Elevator as a mediating technology of organization

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This chapter examines the rise of the elevator from the mid-nineteenth century onwards and its ramifications for the organization, perception, and imagination of multi-storey buildings. The early history of the elevator is of particular interest because it resides, as it were, in the gap between an old and a new organization of space, and registers its very points of transition. To reconstruct the elevator’s medial and organizational power, four main problem areas are identified: ‘breaches’, ‘hierarchies’, ‘controls’, and ‘interiors’. These areas address the specific verticality of the elevator building, the new hierarchical order of the storeys, the development of control elements, and the hermetic space of the elevator cabin.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationOxford Handbook of Media, Technology and Organization Studies
EditorsTimon Beyes, Robin Holt, Claus Pias
Number of pages11
Place of PublicationOxford
PublisherOxford University Press
Publication date12.12.2019
Pages214-224
ISBN (print)9780198809913
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12.12.2019