Vertical Lift, Elevator, Paternoster: A Cultural History of Vertical Transport

The elevator is today considered a safe and modern means of transportation which even a child can operate and which everyone uses as a matter of course. However, the enthusiasm for the vertical movement, for the "earth-bound ascension" still influences the creative works of architects, writers, artists and filmmakers.

Still in the 1920s literati spoke of the "roaring lift of time" and thus captured in words a new "American" way of life. The fascination with the vertical movement inspired directors to make films which were able to capture the modern view of space in pictures which until then had not been seen.

Building planners used the elevator not only to literally build high-risers in the sky, but also, with the use of transparent lifts or panorama elevators, to make it possible to experience achitecture in unusual ways.

Through the essays on the subject, this book attempts to introduce a largely forgotten chapter in the history of technology. It sets out to illustrate the successful history of a means of transportation in various cultural contexts and thereby entice the readers to newly discover a familiar and unfamiliar part of our everyday culture.