Skyscrapers, up close and personal

While it may be reasonable to assume that the items featured in a museum exhibition be small enough to fit into a room (or at least into the museum itself), or that they would actually, well, exist, such is not always the case.

This summer, for example, the Museum of Modern Art has been casting a curator's eye on skyscrapers - few of which are finished structures, and none of which would fit through the front door. In the MoMA's temporary Queen's headquarters, this dilemma was solved with the use of models. On the companion website, the solution included, but was not limited to, the 2-D world of artists' conceptions - and given the necessarily virtual nature of the artifacts in both locations, and the opportunity for leisurely at-home viewing online, MoMA: Tall Buildings may be one of those few exhibits which is actually better surveyed on the web.

Online-and-in-person, Tall Buildings features twenty-five skyscrapers, designed for locations around the world within - roughly - the last ten years. This isn't a list of the twenty-five tallest structures, and as mentioned, not all the buildings here have actually been - or, in some cases, ever will be-built. Rather, these examples have been chosen (as with any self-respecting curated exhibition) for their innovation, and value in the context of, "compare and contrast."

And there is a good deal of variety to facilitate that purpose - not to mention a few examples that might generate reactions along the lines of, "They can't be serious" or, "What were they thinking?" (Also a common phenomenon at many art exhibits.)

As for the site itself, the all-Flash production commences with an altitude profile of the featured buildings - presented in a single silhouetted skyline and individually accessible via the "growth chart" that remains on the home page. (Opening into its own window, the exhibit requires a screen resolution of at least 800x600 pixels - and uses all of that space on the small screen.)

Choose a building, and the site presents a full page portrait of the subject, along with such facts as height, date-of-design (and projected date-of-completion if applicable), and links to detailed information. An Intro page reveals the building's geographic location, relative stature in its home town, and the thinking behind the architect's design. The Profile goes into deeper architectural detail with site and floor plans, the distribution of space into such categories as commercial, residential, and recreational use, and minor details like the budgeted cost. Finally, the Gallery offers whatever artist's renditions are available. (Options here vary greatly from project to project, and range from very basic sketches to near photo-realistic digital images and one or two actual photographs.)

There are three options for navigating between buildings - all convenient and unobtrusive. First, Previous and Next buttons reside in the lower left of every page, next to a "By Heights" option, which reloads the skyline silhouettes - this time more generously spaced along a scrolling scale. (Visitors can also compare by geographic distribution, each building's total area, and use of floor space.) Finally, a drop down menu at the top of every page holds the previous options as well as a set of "Design Issues" links - which explore such factors as aerodynamic considerations (e.g., using tanks of water on your roof to reduce swaying in high winds), and Structural Technologies.

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