Though slim in volume, "Tall Buildings in Historic Centers" is rich with information specific to the disparate stratospheres of landmarks-organizations and tall buildings - because often the two collide. Unique to this study is: not just the finite practice of the collision – with its metrics, legislations, and countless built examples – but also the broader disciplinary problem (or promise) that the collision poses for architecture. The possibility that the surging capital motives of private real-estate development and the weight of social value can exist side-by-side – or bound – reassures the role of the architect in the future shaping of cities. More profoundly, this alludes to the responsibility an architect can hold in shaping history and capitalism.
