Beyond Ascent: Rethinking the Architectural and Urban Possibilities of Elevators for Skyscrapers and Vertical Cities

초록

Elevators are one of the essential technologies that made the emergence of the new building type, skyscrapers, possible in the late 19th century. While the primary role of elevators has been serving as the vertical transportation system for tall buildings, this paper reconsiders the possible performance of elevators far beyond that, positioning them as architectural agents as well as urban catalysts. Through a series of historical, phenomenological, and design-based case studies, the elevator is examined as spectacle, social condenser, spatial/architectural medium, and all of these in urban scale as an integrated network system connecting people, tall buildings and the city. The study explores how elevators shape embodied experience, mediate interaction, and redefine the boundaries of architecture as a performative and kinetic structure- ultimately becoming a whole mobile network of infrastructure. The design project, (Awkward) Elevator Rehearsal, synthesizes these themes at the architectural scale into a speculative hotel suite embedded within the atrium of the Beekman Hotel, where elevator cabs function as shifting rooms and transient stages. The conjoined mile-high tower design projects investigate the potential of elevators on an urban scale by interconnecting multiple clustered megatall/mile-high buildings seamlessly not only vertically but also horizontally. Furthermore, elevators as an integrated network system intertwining the vertical cities to addreess various architectural and urban design issues is studied. It is expected that these and further investigations will contribute to promoting more livable and sustainable architecture and cities.