Here. In the desert. A lone monument stands. Towering away to endless heights. A never-ending construction into the infinite sky. Forever rising to ruins, the limits of nature becomes a mirror to man’s limitless ambitions.
The endless race to build the tallest tower in the world have persisted since the dawn of architecture. Whether it was created for gods and goddesses, religious beliefs, the war of wealth, pride and power and more, man has always dream of building taller. Countries and corporations are racing skyward and breaking records consecutively. Inverse to global economic growth, lands are becoming rare and scarce in urban cities. The rapid technological advancements also make the construction of skyscrapers more technically and commercially viable like never before in history. This have spark interests in academic and popular culture to showcase landmark and buildings through photography, film, and literature as either the beacon of science and modernity, the ruins of a society, and all in between.
We envision a monument which records the height of the highest structures of the past, present and future to celebrate the achievements of architectural wonders while reflecting on the transient nature of the man-made. It is an unending construction with each section built on top of the last.
From afar one can see all of skyscraper’s history in one single take, and experience the absolute contrast between the horizontal and the vertical, the contours and the right angle, the man-made and the god-made. The construction can be viewed from all sides without any obstruction. The monument is a living history of the built environment which supersedes all that is in the background. The incomprehensibility of its scale is that which makes us realize our own subjectivity and scale. It is a landmark, an ever-ascending composition soaring infinitely into the sky. Up close, one can enter into the void of the monument to look up, the sky appears as a single square dot. There is a permanent scaffolding within the void of the monument to create the next section atop.
The core structure is a series of concrete sections representing historical heights from the ancient pyramids to present-day skyscrapers. When a new record is broken, the monument does not exceed but simply matches the height of that construction; a chronological recording of history in a 1:1 scale. The natural weathering of concrete over a period of time will show not only the age of the cast but also the construction technique of that particular era. The different combinations in the shade, color and texture is what makes each casting of concrete unique to one another. A structural palimpsest of accumulated iterations, the physical layers show the evidence of the former predecessor akin to archaeological remains.
With the intentionally limited 30m. x 30m. structural footprint of the monument will come to an eventual downfall in the future. While standing, the structure is a living history waiting for its own exhibition upon its collapse. Its colossal ruins will generate the structural framework for a new museum, highlight the ephemeral nature of all things man-made and the transferability/adaptability of structures to new functions. Its expression, singular; its interpretation, infinite.
