The Theory of Verticality

Ever since I began my studies in architecture, I’ve been drawn to tall buildings and height. There’s something primal about the human need to build tall, and it’s something I’ve spent countless hours thinking about. Throughout my studies, I would read books on the subject, and nearly all of them would acknowledge that humans have an inner drive for height, but not one went on to explore why this was true.[1]

Why do humans have an innate need to escape the surface of the earth?

The Theory of Verticality seeks to answer this question.

The resulting paths of thought have spanned many different subjects. The deeper the studies go, it becomes clear that this need began to develop in us before we were even human. It’s primal, timeless, and it’s been a struggle fought by every member of our species who’s ever lived.

Introduction to Verticality
Homo sapiens and our need for verticality

To understand how deep this need goes, we must first understand how we got here in the first place.

Where did our need for verticality begin?

Two paths of thought form the basis of an answer to this:

The physical sciences make up our unchanging context. These are the universal constants that govern our existence in the universe.

Part I: The Context
The universal elements of our lives on planet earth

The life sciences are the natural phenomena we’re surrounded by, as well as the system of evolution that we’re a result of.

Part II: The Seeds of Verticality
Natural phenomena throughout our context that exhibit verticality

How did we evolve to develop our need for verticality?

Two paths of thought build on the previous subjects to form the basis of an answer to this:

Anthropology is the study of our physical bodies and our cultures. After descending from the trees, we evolved to be bipedal, which had profound effects on our perceptions of the world around us.

Part III: Inception
Our first act of descension and our first act of ascension

Our source code still carries baggage from our arboreal lifestyle, however, which contributes to our angst over our surface-based existence.

Part IV: Beating the System
Homo Sapiens becomes the first animal to escape the food chain

How have we manifested our need for verticality throughout history?

The theory splits into two threads at this point:

The first thread is how we’ve externalized our need for verticality through architecture. The built environment is a reflection of a society’s values, and our need for verticality has featured prominently throughout history.

The second thread explores our primal need to fly. Ever since we descended from the trees, we’ve looked to the sky and sought to fly as birds do. This thread includes the history of aeronautics, aviation, and astronautics.

The Verticality of Architecture

These chapters build from the previous sections and outline our attempts to externalize our need for verticality throughout history:

Part V: Global Threads
How Defense and God provided the initial thrust for the verticality narrative

Part VI: Archetypes
Our initial attempts to get closer to the sky in each of the five cradles of civilization

Part VII: Heavens on Earth
Humanity's first major attempts to recreate heaven on earth

Part VIII: God versus Ego
The human world becomes as important as the world of God

Part IX: Man Upends God
The needs of humanity become more important than the needs of God

Part X: Conquering the Skies
The race for height that led to humans colonizing the skies

Part XI: Breaking the Box
A rebellion against spacecraft and efforts to humanize our tall buildings

Part XII: A Never-ending Struggle
How humanity will never rid itself of the need to escape the surface

The Verticality of Flight

I’m currently researching the history of flight and composing the corresponding theory around the material. Chapters coming soon!

In the meantime, check out the research I’ve been doing into flying machines here.



[1]: Many authors have acknowledged our inner drive for height, but do not get specific about why this is true. See: Binder, Georges. 101 Of The World's Tallest Buildings. Victoria: Images Publishing Group, 2006. 8-9.; Goldberger, Paul. The Skyscraper. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1981. 80.; Heinle, Erwin, and Fritz Leonhardt. Towers: A Historical Survey. New York: Rizzoli, 1989. 7.; Huxtable, Ada Louise. The Tall Building Artistically Reconsidered: The Search For A Skyscraper Style. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1984. 99.; Korom, Joseph J. The American Skyscraper, 1850-1940: A Celebration of Height. Boston: Branden Books, 2008. 15.; Nobel, Philip. "Introduction: The Future of the Skyscraper." In The Future of the Skyscraper: SOM Thinkers Series, 6-15. New York, NY: Metropolis Books, 2015. 8-9.; Van Leeuwen, Thomas A.P. The Skyward Trend of Thought: Five Essays on the Metaphysics of the American Skyscraper. 's-Gravenhage: AHA Books, 1986. 63.