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Old Posted Oct 24, 2011, 4:50 PM
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You can tell a lot about a society by the tallest structures they create

Hi Everyone,

Once I was told, "you can tell a lot about a society by the tallest structures they create". I was wondering, in your city, or a city you like, what purpose did some of the tallest structures serve over time?

I'd love to see some examples and pictures. (eg, in earlier America, church steeple's often rose above all else displaying a dominance and importance of religion)
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Old Posted Oct 24, 2011, 6:37 PM
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...which were then displaced by skyscrapers ("cathedrals of commerce") and even some city hall towers, displaying the increasing importance of commerce and government...

...Church steeple height is also descended from European tradition and the Gothic cathedral. It is also closely related to Muslim minarets and the towers on Hindu and Buddhist temple complexes (e.g. Angkor Wat). Pagodas in China and Japan also show this religious impulse, even more explicitly in Shinto and Zen Japan. The same is true with the great Mesoamerican pyramids.

...The need for fortification also dominates these societies. Castles, towers, and city walls abound.

What about in Roman society? Greek? Persian? And such...
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Old Posted Oct 25, 2011, 12:37 AM
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In Naugatuck, the tallest structure is a church.


Sarah M. Johnson

For a while though, the tallest structures were the smokestacks of industry, the Naugatuck Chemical company.


http://www.city-data.com/picfilesv/picv31696.php

The demolition of the stacks(see my avatar) was a punctuation mark to the decline of industry in Naugatuck. Nothing is going to be built taller than the church anytime soon because of a recently enacted height limit.
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Old Posted Oct 25, 2011, 1:11 AM
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Must say a lot about Europe that the tallest structures they create are all broadcasting masts and smokestacks, which, coincidentally, now take up 53% of our diagram database thanks to the bizarrely obsessed work of forum member Alpha.
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Old Posted Oct 25, 2011, 3:27 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scalziand View Post
In Naugatuck, the tallest structure is a church.



For a while though, the tallest structures were the smokestacks of industry, the Naugatuck Chemical company.


The demolition of the stacks(see my avatar) was a punctuation mark to the decline of industry in Naugatuck. Nothing is going to be built taller than the church anytime soon because of a recently enacted height limit.
Great Example! Thanks
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Old Posted Oct 25, 2011, 10:33 PM
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The Kennecott Smokestack: Just outside of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area and visible from downtown Salt Lake City. At 1,215 ft. high (370.4 meters), it's the tallest freestanding structure west of the Mississippi. This is symbolic of the West because we like to tear up mountains and extract their resources. It's what made us successful. Anyway, people used to think that you needed a much higher percentage of ore in the earth in order to make a mine profitable, but then the Bingham Canyon Mine pioneered the technique of open pit mining and large scale smelting and now a mountain top is gone. Even though this is a copper mine, the sheer bulk in what is smelted from this giant operation has produced way more gold and silver than any mine in Utah (which is saying something). Back before the mine was giant it supplied 1/3 of all the copper to the Allies during WWII. If you contrast the SLC metro's uber smokestack to the 1,149 foot Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas, that pretty much gives you an idea of just how radically different the two economies are.



Kennecott Smelter by dmitriyk, on Flickr



Bingham Canyon Mine? - SLC UT by BJGREFE <-- Thanks IT Department, on Flickr


Kennecott Copper by arbyreed, on Flickr


In this image you can see the smokestack in the distance from downtown.

Salt Lake skyline from the University Medical Center by CountyLemonade, on Flickr


This image is just for fun; I like this angle of downtown Salt Lake City better.

Skyline with a Trax train by CountyLemonade, on Flickr

Last edited by s.p.hansen; Oct 25, 2011 at 11:16 PM.
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Old Posted Oct 25, 2011, 10:43 PM
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That smokestack is badass! I had no idea it existed!

Beautiful scenery.
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