick and stone.
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But that's getting harder to do,
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because cities are becoming smooth.
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New downtowns sprout towers
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that are almost always
made of concrete and steel
made of concrete and steel
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and covered in glass.
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You can look at skylines
all over the world --
all over the world --
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Houston,
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Guangzhou,
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Frankfurt --
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and you see the same army
of high-gloss robots
of high-gloss robots
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marching over the horizon.
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Now, just think of everything we lose
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when architects stop using
the full range of available materials.
the full range of available materials.
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When we reject granite
and limestone and sandstone
and limestone and sandstone
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and wood and copper
and terra-cotta and brick
and terra-cotta and brick
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and wattle and plaster,
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we simplify architecture
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and we impoverish cities.
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It's as if you reduced
all of the world's cuisines
all of the world's cuisines
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down to airline food.
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(Laughter)
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Chicken or pasta?
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But worse still,
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assemblies of glass towers
like this one in Moscow
like this one in Moscow
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suggest a disdain for the civic
and communal aspects of urban living.
and communal aspects of urban living.
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Right? Buildings like these are intended
to enrich their owners and tenants,
to enrich their owners and tenants,
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but not necessarily
the lives of the rest of us,
the lives of the rest of us,
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those of us who navigate
the spaces between the buildings.
the spaces between the buildings.
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And we expect to do so for free.
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Shiny towers are an invasive species
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and they are choking our cities
and killing off public space.
and killing off public space.
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We tend to think of a facade
as being like makeup,
as being like makeup,
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a decorative layer applied at the end
to a building that's effectively complete.
to a building that's effectively complete.
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But just because a facade is superficial
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doesn't mean it's not also deep.
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Let me give you an example
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of how a city's surfaces
affect the way we live in it.
affect the way we live in it.
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When I visited Salamanca in Spain,
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I gravitated to the Plaza Mayor
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at all hours of the day.
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Early in the morning,
sunlight rakes the facades,
sunlight rakes the facades,
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sharpening shadows,
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and at night, lamplight
segments the buildings
segments the buildings
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into hundreds of distinct areas,
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balconies and windows and arcades,
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each one a separate pocket
of visual activity.
of visual activity.
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That detail and depth, that glamour
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gives the plaza a theatrical quality.
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It becomes a stage
where the generations can meet.
where the generations can meet.
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You have teenagers
sprawling on the pavers,
sprawling on the pavers,
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seniors monopolizing the benches,
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and real life starts to look
like an opera set.
like an opera set.
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The curtain goes up on Salamanca.
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So just because I'm talking
about the exteriors of buildings,
about the exteriors of buildings,
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not form, not function, not structure,
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even so those surfaces
give texture to our lives,
give texture to our lives,
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because buildings
create the spaces around them,
create the spaces around them,
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and those spaces can draw people in
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or push them away.
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And the difference often has to do
with the quality of those exteriors.
with the quality of those exteriors.
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So one contemporary equivalent
of the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca
of the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca
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is the Place de la Défense in Paris,
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a windswept, glass-walled open space
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that office workers hurry through
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on the way from the metro
to their cubicles
to their cubicles
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but otherwise spend
as little time in as possible.
as little time in as possible.
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In the early 1980s,
the architect Philip Johnson
the architect Philip Johnson
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tried to recreate a gracious
European plaza in Pittsburgh.
European plaza in Pittsburgh.
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This is PPG Place,
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a half acre of open space
encircled by commercial buildings
encircled by commercial buildings
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made of mirrored glass.
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And he ornamented those buildings
with metal trim and bays
with metal trim and bays
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and Gothic turrets
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which really pop on the skyline.
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But at ground level,
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the plaza feels like a black glass cage.
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I mean, sure, in summertime
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kids are running back and forth
through the fountain
through the fountain
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and there's ice-skating in the winter,
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but it lacks the informality
of a leisurely hangout.
of a leisurely hangout.
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It's just not the sort of place
you really want to just hang out and chat.
you really want to just hang out and chat.
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Public spaces thrive or fail
for many different reasons.
for many different reasons.
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Architecture is only one,
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but it's an important one.
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Some recent plazas
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like Federation Square in Melbourne
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or Superkilen in Copenhagen
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succeed because they combine old and new,
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rough and smooth,
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neutral and bright colors,
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and because they don't rely
excessively on glass.
excessively on glass.
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Now, I'm not against glass.
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It's an ancient and versatile material.
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It's easy to manufacture and transport
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and install and replace
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and clean.
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It comes in everything
from enormous, ultraclear sheets
from enormous, ultraclear sheets
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to translucent bricks.
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New coatings make it change mood
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in the shifting light.
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In expensive cities like New York,
it has the magical power
it has the magical power
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of being able to multiply
real estate values by allowing views,
real estate values by allowing views,
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which is really the only commodity
that developers have to offer
that developers have to offer
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to justify those surreal prices.
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In the middle of the 19th century,
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with the construction
of the Crystal Palace in London,
of the Crystal Palace in London,
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glass leapt to the top of the list
of quintessentially modern substances.
of quintessentially modern substances.
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By the mid-20th century,
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it had come to dominate
the downtowns of some American cities,
the downtowns of some American cities,
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largely through some
really spectacular office buildings
really spectacular office buildings
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like Lever House in midtown Manhattan,
designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.
designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.
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Eventually, the technology
advanced to the point
advanced to the point
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where architects could design
structures so transparent
structures so transparent
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they practically disappear.
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And along the way,
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glass became the default material
of the high-rise city,
of the high-rise city,
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and there's a very
powerful reason for that.
powerful reason for that.
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Because as the world's populations
converge on cities,
converge on cities,
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the least fortunate pack
into jerry-built shantytowns.
into jerry-built shantytowns.
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But hundreds of millions of people
need apartments and places to work
need apartments and places to work
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in ever-larger buildings,
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so it makes economic sense
to put up towers
to put up towers
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and wrap them in cheap
and practical curtain walls.
and practical curtain walls.
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But glass has a limited ability
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to be expressive.
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This is a section of wall framing a plaza
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in the pre-Hispanic city of Mitla,
in southern Mexico.
in southern Mexico.
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Those 2,000-year-old carvings
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make it clear that this was a place
of high ritual significance.
of high ritual significance.
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Today we look at those and we can see
a historical and textural continuity
a historical and textural continuity
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between those carvings,
the mountains all around
the mountains all around
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and that church which is built
on top of the ruins
on top of the ruins
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using stone plundered from the site.
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In nearby Oaxaca,
even ordinary plaster buildings
even ordinary plaster buildings
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become canvasses for
bright colors, political murals
bright colors, political murals
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and sophisticated graphic arts.
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It's an intricate, communicative language
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that an epidemic of glass
would simply wipe out.
would simply wipe out.
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The good news is
that architects and developers
that architects and developers
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have begun to rediscover
the joys of texture
the joys of texture
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without backing away from modernity.
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Some find innovative uses
for old materials like brick
for old materials like brick
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and terra-cotta.
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Others invent new products
like the molded panels that Snøhetta used
like the molded panels that Snøhetta used
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to give the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
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that crinkly, sculptural quality.
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The architect Stefano Boeri
even created living facades.
even created living facades.
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This is his Vertical Forest,
a pair of apartment towers in Milan,
a pair of apartment towers in Milan,
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whose most visible feature is greenery.
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And Boeri is designing a version of this
for Nanjing in China.
for Nanjing in China.
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And imagine if green facades
were as ubiquitous as glass ones
were as ubiquitous as glass ones
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how much cleaner the air
in Chinese cities would become.
in Chinese cities would become.
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But the truth is
that these are mostly one-offs,
that these are mostly one-offs,
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boutique projects,
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not easily reproduced at a global scale.
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And that is the point.
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When you use materials
that have a local significance,
that have a local significance,
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you prevent cities
from all looking the same.
from all looking the same.
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Copper has a long history in New York --
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the Statue of Liberty,
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the crown of the Woolworth Building --
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but it fell out of fashion for a long time
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until shop architects used it
to cover the American Copper Building,
to cover the American Copper Building,
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a pair of twisting towers
on the East River.
on the East River.
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It's not even finished
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and you can see the way
sunset lights up that metallic facade,
sunset lights up that metallic facade,
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which will weather to green as it ages.
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Buildings can be like people.
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Their faces broadcast their experience.
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And that's an important point,
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because when glass ages,
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you just replace it,
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and the building looks
pretty much the same way it did before
pretty much the same way it did before
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until eventually it's demolished.
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Almost all other materials
have the ability
have the ability
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to absorb infusions of history and memory,
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and project it into the present.
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The firm Ennead
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clad the Utah Natural History Museum
in Salt Lake City in copper and zinc,
in Salt Lake City in copper and zinc,
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ores that have been mined
in the area for 150 years
in the area for 150 years
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and that also camouflage the building
against the ochre hills
against the ochre hills
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so that you have a natural history museum
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that reflects the region's
natural history.
natural history.
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And when the Chinese
Pritzker Prize winner Wang Shu
Pritzker Prize winner Wang Shu
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was building a history museum in Ningbo,
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he didn't just create
a wrapper for the past,
a wrapper for the past,
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he built memory right into the walls
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by using brick and stones and shingles
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salvaged from villages
that had been demolished.
that had been demolished.
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Now, architects can use glass
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in equally lyrical and inventive ways.
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Here in New York, two buildings,
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one by Jean Nouvel
and this one by Frank Gehry
and this one by Frank Gehry
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face off across West 19th Street,
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and the play of reflections
that they toss back and forth
that they toss back and forth
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is like a symphony in light.
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But when a city defaults to glass
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as it grows,
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it becomes a hall of mirrors,
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disquieting and cold.
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After all, cities are places
of concentrated variety
of concentrated variety
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where the world's cultures
and languages and lifestyles
and languages and lifestyles
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come together and mingle.
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So rather than encase all that variety
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and diversity in buildings
of crushing sameness,
of crushing sameness,
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we should have an architecture that honors
the full range of the urban experience.
the full range of the urban experience.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Justin Davidson - Architecture criticJustin Davidson writes about a broad range of urban, civic, design and arts issues.
Why you should listen
Justin Davidson is the author of Magnetic City: A Walking Companion to New York (Spiegel & Grau), which leads readers through a portrait of the city told through its history, architecture, music, art and literature.
Davidson has been the architecture and classical music critic at New York magazine since 2007. Before that, he spent 12 years as classical music critic at Newsday, where he also wrote about architecture and was a regular cultural commentator. He won a Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2002, an American Society of Newspaper Editors criticism (ASNE) award and the 2015 Stephen A. Kliment Oculus Award for Architectural Journalism from the American Institute of Architects, New York Chapter.
A native of Rome, Davidson graduated from Harvard and later earned a doctoral degree in music composition at Columbia University. He has contributed to many publications, including The New Yorker, Smithsonian, W., The New York Times Book Review, Travel & Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler and Pursuits. He was a columnist for the website Wondering Sound and has appeared regularly on WNYC and other radio and television outlets. He has taught at the Design Criticism program at the School of Visual Arts, the Goldring Arts Journalism Program of Syracuse University and NEA Arts Journalism Institutes. He lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Justin Davidson | Speaker | TED.com