Engineering Challenges Reports Example

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Introduction

The Empire State Building serves as one of the most significant architectural icons in New York City, New York. Standing out as among those in the pinnacle of Art Deco design, the Empire State Building continues to attract and impress visitors to New York City every day and has become an indispensable component of the city’s vast skyline. Although the Empire State Building has since been surpassed by many other skyscrapers in terms of height, it holds a distinct iconic status that has also come to symbolize New York City and perhaps the rest of the United States (US) for many people. However, work on the Empire State Building did not come easy, since its height due to its billing as the tallest tower in the world at the time when it was being built has produced several engineering challenges. This essay seeks to explore the engineering challenges that have confronted the construction of the Empire State Building with due credence to the National Geographic documentary entitled Building the Empire State, noting the creation of an icon is fitting of a story of great sacrifices that have led to exceed human capabilities.

New York City is certainly an ideal place to track down trends on skyscraper construction throughout the 20th century, given the fact that it has since witness various architectural marvels rising towards the sky. The Empire State Building is especially iconic because of the fact that its construction has involved several difficulties, most especially on the use of labor in assembling all of its parts in different ways. Laborers who took part in constructing the Empire State Building had to get themselves used to working on conditions set atop of very high distances away from the ground and are tasked to finish it entirely in just a span of 18 months. Considering that technological developments in construction at the time were not yet as advanced as that of today, constructing the Empire State Building in just 18 months proved to have involved heavily arduous work. Nonetheless, Starrett Brothers and Eken, the general contractors tasked to construct the Empire State Building, devised a series of technological developments for the very purpose of meeting the 18-month deadline. The construction of the Empire State Building required the use of specialized building equipment, since the complexity of its design rendered the use of generic building equipment available that time untenable. The management of a 3,500-strong labor force was done by Starrett Brothers and Eken as if all laborers worked along assembly lines. Transportation of bricks, for instance, was eased with the help of a chute, henceforth eliminating the need for wheelbarrows. Numerous derricks massive in size were utilize to move girders to upper floors easily, thus saving more time. All in all, the Empire State Building was finished in just under 15 out of the 18 months projected – a feat that has inspired succeeding generations of skyscrapers.

Conclusion

The sheer difficulty in assembling the Empire State Building has greatly contributed to skyscraper construction in that it featured several ways of managing both the labor force and equipment to stay as faithful to the original design as possible. Indeed, the construction of the Empire State Building has enabled human capabilities to expand towards currently held standards in construction, thus making it a worthy source of sacrifices for laborers working on it at the time.