Altaplana, world of Francois Schuiten and Benoit Peeters

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Ferriss, Hugh

Hugh Ferriss (18891962) was an American delineator (one who creates perspective drawings of buildings) and architect.

According to Daniel Okrent, Ferriss never designed a single noteworthy building, but after his death a colleague said he 'influenced my generation of architects' more than any other man.

Ferriss also influenced popular culture, for example Gotham City (the setting for Batman) and Kerry Conran's Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow 1).

Hugh Ferriss: Study for the maximum mass allowed by the New York Zoning Law of 1916.


Hugh Ferriss: Visionary vertical structures on wide avenues. “The Metropolis of Tomorrow” (1929).


His style favoured the monumental approach. Robick thought of him as a great master 2).

Original drawing for the preface of the first edition of La Fièvre d'Urbicande, signed “E. Robick”, plate n°3, Graphite on paper 29,3 X 21,2 cm


La Fièvre d'Urbicande, page 40 box 3