By MN Gordon
Views From the Top of the Skyscraper Index
On a warm Friday Los Angeles morning in spring of 2016, we found ourselves standing at the busy corner of Wilshire Boulevard and South Figueroa Street. We were walking back to our office following a client wire brushing for events beyond our control. But we had other thoughts on our mind.
Iron workers (the non-distraught variety) atop the 10 ton spire of the Wilshire Grand Center in Lost Angeles. This image is vaguely disconcerting… we can’t help thinking that an unexpected gust of wind could have proven quite disruptive to this show of nonchalant equanimity. [PT]
Photo credit: Gary Leonard
Standing amid a mob of pedestrians, we gazed up at the skeleton frame of what would become the Wilshire Grand Center. For the first time in several years the buzz and hum of diligent building activity was replaced by an eery silence. In fact, construction work was shut down for the day.
Sadly, less than 24 hours earlier a distraught electrician had taken a swan dive off the 53rd floor. The man’s death prompted an immediate work stoppage and evacuation of the tower. “It sounded like a bag of cement fell off the edge of the building,” one observer remarked.
Naturally, the sound of impact was far too grim for us to contemplate. Instead, we wondered how time must have simultaneously slowed down and sped up for the jumper as he descended toward the ground. Did he want a redo before it was game over?
We have a hunch that over the next couple of years, vast numbers of people are going to experience the rush that comes when time simultaneously slows down and speeds up. Not because they have performed a base jump off a skyscraper – though some will.
Rather, it will occur at the precise moment they come to the rude realization that they’re broker than broke. We will have more on this in just a moment. But first some context is in order…
A Grand Ego Stroke
Several weeks ago the Wilshire Grand Center officially opened. The building is claimed to be the new tallest building in Los Angeles, and the tallest building west of the Mississippi. But we have some reservations.
Because the top of the Wilshire Grand Center is actually about 18 feet shorter than the U.S. Bank Tower that’s several blocks away. However, there’s a bizarre looking 100-foot spire at the building’s peak. Apparently, this spire has a very definite purpose.
Per the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat – if you can believe there is such a thing – a spire is considered an architectural feature and is, thus, counted when measuring the building’s 1,100 foot height. Tall buildings arbiters’ aside, we ain’t buying it. But our opinion on the matter doesn’t matter.
Installation of the spire that apparently makes all the difference to the record books… [PT]
Photo credit: Gary Leonard
Korean Air / Hanjin Group financed construction of the Wilshire Grand Center. The claim that this …read more
Source:: Acting Man
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