“From the strategic high placement of ancient fortresses to the more studied gardens of Le Nôtre – laying out a seemingly endless view of the king’s domain – a view, and thus a high place, has been reserved to those who rule,” writes Philip Jodidio in the introduction of [Taschen’s new book Rooftops: Islands in the Sky](https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/architecture/all/04643/facts.rooftops_islands_in_the_sky.htm). Yet despite its height, the urban rooftop has often been neglected. Jodidio points out that in New York, museums such as the Guggenheim by Frank Lloyd Wright or the original Whitney Museum of American Art by Marcel Breuer did not make full use of their rooftop spaces. That is now changing: Renzo Piano’s new Whitney has several outdoor terraces open to the public, and the Museum of Modern Art features a roof garden, though this was designed purely to improve the views from neighbouring buildings. “It cannot be visited or even seen by museumgoers”, says Jodidio. Created on top of MoMA’s extension by Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi, the space appears like an oasis of nature from above, and yet in the tradition of a Japanese ‘dry’ garden, it contains no plants. Inspired by military camouflage, Smith used plastic rocks, crushed glass, recycled rubber mulch and roof ballast to sculpt artificial nature high above the streets. (Credit: Peter Mauss/ESTO)