The skyscrapers of today are the cathedrals and pyramids of previous times.
Skyscrapers symbolize romance, drama, and spectacular beauty. They are marvels of design and engineering as they loom more than a quarter of a mile high in cities famous for their skylines, such as New York City.
Building Big is a five-part miniseries sponsored by the Public Broadcasting Service and hosted by renowned author-illustrator David Macaulay. The series explores the history behind the great engineering feats of the world -- bridges, domes, skyscrapers, dams, and tunnels.
In the Skyscraper segment, we learn that the tallest building today, the Petronas Towers, was built in 1996 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in Southeast Asia. It takes 3 months just to wash the glass and stainless steel building and a flexible skybridge connects the two towers, for safety and convenience.
The Petronas Towers building was not designed to take the tallest building record from the Sears Tower in Chicago but when the design was almost finished it was only 5 meters shy of being the tallest building so the decision was made to increase the height and take the record. Architects in Chicago are now working on the design of a new building to take back their record. The Japanese have designed a half-mile high conical tower but there have been no plans announced to build it.
In the early twentieth century the race for the tallest building in New York City ended with the construction of the Empire State Building, which was built during the Depression. It required 4,000 workers and 50,000 pieces of steel. It was built in one year and 45 days and surpassed the height of the Chrysler Building by 204 feet at its dedication in 1931.
The builders had small rail cars and tracks installed in the building during construction to make it easy for workers to move around the heavy supplies and they had cafeterias installed on five different levels to save the workers' time at lunch.
Because of the space constraints in the city they had many pieces of the steel building prepared off-site and delivered to the site as needed. The steel beams were said to be installed while still warm from the steel mills in Pittsburgh.
Although there was great success in the construction and completion of the Empire State Building, it, unfortunately, earned the nickname "Empty State Building" because they only had a 25% occupancy rate during the Depression. They kept the lights on in offices to give the illusion of more tenants until they were able to lease out the space in the building.
The building also experienced a tragedy in July of 1945 when a B25 Bomber on its way to Newark Airport crashed into the 79th and 80th floors, killing 11 people. The building suffered minor damage. The Empire State Building maintained the title of 'world's tallest building' for 41 years, until the World Trade Center opened in 1972.
Pat Rioux
