World's Tallest Buildings

[dnalexander]

Waldo,  thanks for this post. My dad was a Kansas boy  from Wichita that worked on some of the biggest civil engineering projects in the world. Some of his projects were
Kansas Turnpike (married a Howard girl), Bridge of the Americas Panama Canal, Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel ("One of the Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World",   Dubai & King Fahd & King Khaled Airports in the Middle East.. I too thought that the depth seemed relatively shallow for such a big, tall building. I am always amazed how a topic on this forum can touch me in a personal way. Thanks, for a good nostalgic memory of my dad who passed away 27 years ago next month. Thanks for spurring the good memories and indulging me in my sappy post. If he were here he could explain why the pilings are more than enough. Also, he could explain the odds of the base jumper hitting the building before the ground. This forum always provides me with good memories. This topic really hits home with me in a good way.

David

[Diane Amberg]

I didn't know your father was involved in the bridge- tunnel project. I remember taking the ferry from Kiptopeke to Little Creek before it was built, and enjoyed watching its construction and have been over it many times since it opened. I love the places where we can stop and look out over the water.

[pepelect]

I feel like such a whimp.  I have only worked on 300-400ft building/structures.  The most devistated was of course DeBruce grain elevator south west of Wichita.  It is only 120' but the amount of distruction that the grain dust caused to that building was amazing.  The new head house is built with out walls to use the Kansas wind to keep the dust down.

I have eaten on the 66th floor of the Sears Tower in Chicago.  It sways even half way up.  I saw the twin towers and the Empire state building back in the eighties.  They seemed much taller from the street level than the Sears Tower.  I am still amazed that there was so much going on under the ground level.  Trains, Subways, steets, cableways, plumbing, electrical, and water.   

How do you get the water to the top of a half mile Burj Dubai?  Can you see it from space?

[W. Gray]

Either the History Channel or the Discovery Channel has a one hour presentation called Tragedy on the Plains that was made about that grain elevator.

I have watched the program several times, but it has not been on lately. It is about as a spellbinding documentary as can be made.

It is a very well done recreation of the blow out and subsequent rescue.

One of the fire trucks responding drove from Kansas City, Kansas, and and was the longest distance any fire department has ever driven a fire truck. As I recall, they had the longest ladders available.

The rescuers also had trouble getting helicopters with the correct winching equipment to make a rescue from the top and McConnell AFB did not have any so they flew a copter in from Fort Leavenworth.

Even then, the concrete was shaking so bad from the blade wash, the copters had to be waved off from rescue.

They also sent in dogs to hunt for victims. The dogs could tell the difference between a hurt victim and a dead body. It got so dangerous, they had to pull the rescuers out. On person was not found until much later when the concrete was torn down.

[W. Gray]

I probably should have mentioned that the Freedom Tower, replacing the World Trade Center, will be 1,776 feet tall, putting it at about third or fourth tallest.

It has a $2b budget.

It has three basements, which might be all parking.

[dnalexander]

Interesting list of tall structures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallest_building

[W. Gray]

There was a third building that totally collapsed at the World Trade Center.

The forty-seven story World Trade 7 collapsed seven hours after catching fire as result of one of the twin towers falling.

It is the only skyscraper that has ever collapsed purely because of fire. Conspirators have their own thought.

The fifty-two story replacement was finished two years ago.

[W. Gray]

Construction is to begin "imminently" in Saudi Arabia on the world's tallest building overlooking the Red Sea.

Kingdom Tower will rise to 3,250 feet or about 550 feet taller than the building in Dubai.

Five years is the estimated time of construction.