Eine Plattform für die Wissenschaft: Bauingenieurwesen, Architektur und Urbanistik
Eine Plattform für die Wissenschaft: Bauingenieurwesen, Architektur und Urbanistik
Tumult unchained: the Chicago Board of Trade pits and the order of noise
By the early twentieth century, the trading floor of the Chicago Board of Trade had become notorious for the immense noise of the iconic octagonal pits in the commodity exchange. The sounds of traders shouting prices, and frenetically flashing hand signals to buy or sell, created an environment of overwhelming disorderliness. Yet, this chaotic performance was actually the product of strict regulations instituted by the Board to limit transactions to the octagonal pits only during the trading hours officially marked by a bell or gong. As a result, these limitations of architecture and sound concentrated the merchants’ activities. The flurry that came to characterise the unruliness of the Board of Trade intensified through the late nineteenth century with innovations in communication technology, and new methods of moving and storing grain that allowed unprecedented precision in predicting the market. Trading in futures transformed the global commodities market, becoming increasingly opaque and especially suspicious to a general public. This article argues that it was the noise of the pits, rationalised by the merchants as a natural process of the market, that made the otherwise abstracted and invisible forces of the market perceivable and reinforced the claims to legitimacy of the transactions performed.
Tumult unchained: the Chicago Board of Trade pits and the order of noise
By the early twentieth century, the trading floor of the Chicago Board of Trade had become notorious for the immense noise of the iconic octagonal pits in the commodity exchange. The sounds of traders shouting prices, and frenetically flashing hand signals to buy or sell, created an environment of overwhelming disorderliness. Yet, this chaotic performance was actually the product of strict regulations instituted by the Board to limit transactions to the octagonal pits only during the trading hours officially marked by a bell or gong. As a result, these limitations of architecture and sound concentrated the merchants’ activities. The flurry that came to characterise the unruliness of the Board of Trade intensified through the late nineteenth century with innovations in communication technology, and new methods of moving and storing grain that allowed unprecedented precision in predicting the market. Trading in futures transformed the global commodities market, becoming increasingly opaque and especially suspicious to a general public. This article argues that it was the noise of the pits, rationalised by the merchants as a natural process of the market, that made the otherwise abstracted and invisible forces of the market perceivable and reinforced the claims to legitimacy of the transactions performed.
Tumult unchained: the Chicago Board of Trade pits and the order of noise
Roman, Gretta Tritch (Autor:in)
The Journal of Architecture ; 23 ; 1030-1045
18.08.2018
16 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
Tumult unchained: the Chicago Board of Trade pits and the order of noise
| British Library Online Contents | 2018
| Elsevier | 1986
The inglorious microbook of Genesis, unchained
| British Library Online Contents | 2018