geometry of wealth — Tarik Yildirim

Ownership of space has always been the paradigmatic way of displaying wealth. (See the previous post exploring the relationship between power and void.)

In modern times the geometry of status spaces has changed thanks to the development of various enabling technologies that led to greater concentrations of people living in cities.

Previously, the wealthy owned huge swaths of land. Now they own skyscrapers. This simple change of coordinates created impressive perceptional differences:

Horizontal spaces could only be experienced tangentially by the outsiders and therefore looked small relative to their actual sizes. Vertical spaces on the other hand are completely exposed to the gazing eyes, revealing the full glory of wealth.
Now the poor literally look up to the wealthy. What was once an abstract status hierarchy has acquired a physical form as well.