BI££IONAIR€$

william_kent

Well-known member
I know they're unoccupied and done up for the tour, but 'sterile' is one word which comes to mind looking at these places. They don't look as though you could ever really live in them or that they're even designed to be lived in. They look made to be empty.


there's a few documentaries about that rash of high rise apartments in New York, stealing sunlight from their neighbours, standing empty ( approx 20% occupancy ) and how they are just "investment opportunities" which are never intended to be lived in, just assets to be held on to and then sold at a profit
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Currently for sale and by far Europe's most expensive home at approximately $456 million, the connecting bubbles representing one room each, is spread over six levels on 1.75 acres on a cliff with 180-degree-views over the Mediterranean.
 

woops

is not like other people
One problem, what you could possibly call these properties' ostentatiousness, is that they often go for uber-legible symbols of wealth, shit that would be appealing to Joe Plumber—a bowling alley, to pair with your six pack! Endless candy dispensers! A grand piano!
i've read this exact thing about the Trump gold 'n' glitz aesthetic
image


^the perfect set for sartre's No Exit
"investment opportunities" which are never intended to be lived in, just assets to be held on to and then sold at a profit
i thought this went for most of the new builds in London as well?
 

catalog

Well-known member
Bourdieu spends an entire book (Distinction) trying to say this, but you've managed to sum it up in a sentence. The structure of fields makes both high taste and high economic earnings a near impossibility.
This is a bit like the caste system in Hinduism, where the priest caste is designated as the head and the kingly/warrior cast is designated as the arms and chest. So the (poor) priest are higher up in the chain than the (rich) Kings and in fact money is considered a pollutant. All that has changed, if you follow this line, is that we've swapped closeness to God for aesthetics.
 

catalog

Well-known member
this zine i was reading a while back (https://roughtradebooks.com/products/the-cult-of-water-david-bramwell-pete-fowler) has a quote in it from alan moore where he talks about that aspect of tall buildings in the local area being meaningful.

in my local wider area of Huddersfield, the three tall landmarks are:

1. Closest: household waste recycling facility chiney
2. Middle distance: Castle Hill - ancient site later used for signalling, with a 'Victoria Tower' at the top
3. Distance: Emley Moor Mast - tallest concrete structure in the UK, taller than the Eiffel tower, responsible for satellite and telecommunications. Only building in UK from which both coasts are visible.

Which I take to mean: the burning of waste is now more important than receiving information.

In Manchester, the tall landmarks are Strangeways prison tower and the cranes, so make of that what you will
 
Top