WEBVTT - The Skybridge, Part 2 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:05.360 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of My 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:14.360 Heart Radio. Hey are you welcome to Stuff to Blow 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:17.440 your Mind? My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.000 and we're back with part two of our talk about 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:24.279 sky bridges or sky ways. Uh, if you haven't heard 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:26.720 part one yet, maybe should go check that one out first. 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:30.000 But as a brief refresher, a sky bridge or a 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:33.839 skyway is an architectural feature that you can think of 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:36.199 as kind of a hallway in the sky, or an 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:41.440 enclosed bridge linking two buildings by the upper floors. In 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:44.879 the last episode, we talked about some modern examples of 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:48.879 sky bridges and some interesting ones from history, such as 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:53.920 the the Bridge of Size in Venice, Italy's enclosed passageway 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:57.320 that may look romantic from the outside but has mostly 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:02.480 historical associations with torture and zens. But in the uh, 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:05.120 let's see. But in today's episode, I think we're gonna 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:08.920 be talking more about what sky bridges mean, how they're interpreted, 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:12.199 and how they might be used in the future. That's right, So, 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:15.280 first of all, I do want to refer back to 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:18.679 some examples just briefly that we we were we discussed 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:21.560 the you know, just the idea of say, the powerful 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:27.720 Medici family in Italy using these enclosed spaces and occasional 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:30.880 things that we would definitely categorize as a sky bridge 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:33.679 to move from one place to the other without interacting 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:38.200 with enemies or commoners, etcetera. We also looked at some 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:43.520 examples of of royalty in China engaging in similar practices, 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:48.160 using these as sort of privileged passage ways for royal 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:51.400 members of society. Oh so you what was the the 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:54.880 Chinese ruler who went about in these halls so that 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:58.080 devils would not see where he walked and he could 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:01.440 only embrace good people. It's said, yes, yes, that would 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:04.680 have been impertin shi Wong. Yeah, so that he could 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:09.240 uh quote act mysteriously to avoid devils and meanwhile embrace 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:13.000 virtuous individuals. And one thing that we mentioned was that, yeah, okay, 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:15.360 this is this is one thing within a historical context, 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:18.200 but generally speaking, I think a lot of us wouldn't 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:23.359 want to overtly um invoke that kind of idea. So 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:26.080 in there we get to some of the sort of 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:28.880 controversy and back and forth over just the nature of 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:33.200 the sky bridge, like not not only what it physically does, 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:35.560 but also like what is it? What does it do? 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:41.280 Um in terms of society and urban planning and uh 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:44.000 and just the like the larger nature of the city 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:46.720 that goes beyond just mere structures and moving people around. 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:49.760 And so I want to come back to the architect 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:55.480 John Portman Jr. John Portman Jr. Live through seventeen UM 0:02:55.520 --> 0:03:00.240 American neo futurist architect and real estate developer. Uh we 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:02.480 allude we mentioned some of the examples of his work 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:06.560 here in Atlanta, Georgia. He's known for popularizing the atrium, 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:09.400 but also in using a lot of sky bridges. Now, 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:11.320 as we mentioned, of course that there are a number 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:14.120 of practical reasons to have sky bridges in a structure, 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:17.240 moving people around so they don't have to uh engage 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:23.040 in say hostile environment and you know, hot temperatures, freezing rain, 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:26.560 that sort of thing. Also, you're gonna have situations where 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:30.520 you want to share resources within two different towers, so 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:33.280 connect those towers at a higher floor. That way people 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:34.800 don't have to go all the way back down and 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:39.040 then back up again, perhaps crossing a street or uh 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.080 you know, checking in and out of security along the way. 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:45.360 That sort of thing. But in the case of Portman's 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:50.240 Peachtree Center sky bridges, there's apparently been controversy over the 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:53.920 years over the use of such walkways. So this area 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:57.600 emerged during the nineties seventies, and while some of of 0:03:57.640 --> 0:03:59.960 it is is dated, some of it is still quite impressed. 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:02.240 If I have to say, the Marta train station at 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:04.840 Peachtree Center is probably the coolest looking one in the 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:08.360 system and has these these rock walls as well as 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:11.240 this kind of still I would say futuristic looking, like 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:15.480 shiny metal surfaces. I don't know if he designed, uh, 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:18.520 the Marta station in question, but there was one Marta 0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:21.400 station at least that was used as a setting for 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:24.720 a cut scene in John Carpenter's Escape from New York. 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:26.600 I think because it, you know, the sort of the 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:31.560 blocky concrete fixtures in it just looked futuristic enough. Yeah, yeah, 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:33.960 certainly at the time that was was that five Points station. 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:36.280 I can't recall off hand, but but certainly you're right 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:39.680 on that sounds likely. Yeah, yeah, that that also is 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:43.680 a huge enclosed space that it is impressive in its 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.640 own way to walk through. But at anyway, Yeah, this 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:50.520 is all part of the you know, the varying stages 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:55.279 of revitalization efforts in downtown Atlanta, and during this time 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:58.680 and especially the decades to follow, Peachtree Center was, in 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:01.360 the eyes of its critics, this thing that by its 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:05.039 very structure sought to cut out street level Atlanta in 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:09.640 its entirety um and now not only people but businesses. 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:14.760 So rather than optimistically futuristic, the critics would say, well, 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:18.520 this is actually more wellsy in a world of privilege above, 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:22.160 cut off from the realities of the street below. For 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:25.359 there was one account that I was looking at looking 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:28.760 through various old news stories, and I saw one about 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:31.480 a believe it was a janitor strike that was taking place, 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:37.120 and this particular author had mentioned people avoiding the protesters 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:40.200 by making use of the sky bridges, which seems like 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:43.320 a stark example of the sort of u uh, you know, 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:46.120 the sort of privileged walkway that in ways I think 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:48.040 can be compared to some of these older models that 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:52.760 we were discussing now, the nineteen seventies we're also not 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:56.560 a period during which green downtowns were prioritized, just certainly 0:05:56.560 --> 0:06:01.080 not in Atlanta. Uh So, of one can can factor 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:05.080 that into the kind of weirdly spaceship like architectural approach. 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:07.520 That one season, some of these buildings were discussing so 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:11.520 giant open atriums in buildings joined to each other by 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:15.200 enclosed tunnels and bridges cut off from an outside where 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:18.880 you have a languishing downtown and also just everything is 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:22.640 just a sweltering gray heat island. Uh. This is actually 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:24.720 one of the reasons that Trees Atlanta was founded in 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:29.440 to begin the quote greening of downtown. Oh, I didn't 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:31.840 know that, So I don't know exactly how far this 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:35.359 far back this reputation goes, but at least today Atlanta 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:38.279 is known as a city that has an unusual amount 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:41.599 of trees and it's in its urban center. Yeah, well, 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:45.200 as far as downtown Atlanta goes, especially a lot of 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:47.840 that is we can think Trees Atlanta for so that 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:50.120 all that's very very local to us. But I think 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:52.000 these are all great examples of some of the you know, 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.919 the discussions that take place over the use of the 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:58.120 sky bridge and next where the direction we'd like to 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:00.960 go in though is taking a step back and talking 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:02.960 about for the most part, taking a step back. But 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:05.000 a lot of this is also still contemporary as well. 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:09.520 But talking about futurism and the sky bridge the ideas 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:12.840 that end up being wrapped up in concepts that have 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:15.800 sky bridges in them. You know, what we're what we're 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:18.080 actually trying to achieve, And what are some of the 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:20.720 visions sort of the loftier ideas that are caught up 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:22.720 in all of this, and indeed, what are some of 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:26.760 the really pivotal forward facing ideas that we can point to, 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:30.280 uh in the early twentieth century. So, when I was 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:34.000 thinking about the social meaning of sky bridges, especially in 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.960 science fiction, it's interesting. I have a general sense that 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:43.520 sky bridges are often used in fictional architecture to emphasize 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:45.600 exactly this kind of theme you were just talking about. 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:49.200 It was sort of people living in elevated tubes of 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:54.520 privilege that disconnect them from the realities below. And one 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:59.240 specific example is that I had a pretty distinct memory 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:05.120 of the movie Metropolis, the nine Fritz long movie, UH, 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:10.320 sort of German expressionist science fiction masterpiece. UH. And my idea, 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:13.040 at least in my head, was that this movie was 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:17.080 full of sky bridges. But when I did a Google search, 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:19.240 I didn't find a lot of examples. The main thing 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:23.080 I actually found in screenshots appeared to be rail lines 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:26.560 connecting the tops of buildings, and I found what looks like, 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:30.320 I don't know, it looks like hand drawn UH illustrations 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:32.360 based on the movie that do appear to have like 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:37.280 connected enclosed hallways, but I'm not sure how accurate my 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:39.960 memory that the city in Metropolis is full of sky 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:42.760 bridges is. Nevertheless, for some reason, I had that impression 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:45.720 there certainly are these these elevated rail lines going between 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:50.760 UH skyscraper tops and Metropolis. Is A is a great 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:53.720 dystopian sci fi film, one of the major themes of 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:57.240 which is economic injustice. It it presents a sort of 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:01.120 class bifurcated society where you have, you know, idle rich 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:04.360 people sort of frittering away their days up in the 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:08.640 tops of great tall buildings, apparently rarely or never having 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:12.080 to go down into the streets. And meanwhile, the workers 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:15.600 and the factories who make this techno utopia possible are 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:20.240 confined to physically lower spaces, even subterranean tunnels and caverns. 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:22.760 And eventually there there is a revolt in the in 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.480 the film, but the theme is certainly there. But though 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:27.720 maybe it doesn't have as many sky bridges as I 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:29.680 actually remember, and I don't know, maybe they're just not 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:32.640 coming through in the screen, you know, grabs that people 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:35.160 have put up on the internet. I think there are 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.640 definitely sky bridges in Metropolis. I know that some of 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:41.920 the sources I was looking at they referenced specifically early 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:46.240 twentieth century science fiction cinematography. And when you're talking about that, 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:50.080 you're talking about Metropolis. I mean, Metropolis is the the 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:55.040 the example of a futuristic cinema from from from especially 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:58.240 the twenties part excellence, you know, I mean, this is it, 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:00.679 this is the big one. And h I did want 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:03.440 to note that this vision of tall buildings occupied by 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:05.680 the rich at the top while the workers live down 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:10.080 on the ground. This, interestingly, it squares with some reality, 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:12.080 such as the idea of like I don't know, you know, 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:17.559 the penthouse apartment. But also the class associations are often inverted. 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:20.600 Like I was reading some actual research papers about the 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:23.520 psychological and social impact of living in tall buildings, which 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:26.560 I'll get into in a minute, and these studies often 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:31.679 cited the exact opposite that there there are widespread assumptions 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:36.040 of high high rise living being associated with lack of 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:39.320 economic means, but as much as architecture is often a 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:43.880 metaphor for for economic realities, I think also lots of 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:47.520 sci fi has visions of future urban spaces where the 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:50.720 tops of tall buildings are connected, and doesn't necessarily have 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:53.679 that meaning. It's not always a class critique. I think 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:57.400 sometimes instead it's supposed to be taken as a sign 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:01.120 of a complex or complicated a did society, that there 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:04.400 are avenues connecting things back and forth, like the like 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:07.280 the arteries of a circulatory system, that it's a complex 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:10.960 and not of associations resembling a kind of like the 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:14.760 vines in a jungle in physical form. And and of course, 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:17.760 and in fact there's sort of a literal analogy to 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:22.240 the the biological architecture of a rainforest, because on a rainfort, 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:24.440 in a rainforest, you know, you have sort of one 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:27.160 level of life going on at the forest floor, which 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:29.640 of course is all connected by the continuous surface. But 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:33.040 then you have the tree canopy level where the the 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:37.320 lateral connection of the ground level is replicated up above. Yeah, 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:40.520 and so I think even in sci fi movies without 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:44.360 an economic critique, there we see all these hallways going 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:47.280 back and forth between the skyscrapers and it just makes 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:50.600 us feel like, wow, it's so complex and there's so 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:52.840 much going on, and it would be you know, it 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:55.360 would be hard for me to even understand how the 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:58.959 you know, the many layers of this society. Yeah, because 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:02.640 it's interesting to crack this nut. Because one thing, and 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:04.439 I'll come back to some sources that touch on this 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:07.079 in a bit. If you think of like the upper 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:10.560 penthouse of a of a of a very tall building, 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:13.320 of skyscraper, what have you, the thing is like that 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:16.120 is a dead end. Uh. That is the the point 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:18.720 at which you you generally have no choice but to 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:22.600 turn around and come back down. Um. And uh, you 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:24.360 know you can say, oh, well maybe there's a helicopter 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:27.319 port up there. Okay, well there's that. Um. And certainly 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:30.040 you can extend this by pointing out that while some 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:34.280 of the futuristic visions of cities and where we're going 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:36.679 with they have been planning, they also often involved say 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:39.520 a whole bunch of flying cars moving around or other 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:44.120 flying the flying vehicles, flying machines that are serving as 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:48.000 as a way to connect these isolated islands in the sky. 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:51.360 The classic examples of that would be like Blade Runner. 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.560 Now I think you could assume that maybe with Blade Runner, 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:58.440 like you look at some architectural features and say, there's 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:01.760 implied critique here. There there's some kind of implied critique 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:04.040 about the society we're being shown. But there are other 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:06.400 cases where I don't know if there is. It's just 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:09.840 sort of like inherited science fiction texture. Like in the 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:13.560 Star Wars prequels, you see that traffic going back and 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:16.080 forth at many levels. There's like you know, like the 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:19.440 layers of a cake, the different criss crossing streams of 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.680 flying cars. Yeah, yeah, I mean there's definitely an underworld 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:25.800 to Coorisson as well. But yeah, there are other films 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:27.840 like I don't know, The Fifth Element, for example, has 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:31.080 a lot of cool flying cars and that that feels 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:34.880 may be more like just sci fi texture. But to 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:37.400 come back to this idea like Corisson with an underworld 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:39.560 and all of this, I can't help but think, of course, 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:41.920 of Dante's Inferno and all of this, and think again 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:47.600 of the of the skyscraper as mountain in Dante's Divine Comedy. 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:50.600 We of course have the complexities of the the underworld 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:53.960 of Inferno. We have the mount of Purgatory that extends 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:58.640 upward and reaches the point of paradise, because because then 0:13:58.640 --> 0:13:59.880 in the third book, of course, we have to have 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.840 only realm and the heavenly realm. I guess we might 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:06.280 we might well compare to some of these visions of 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:10.520 the the the upper parts of skyscrapers being connected together. 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:13.800 We don't want isolation and loneliness in our heavens. We 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:17.680 want elaborate complexity. Ah, this maybe a more apt analogy 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:20.240 even than you intended, because you remember, like how often 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:23.320 in the Paradiso Dante just talks about how like I 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:27.320 couldn't describe what I was seeing. Yeah, it's just and 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:29.920 and certainly when you look at illustrations, it's you know, 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:32.960 you can have a pretty firm map of of of 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:36.680 the inferno, pretty firm map of the mouth of Purgatory. 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:40.360 But yeah, Paradise is just this, like swirling circles and 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:44.320 interconnected wheels. Of course, any of these cinematic examples we're 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.600 looking at, yeah, they they hearken back to Metropolis. Metropolis 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:50.200 is the granddaddy of them all. And Metropolis is one 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:52.320 of those movies that they just stands the test of time. 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:55.880 It's certainly worth taking a look at again. Uh, but 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:58.000 while it is one of the most popular, enduring and 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:01.720 certainly sci fi influential visions of sky bridges and this 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:08.760 interconnected skyscraper world. Um. That film, too, was continuing trends 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:12.800 of futurism, which apparently can be traced back to American 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:17.680 folk artist Erastus Salisbury Field, who lived eighteen o five 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:22.640 through nineteen hundred. So I didn't even live to see Metropolis, 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:28.320 but he did this, this wonderfully intriguing work titled Historical 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:33.080 Monument of the American Republic um eighteen sixty seven through 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:35.720 eighteen eighty eight being the dates on this piece, and 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:38.840 definitely looked this up. You can find images of this 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:41.680 online and Joe, I've included an image of this for 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:44.680 you here. Oh okay, So I think this vision of 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:47.000 the future is that everyone will get to live in 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:50.480 their own Tower of Babel. Yeah it is. It is 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:55.520 very uh brugal esque. I would say these don't instantly 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:58.160 read a skyscrapers to the modern I but I mean 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:01.400 there there are certainly architectural features here that you will 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:05.120 see on modern tall buildings. But yeah, this, this is, 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:09.120 this looks like a fantastic realm. So whereas in a 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:12.360 more mundane age you you have the jealous competition with 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:14.400 your neighbor for who can have the prettier lawn or 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.800 the fancier I don't know, satellite TV antenna. Uh. In 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:22.600 this case, you're competing to see who can kill God first. Yeah. 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:24.440 And if they're gonna pull it off, they're gonna do it. 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:28.160 From these what looked to be like penthouse temples kind 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:32.040 of goes are in in their structure that are all 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:35.240 connected by bridges and have just oodles of statues at 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:38.200 the top. I assume those are statues. Uh, and this 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:41.480 is and they literally appear to be clouds swirling around them. 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:44.480 I mean it's a cool drawing. Yeah. Yeah. So this 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:48.640 was created for the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in eighteen seventy 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:53.200 six and Woulden Safaric the the authors that I referenced 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:57.239 in the first episode. They say that this image influenced 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:00.520 a number of other artists, including Charles R. Land Um 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:05.159 and Vernon hoe Bailey, who created the night Streets High 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:09.120 in the Air illustrations. These are also worth checking out, 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:13.760 and Joe I have included two examples of these for you. Now, 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:17.520 these are not necessarily uh sky bridges are skyways in 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:20.840 the more narrow sense that we're talking about earlier of 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:23.960 basically an enclosed hallway that's got stuff all around the 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:27.760 But these are still interesting because they are ideas of 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:32.800 the bridge connecting skyscrapers buildings at height, having a second 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:37.680 level or maybe multiple levels of lateral connection. But here 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:41.040 they're just open streets. I mean that's interesting too. Yeah, 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:43.560 and you see a train moving through one of them, 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:47.800 like a great worm burrowing through this behemoth. Um. Yeah, 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:50.880 these are these are impressive images that also have uh, 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:53.200 you know, maybe it's the coloration, at least the versions 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:55.919 I have here, Like one is definitely like a charcoal 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:58.680 looking black and white, and the other has this kind 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:03.920 of washed out, um like orange and brown temp to it. 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:06.399 It makes it feel kind of apocalyptic in some ways. 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:09.760 But still this yeah, this was roughly twenty years before 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:14.199 we'd see such images in cinema. Another key twentieth century 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:17.120 figure in all of this was editor and publisher Moses King, 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:22.879 who commissioned many such images for King's Views of New York. Uh. 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:24.680 This was a book that came out, and I've included 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:27.800 a cover from from this publication for you, Joe. And 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:30.320 as you can see, this one's just crazy with it. 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:34.520 They're just bridges connecting all of these skyscrapers, skyscrapers that 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:38.320 that look more um contemporary for this time period. But 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:42.440 then also flying machines galore. Oh, your city is full 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:47.160 of biplanes. Were minds full of triplanes? Yeah, I see 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:51.600 some airships. Uh, pretty fantastic looking. So this is what 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:55.320 would in Safaric have to say in their paper, and 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:58.040 that paper again if anyone wants to check that out, 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:02.000 it is skybridges, a history and a view to the 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:06.720 near future, they write. Quote. The early skybridge sky city 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:10.800 portrayals came about as a direct response to very real 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:14.560 urban issues which were pressing at the time. Primary of 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:17.680 these urban issues was the impact that both tall buildings 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:20.920 and increased vehicular traffic were having on the ground floor 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:25.439 urban condition. Tall buildings were increasingly growing in height and 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:30.520 overcrowding the street, and the conflict between pedestrian and vehicular 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:34.480 traffic was increasing. The recurring themes in all the early 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:38.760 futuristic visions evolved as a response to these problems, both 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:44.160 the stepped back tiered skyscraper and the multi level circulation system. 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:46.639 The stepped back skyscraper was seen as a way to 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:50.080 preserve light and air on congested, over developed New York streets, 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:54.160 and the multi level circulation system a practical organizational tool 0:19:54.440 --> 0:19:57.200 to handle the vast number of new vehicles and people 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:00.600 flooding into the city. Ah, So to come in to rob. 0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:02.680 I don't think you explained this one yet, but the 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:06.760 the idea of the stepped back teared skyscraper results also interesting. 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:09.280 So you're imagining something. Well, actually this might explain the 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:12.400 idea of the why the towers in that drawing look 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:15.359 like the Tower of Babel from from Broigel. You know that, 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:18.919 like it's a terrorists I don't know what you call it, 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:22.640 stadium seating levels? You know that they go back each level. Uh, 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:25.840 and this, I guess would let more light into the city, right, 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:28.680 I mean this this also factored into a few other 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:32.800 design issues that and engineering issues that were were definitely 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:36.000 present in buildings of that time period. And and sometimes 0:20:36.040 --> 0:20:37.719 it was like the code of the city that if 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:40.520 you built it, you had to have upper level stepped 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:44.439 back from the street a certain amount. Interesting. Now, another 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:48.159 another name to mention here American architect, illustrator and poet 0:20:48.480 --> 0:20:52.760 Hugh Ferris no connection to GAYL. Ferris Jr. Ferris Wheel fame. 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:56.640 Their last names are spelled differently, but Hugh Ferris another 0:20:56.680 --> 0:21:00.879 big name who created uh some images for Nines, the 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:04.399 Metropolis of Tomorrow and Joe. If you look at these, 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:09.840 just beautiful art deco black and white illustrations. Uh, you know, 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:13.800 these are pretty fabulous, Like this is Gotham City. They 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:17.360 make me think of the Oscar statue for some reason. Yeah, yeah, 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:25.800 I couldn't say why, but they are very pretty. Thank Yeah, 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:27.640 I guess I just want to drive home that this 0:21:27.640 --> 0:21:32.239 this craving for sky bridges and interconnected skyscrapers like this. 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:34.520 It's it's kind of this mix of this attempt to 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:38.639 solve practical problems while also clearly to you know, to 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:43.800 create beautiful architecture, to bring dreams into physical reality. And 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:46.159 uh and I imagine there's a bit of of of 0:21:46.160 --> 0:21:51.440 of of pushing and pull between those, uh, those aspirations. Well, yeah, 0:21:51.520 --> 0:21:53.879 and I think you you know, we've talked about some 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:57.399 of the dystopian associations of of sky bridges in science fiction, 0:21:57.440 --> 0:21:59.320 but they certainly don't have to have those. And in 0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:03.600 some ways you look at interconnecting higher levels of buildings 0:22:03.640 --> 0:22:08.520 as a very positive social outcome especially given that it 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:12.240 just looks like the reality is urban population density is 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:15.800 probably going to continue to increase. Um. You know, they're 0:22:15.880 --> 0:22:20.080 strong urbanization trends worldwide. People are more often just moving 0:22:20.320 --> 0:22:25.520 further into city centers. Into percent of the world's population 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:29.520 lived in cities. The World Health Organization estimates that by 0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:32.760 twenty fifty that number will probably climb to about sixty 0:22:32.800 --> 0:22:34.959 six percent. It's hard to know for sure, but if 0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:39.320 you know, trends continue, so people are continually crowding more 0:22:39.520 --> 0:22:43.520 and more into cities. Population density is increasing, and where 0:22:43.600 --> 0:22:45.359 we're going to fit all those people that there is 0:22:45.400 --> 0:22:48.640 no way to generate additional surface area, So the main 0:22:48.720 --> 0:22:51.919 direction you have to go would be up or down. Um, 0:22:52.000 --> 0:22:54.159 So I guess you could dig into tunnels, but you know, 0:22:54.240 --> 0:22:57.640 natural light is nice, so you want to go up? Yeah. Yeah. 0:22:57.720 --> 0:23:00.439 And and to your point, like access is also a 0:23:00.480 --> 0:23:03.520 big point that's not necessarily going to be as baked 0:23:03.520 --> 0:23:07.159 into the architectural design. Um, you know, just to to 0:23:07.280 --> 0:23:09.080 take it in a different direction. It's like the difference 0:23:09.119 --> 0:23:13.719 between a fully public park and a and a membership 0:23:14.720 --> 0:23:17.159 based golf course in a city. Yes, like one of 0:23:17.200 --> 0:23:20.600 the they're both big green spaces. But they're totally different 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:23.119