Monday, January 11, 2010

I'VE SEEN YOU SOMEWHERE BEFORE


Frank Lloyd Wright drew the sketch of the skyscraper on the left in 1956 and called it simply, "The Illinois". The Illinois, which was never built, was to rise a mile high, and was envisioned as a totally self-sufficient vertical city to combat urban sprawl. I remember seeing the sketch years ago in a book of Wright's work. This past weekend I was in Dubai and saw the magnificent Burj Khalifa, currently the world's tallest building, rising roughly half a mile high. The two buildings are strikingly similar in design, and I found out later that Wright's sketch inspired the Chicago based design firm of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill who designed the Burj Khalifa.

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