Outline or shape viewed near the horizon
A
skyline
is the
outline
or
shape
viewed near the
horizon
. It can be created by a
city
's overall structure, or by human intervention in a
rural
setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the land.
City skylines serve as a pseudo-
fingerprint
as no two skylines are alike. For this reason, news and sports programs, television shows, and movies often display the skyline of a city to set a location. The term
The Sky Line of
New York City
was introduced in 1896, when it was the title of a color
lithograph
by
Charles Graham
for the color supplement of the
New York Journal
.
[1]
Paul D. Spreiregen,
FAIA
, has called a [city] skyline "a physical representation [of a city's] facts of life ... a potential work of art ... its collective vista."
[2]
Features
[
edit
]
High-rise buildings
[
edit
]
High-rise buildings
, including
skyscrapers
, are the fundamental feature of
urban
skylines.
[3]
[4]
Both
contours
and
cladding
(brick or glass) make an impact on the overall appearance of a skyline.
Towers
[
edit
]
Towers from different
eras
make for contrasting skylines.
San Gimignano
, in
Tuscany
, Italy, has been described as having an "unforgettable skyline" with its competitively built towers.
[5]
Remote locations
[
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]
Some remote locations have notably striking skylines, created either by nature or by sparse human settlement in an environment not conducive to housing significant populations.
Architectural design
[
edit
]
Norman Foster
served as architect for
the Gherkin
in
London
and the
Hearst Tower
in
Midtown Manhattan
, and these buildings have added to their cities' skylines.
Use in media
[
edit
]
Skylines are often used as
backgrounds
and
establishing shots
in film, television programs, news websites, and in other forms of media.
Subjective ranking
[
edit
]
Several services rank skylines based on their own subjective criteria.
Emporis
is one such service, which uses height and other data to give point values to buildings and add them together for skylines. The three cities it ranks highest are
Hong Kong
,
New York City
, and
Singapore
.
[6]
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Skylines
.