Skyphilia: The Role of High Structures in the Formation of Space Identity

This study explores how high structures shape the space identity through a vertical form of self-alienation and transcendence, which is proposed as skyphilia to be the counterpart of topophilia in this study. Three hierarchical concepts, namely, topophilia, topophobia, and skyphilia are elaborated to understand the relationship between man and the environment. Accordingly, different motivations to form the space identity are discovered based on various psychological cognitions. Typical high structures characterized by distinctive identities, ranging from the primitive societies to modern metropolia, such as the Babel Tower, the Egyptian Pyramids and Obelisks, the Eiffel Tower, the Sagrada Familia, the Burj Khalifa Tower, and the Golden Gate Bridge, are studied comparatively to discover their common base and differences in forming the space identity. The constituent motivations of skyphilia are specifically discussed, i.e., (1) the functional requirements of various high structures, (2) the materialistic symbolism to represent material sufficiency or technical excellence by alienating itself through height, and (3) the spiritual symbolism to reflect people’s desire to transcend the world skyward. At last, the Zifeng Tower of Nanjing will be taken as an example with four modes of horizontality to build the equilibrium between topophilia and skyphilia. The results show that skyphilia and topophilia are two parallel ways to overcome the primitive topophobia through self-affirmation and self-alienation, but they may also lead to the other two kinds of topophobia characterized by over-affirmation and over-alienation. Skyphilia could be achieved by balancing its constituent motivations, and equilibrium between topophilia and skyphilia is essential for the space identity in modern cities.