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Up, Down, Across: Elevators, Escalators, and Moving Sidewalks
The impact of cars, trains, and planes on our landscape, buildings, and culture has been well documented, but an account of the history of elevators, escalators, and moving sidewalks has previously been far from complete. Filling this gap, this landmark publication documents the extraordinary impact of these methods of human conveyance on the urban and suburban landscape, building types, and culture worldwide.
Though elevators, escalators, and moving sidewalks are used by millions of people daily, they are often taken for granted by their riders. By design, many of these devices have become seamless within their surroundings. Function has often superseded form, as building and station managers have sought to move tenants and passengers through to their destinations with ease and efficiency. Yet there is a re-emerging desire to make conveyance mechanisms the spectacles they once were. Elevators and their support frames pulled out from hidden shafts for display in soaring atriums, escalators with different coloured steps and handrails, and moving sidewalks that turn corners are just some of the innovations that are helping these devices to get noticed.
Engagingly and authoritatively written and illustrated with widely sourced images that range from historical prints, photographs, and movie stills to the latest computer renderings, Up, Down, Across makes a long-overdue and valuable addition to urban and architectural studies and cultural history.
Though elevators, escalators, and moving sidewalks are used by millions of people daily, they are often taken for granted by their riders. By design, many of these devices have become seamless within their surroundings. Function has often superseded form, as building and station managers have sought to move tenants and passengers through to their destinations with ease and efficiency. Yet there is a re-emerging desire to make conveyance mechanisms the spectacles they once were. Elevators and their support frames pulled out from hidden shafts for display in soaring atriums, escalators with different coloured steps and handrails, and moving sidewalks that turn corners are just some of the innovations that are helping these devices to get noticed.
Engagingly and authoritatively written and illustrated with widely sourced images that range from historical prints, photographs, and movie stills to the latest computer renderings, Up, Down, Across makes a long-overdue and valuable addition to urban and architectural studies and cultural history.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 10, 2022
It had some science and engineering, but was aimed more toward people interested in the social, cultural, and artistic impact of elevators and escalators.
April 11, 2019
I pulled this off a library shelf at random because I knew nothing of the subject. There is much here that's very informative (3 stars), but it's the spectacular diagrams that show how this moving machines work, and incredible photographs of the results of architect's dreams. (Thus, a 4th star.)
One idea/photo particularly impressive was of a floor, about the size of a bedroom, centered in a house so that the owner, in a wheelchair, could simply move up and down and easily access all parts of the house. Otis, the original inventor of the idea, and the Otis company developed an "Odyssey system" in which an elevator could move horizontally, say, through a parking lot, then vertically or horizontally through a building. And, since the shafts were designed to hand more than one cab, height restrictions could be removed. This book presents a great diagram and explanation as to how this would work, but the system was never put in place: when 9/11 occurred, the huge elephant in the room got even bigger, as there was no system in development to get people down and out of a high-rise fast in case of non-functioning elevators. (And I don't think there is a system anywhere in place now.)
While living in California, I used to marvel, when crossing the Long Beach bridge/highway extending over the Long Beach port, at the fields of endless and mostly orange container boxes. This book says there was no such thing as these container boxes until 1956 when they were invented by Malcome McLean, and that led to the "Vertical Reciprocating Conveyor' which led to 95% of the world's freight being carried via sea.
And just imagine the power of escalators in department stores: displays of merchandise come into view that would otherwise remain unnoticed and thus unsold. Amusement Parks? In 1903, Coney Island's Luna Park offered an inclined elevator up to a chute that landed riders on a mattress-type flooring-with attendants available for safety. The ride's name was 'Helter Skelter' and eventually riders could choose between 3 different chutes to the ground. And off we went to build bigger and better roller coasters.
There are so many fascinating details and uses: what has worked, what hasn't worked, and what might work in the future. Even if you don't read the prose, a flip through the book for a review of the photographs is well worth one's time. If I'd had this book, say, in my freshman year of college, I might have been inspired to solve the evacuation problem of high-rises. Imagine! Perhaps I still can...
One idea/photo particularly impressive was of a floor, about the size of a bedroom, centered in a house so that the owner, in a wheelchair, could simply move up and down and easily access all parts of the house. Otis, the original inventor of the idea, and the Otis company developed an "Odyssey system" in which an elevator could move horizontally, say, through a parking lot, then vertically or horizontally through a building. And, since the shafts were designed to hand more than one cab, height restrictions could be removed. This book presents a great diagram and explanation as to how this would work, but the system was never put in place: when 9/11 occurred, the huge elephant in the room got even bigger, as there was no system in development to get people down and out of a high-rise fast in case of non-functioning elevators. (And I don't think there is a system anywhere in place now.)
While living in California, I used to marvel, when crossing the Long Beach bridge/highway extending over the Long Beach port, at the fields of endless and mostly orange container boxes. This book says there was no such thing as these container boxes until 1956 when they were invented by Malcome McLean, and that led to the "Vertical Reciprocating Conveyor' which led to 95% of the world's freight being carried via sea.
And just imagine the power of escalators in department stores: displays of merchandise come into view that would otherwise remain unnoticed and thus unsold. Amusement Parks? In 1903, Coney Island's Luna Park offered an inclined elevator up to a chute that landed riders on a mattress-type flooring-with attendants available for safety. The ride's name was 'Helter Skelter' and eventually riders could choose between 3 different chutes to the ground. And off we went to build bigger and better roller coasters.
There are so many fascinating details and uses: what has worked, what hasn't worked, and what might work in the future. Even if you don't read the prose, a flip through the book for a review of the photographs is well worth one's time. If I'd had this book, say, in my freshman year of college, I might have been inspired to solve the evacuation problem of high-rises. Imagine! Perhaps I still can...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews