![]() ![]() “It’s that equilibrium thing. The experience seems to have a lot more impact on people if you stop at 19 degrees for a few moments and then go on to the maximum. ![]() “We designed it so it doesn’t go all the way out to 30 degrees in one motion,” he said. The Tilt gets several thousand thrill-seeking visitors a day, according to Tony Wong, spokesman for 360 Chicago, the official name of the Hancock Center’s observation deck. I gripped the side rails harder, but experienced a brief feeling of falling and flying. Then it tilted again seven more degrees, which made my heart rise into my throat as it continued on to its scary, 30-degree maximum. Then it progressed another nine degrees, which at first I feared was the maximum lean. The window first tilted out 10 degrees and stopped. It certainly did to this writer on a recent visit to the Windy City to see a Cubs game and do some exploration. The number 30 is significant because it’s four degrees past the point of equilibrium - giving passengers at least a momentary sense of falling. Its observation deck offers views of four states, including Wisconsin.Īnd it bests the Willis Tower with Tilt, an eight-station, hydraulic window that leans out in three stages to a 30-degree angle from the building's 94th floor. Michigan Ave.) on the city’s Magnificent Mile is 100 stories tall and tops out at a respectable 1,128 feet. The John Hancock Center (now officially known as 875 N. The tallest is the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower), which rises 1,450 feet and has four glass-bottomed ledges on its 103rd-floor Skydeck that jut out 4.3 feet from the structure and give the impression of standing in midair. Most of it sits on a smooth plain that was once the bottom of ancestral Lake Chicago.īut the Windy City has plenty of tall buildings, several of which climb more than a thousand feet above the surrounding metropolis and Lake Michigan. It will soon be overtaken by the Chicago Spire, which will rise 2000 feet in the sky.Watch Video: Visitors 'tilt' for views of ChicagoĬhicago’s topography is, in a word, flat. This skyscraper is from another era when buildings were blunt statements of economic strength. Skyscraper From a Bygone Era (01:54)Įach year, 1.3 million people visit the sky deck of the Sears Tower on the 103rd floor. Manned by a team of workers, the platforms allow for exterior building inspection and cleaning. Machines glide up and down the facade of the Sears Tower. The original automated window-cleaning machine still works today. The building found financial success with a multitude of smaller scale business professionals. The Sears Tower now has over 100 companies paying its bills. Successful Strategies to Market Building Space (03:30) Sears' ambitious business projections proved to be inaccurate, and increased competition saw their share price plummet. It must be able to "cut it" economically. The mark of a successful skyscraper goes beyond aesthetics. Economic Necessities of Skyscrapers (02:20) Occupants of upper floors experience some building sway "as if you were on a ship." Architects designed movements of the building to occur without disturbing residents. The Sears Tower is under constant bombardment from the elements. Exterior of Sears Tower Bombarded by Weather Elements (02:02) Interior of Sears Tower (02:12)ĭesigned to be a hub of work and activity, the Sears Tower employs an "army" of people to make things run smoothly, and 104 elevators to move people and things throughout the millions of square feet of space. Top floors needed vast amounts of window space and perimeter locations for high-end, high-rent offices. The economics behind the building dictated its shape. Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM) designed the Sears Tower. The building's shape is an iconic image, a shape inspired by a pack of cigarettes! Skyscraper: Economics Dictates Building Shape (02:25) The same architects applied the same principle in 1970 in the John Hancock building. The Sears Tower is a tightly packed collection on nine huge rectangular cubes ("bundled tube design"). Sears Tower: Unique Design Structure (02:02) Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe pioneered the Second Chicago School of architecture. Developments in steel and plate glass allowed buildings to have sheer facades. Out of a radical new aesthetic, building decoration was sacrificed in order to maximize office space. Building Developments: Steel and Plate Glass (02:11) Until they perfected steel framing, most buildings relied on masonry for strength. Post-1871 Building Models (01:32)Īfter the fire of 1871 leveled most of Chicago's buildings, architects experimented with new ways of building skyscrapers. A boat trip through Chicago's skyscraper "museum" puts the Sears Tower in perspective. Upon completion in 1973, the Sears Tower was the world's tallest building, and it remained so for the next 22 years. Chicago's Skyline and the Sears Tower (02:57) FREE PREVIEW ![]()
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