![]() The building’s cladding and systems (electricity, plumbing, HVAC) can certainly wear out, but they can also be maintained indefinitely, and even updated, as long as the building owners can afford it.īill’s question’s appealing because it gives all of us license to become amateur futurists, but in a focused way. The structural steel in a building like the Willis Tower could last for thousands of years, as long as it is climate-controlled and protected from the elements. The tower was originally constructed in 1973 for the Sears Roebuck & Company headquarters, then renamed in 2009 by Willis Holding Group, who obtained naming rights as part of a lease agreement.īill’s question is based on the premise a building can become “too old.” That’s only partially true. The first generation of skyscrapers is about 120 years old, so he picked a timeframe of 150 years, figuring that the Willis Tower would be pretty worn out by then. What do we do in 150 years when our current buildings are too old? What do we do with an old Willis Tower?īill asked because he’s noticed that some of Chicago’s earliest skyscrapers - buildings he considers iconic - have been demolished recently. Which makes our question, from engineer Bill Muscat, pretty challenging: This is all to say a lot can change in 150 years. Today, 150 years later, the city’s population has grown by more than 1,200 percent, and the city’s tallest building, the Willis Tower, is more than 1,300 feet taller than the height of Chicago’s tallest building in 1866. ![]() The most memorable structure from that era, the Water Tower, was still three years from construction. ![]() When Chicago was still celebrating the end of the Civil War, the city had a population of roughly 200,000 people. This requires a balance between progress and preserving local communities and the environment.Editor's note: This piece was produced in partnership with the Chicago Architecture Foundation, which provided research, expertise and other assistance during its development.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |