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Technical Tower Buildings. A History of the Productive Vertical.
Technische Turmbauwerke. Zur Geschichte produktiver Vertikalen.
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 16:07:31
Abstract
Water towers, silos, fire watch towers and distillation towers: Why were they built - as towers? How did their vertical orientation reorganize the perception, control and use of space? How did the function of the tower shape its form?The seminar investigates technical tower buildings from the perspective of the history of technology and of construction.
Objective
Students will be introduced to the interdependencies of technical, architectural and social change. Through the interdisciplinary implementation of the seminar, the students learn from each other different techniques of scientific work, as well as analytical approaches to technical buildings.
Content
Technical tower buildings are sites of distribution, storage and transformation. These functions are closely related to their vertical orientation. High rising television towers can better distribute signals, water towers allow constant pressure for water distribution and distillation towers the gradual fractionation of crude oil. Towers work on their own or as an element of a homogeneous or heterogeneous collective. Outlook towers autonomously guide the visitors' views to the surroundings; a wide-area forest firefighting operation can rely on an infrastructure network of fire watch towers; the tower-like structures of an industrial site or a rocket launch site create a visually as well as functionally mixed ensemble. Why were towers built? How did they reorganise the perception, control and use of space? How did a new relation between visibility and view, between closeness and distance, between communication and control, between past and future develop in the use of towers - through their appearance itself, during ascent and descent, through filling and emptying, as well as through their use? How did the function of the tower shape its form? How did conversions or extensions change proven and familiar tower typologies so that individual towers became unique buildings? We will use approaches from the history of construction and the history of technology to investigate these questions. The first part of the seminar is dedicated to the reading of secondary texts and the methodological introduction (documentation on investigations on site, classification and constructive analysis of buildings, research in archives, source analysis); in the second part, individual objects, ensembles or infrastructural tower networks will be examined in group work.
General Information
- Language
- German
- Levels
- DS , DR , MSC
Examination
- Type
- graded semester performance
Registration & Places
- Max Places
- 30
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| seminar | Technische Turmbauwerke. Zur Geschichte produktiver Vertikalen. |
|
2 h weekly |
Offered In
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Science in Perspective (In “Science in Perspective”-courses students learn to reflect on ETH’s STEM subjects from the perspective of humanities, political and social sciences. Only the courses listed below will be recognized as "Science in Perspective" courses.)
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Type A: Enhancement of Reflection Competence (SiP courses are recommended for bachelor students after their first-year examination and for all master- or doctoral students. All SiP courses are listed in Type A. Courses listed under Type B are only recommendations for enrollment for specific departments.)
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Type B: Reflection About Subject-Specific Methods and Contents (Subject-specific courses. Particularly relevant for students interested in those subjects. All these courses are also listed under the category “Typ A”, and every student can enroll in these courses.)
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Doctorate Humanities, Social and Political Sciences (More Information at: )