Triangulating Skyscraper Summits Across New York, Montreal, and Shanghai
The lecture aims to unravel the combination of skyscrapers’ crowns as an architectural typology and their observation platforms as a new sky-line-scraper. This study presents a unique triangular comparison: New York, the birthplace of skyscrapers; Shanghai, the contemporary vertical metropolis; and Montreal, a city where unique topography shapes skyscraper evolution despite not being traditionally considered a vertical city. By examining these three distinct urban contexts, we explore how geographical, historical, and cultural factors influence the development and function of skyscraper summits, offering fresh perspectives on urban skylines and architectural innovation.
Mandana Bafghinia is a Paris-based architect, designer, and artist focusing on urban comparative studies of high-rise developments and cross-cultural analysis in the redevelopment of the contemporary city. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in architecture and geography in a joint program between the University of Montreal and the University of Lyon 2 in 2023.
Her research is focused on a theory of architecture, visual urban landscapes, and visual culture, which she addressed through relations between North America, Europe, and Asia. Bafghinia scrutinizes the relationship between the skyscrapers and their broader urban context, with a particular emphasis on the effects generated by their summit.
Bafghinia has taught in several universities and schools of architecture in France, Canada, and Italy (ENSA Paris-La Villette, University of Montreal and IUAV Venice) In 2019, upon receipt of a research award from the “Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat” she led a research team on the timely subject of skyscrapers as a complex response to rising waters.
In addition to teaching and academic research, she has designed and collaborated in several exhibitions, such as “Building a new New World, Amerikanism in Russian Architecture” (CCA Canadian Center for Architecture, year 2019), among others. She practiced architecture in the Middle East, Europe, and North America.