High by Andrew Osmond
Chapter Sixteen
During the middle years of the first decade of the twenty first century, when the passion for reclaiming the skies in terms of earthly constructions was at its peak, and when the idea of the world’s tallest building had once again captured the general public’s imagination, in a way that had not been the case since the Manhattan boom years of the 1930s, a semi-humorous coffee table book entitled Six Easy Steps to Constructing the World’s Tallest Building was the unexpected summer best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic, briefly propelling its author - a mild-mannered, jobbing architect, appropriately rejoicing under the name of Storey - into something of a minor celebrity, much to that individual’s obvious bewilderment and discomfort on the several occasions that he was asked to impart further words of wisdom to an eagerly expectant global public in front of the television cameras. Storey’s moment in the spotlight was familiarly all too brief, though: the latest Dilly Teesdale adventure - Dilly Teesdale and the Manticore’s Muse - was published in the autumn of the same year, and Storey was to witness both his sales and his star sink. Five years on and his book - now remaindered - can only be purchased on-line at some of the bigger out-of-print book sites, and is largely forgotten even by the few enthusiastic original purchasers who still possess a copy tucked away in a deep shelf at the base of their bookcases, but that is not to say that the writing was without its merit and, as a brief overview of the hugely complex process of co-ordinating and constructing a massive building, it provides as clear and concise a ‘How to’ guide as has ever been written. It is with the permission of the author and his publishers that the following extract from the introduction to Six Easy Steps has been reproduced herein. The final, particularly apposite quote in the case of the Wendelson Building and its creator, is reproduced from the conclusion of the same book.
Step 1: The golden triumvirate: financier, architect and construction manager.
- Without the right people on board in the key decision-making positions your project is dead in the water before it has even begun. Choose wisely, there will be times during the course of even the most well-planned construction project when the money man, the artist, and the builder will not all be singing from the same hymn sheet.
Step 2: Start digging.
- Before you can even think about starting to build up, first you must begin by digging down. The foundations are what everything above will ultimately rest upon. Sound foundations are the key to a solid building. Excavation is a job not without its own pitfalls - good liaison is the key - find out beforehand where the gas pipes run; have plans of the local sewer networks; know where the metro tunnels are located. In a nutshell: don’t dig until you are sure that it is just good old Mother Earth that you will be meeting beneath your next spade fall.
Step 3: Skeleton.
- Imposing as the steel framework of most modern buildings may appear, this aspect of the construction is often the quickest, most straightforward, and provided that the architect has done a good job, the least prone to hitches and delays. Just imagine yourself as a big kid with a Meccano set and snap those girders into place.
Step 4: Skin
- Once the basic framework of the building is in place, it is then a simple task to hang the curtain walls to the outside of the structure. Wrong! This is the stage of construction where if there is going to be delay, budgetary overspends, and general disagreement, it will happen. The curtain wall in most modern buildings is in no way responsible for bearing any of the loads of the overall structure, its purposes are insulation against the elements and to present a pleasing aesthetic face to the world at large. This second factor is where most of the difficulties lie. Make the mistake of thinking that civil engineering and art can mix together as smoothly as water and cement and you will come badly unstuck.
Step 5: Certificates.
- Your building is up. Not too difficult was it? Now you have to convince an army of bureaucrats that it is safe for habitation.
Step 6: Inauguration.
- Crack open the bubbly and admire the view from the highest floor in the world.
“Remember though, don’t allow yourself the luxury of daydreaming for too long. You can be sure that no sooner have you built yourself the world’s tallest building, there is someone only a few bricks away from stealing your precious crown for himself.”