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Tensile Structure Systems’ project at the University of Maryland made the Winter 2020 cover of Architecture DC Magazine (www.aiadc.com). We are very proud of our work on this #facade screening project. The link to the online flip book is: flipbook.hbp.com/Winter2020/
The Harbor Structure will take TriMet buses and MAX light rail trains over and under roadways in Portland's South Waterfront district.
Bicyclists and/or pedestrians should not trespass on the structure as there is not room for them to safely pass trains and buses. The structure will also not accommodate private vehicles.
Licensed for all uses by TriMet.
This is a structure that they are building at a bus stop I go to very often. This is the first step in the construction process.
Line crews from Cheyenne and Casper, Wyoming, and Craig, Colorado, replace transmission structures near Gering, Nebraska, in December. The structure replacement will ensure the line remains compliant with regulatory standards (Photo by Todd Allen).
Closing panel at Gigaom Structure Connect: "How We Made It", featuring several IoT entrepreneurs. Pictured here:
Christina Mercando, Ringly
Jason Johnson, August
Peter Hoddie, Marvell Semiconductor (Kinoma)
Bettina Chen, Roominate
Giles Bouchard, Livescribe
Phil Bosua, LIFX
Stacey Higginbotham, Gigaom
Conference theme:
BUILDING THE INTERNET OF THINGS
Connecting our homes and business to the internet will disrupt businesses, improve efficiency and usher in an era of disruption not seen since the beginning of the web.
The Harbor structure begins just east of Naito Parkway (bottom of photo) in downtown Portland, then turns south to parallel SW Moody Avenue before returning the light rail route to grade at the South Waterfront/SW Moody Ave Station. The structure is designed to carry light rail trains and buses above and under roadways in the South Waterfront district.
Licensed for all uses by TriMet.
The Postcard
A postally unused postcard with photography by Irving Underhill of New York. His initials are in the bottom right corner of the photograph. The card was produced in the United States.
On the back of the card the publishers have printed:
'The Metropolitan Building
facing Madison Square
presents one of the singularly
attractive sights of New York
City at night.
This magnificent marble
structure, the home of the
greatest life insurance
corporation in the world,
towers majestically over
Madison Square, the most
popular gathering place in
the heart of New York City'.
Irving Underhill
Irving Underhill (1872 - 1960) was one of the most notable commercial photographers in New York City during the first half of the 20th century.
Irving produced work that was frequently featured on postcards and in numerous publications while he was alive, and his work continues to be exhibited and receive recognition long after his death.
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower
The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower (colloquially known as the Met Life Tower) is a skyscraper occupying a full block in the Flatiron District of Manhattan in NYC.
The building comprises two sections: a 700-foot-tall (210 m) tower at the northwest corner of the block, at Madison Avenue and 24th Street, and a shorter east wing occupying the remainder of the block bounded by Madison Avenue, Park Avenue South, 23rd Street, and 24th Street. The block measures 200 feet (61 m) from north to south and 445 feet (136 m) from east to west.
The South Building, along with the North Building directly across 24th. Street, comprises the Metropolitan Home Office Complex, which originally served as the headquarters of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.
The South Building's tower was designed by the architectural firm of Napoleon LeBrun & Sons, and erected between 1905 and 1909.
Inspired by St. Mark's Campanile in Venice, the tower features four clock faces, four bells, and lighted beacons at its top. It was the tallest building in the world until 1913.
The tower originally included Metropolitan Life's offices, and since 2015, it has contained a 273-room luxury hotel known as the New York Edition Hotel.
The tower was designated as a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1989, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
The east wing was designed by Lloyd Morgan and Eugene Meroni, and constructed in two stages between 1953 and 1960. The east wing is also referred to as One Madison Avenue.
When the current east wing was built, the 700-foot tower was extensively renovated as well. In 2020, work started on an addition to the east wing, which will be designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and be completed in 2023 or 2024.
Architecture
The first section of the original 11-story, full-block east wing was completed in 1893. The tower was a later addition to the original building, constructed between 1905 and 1909.
The original home office building was replaced with the current building, designed by Lloyd Morgan and Eugene Meroni, between 1953 and 1957. The complex is one of the few remaining major insurance company "home offices" in New York City.
The Tower
The tower rises 700 feet (210 m) to its pinnacle. It has a footprint measuring 75 feet (23 m) north-south along Madison Avenue and 85 feet (26 m) west-east on 24th Street.
The Metropolitan Life Tower is surprisingly is older than its model, since St. Mark's Campanile collapsed in 1902 and was replaced in 1912. It is also more than twice as large as St. Mark's Campanile.
Like the façades of many early skyscrapers, the tower's exterior was divided into three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column—namely a base, shaft, and capital—in both its original and renovated forms.
These three sections include usable space inside, and are collectively 660 feet (200 m) tall. The tower is topped by a 40-foot-tall (12 m) pyramidal roof, which is slightly set back and contains a cupola and lantern.
The tower was originally sheathed in Tuckahoe marble, provided by the main contractor, the Hedden Construction Company. However during the 1964 renovation, plain limestone was used to cover the tower and the east wing, replacing LeBrun's old Renaissance Revival details with a streamlined, modern look. The tower was designed with oversized exterior details to make it seem smaller than it actually was.
Some 7,500 short tons of steel were used in the tower's structural frame. The footings of the tower are 60 feet (18 m) deep, supported by twelve columns on the edges and eight columns inside the plot, and anchored to a layer of bedrock between 28 to 46 feet (8.5 to 14.0 m) deep.
The main columns at the tower's corners measure 2 by 2 feet (0.61 by 0.61 m). They bear structural loads of up to 10.4 million pounds (4,700,000 kg) when wind pressure is taken into account. The structural steel frame of the tower, and of its former east wing, is encased in reinforced concrete.
The marble and brickwork used in the building is anchored to the structural steel frame, while the floors are made of inverted concrete arches. As a consequence of all the marble used in the Met Life Tower, it weighed about 38,000 short tons when first built, or about twice as much as the Singer Tower.
Façade
The base of the tower comprises the first and second stories. The lowest portion of the façade along Madison Avenue and 24th. Street contains a 5-foot-tall (1.5 m) water table made of granite, which wraps around to the east wing.
At the first floor, there are two rectangular show windows and a small doorway on Madison Avenue, and two show windows flanking a larger entrance on 24th. Street.
When the tower was built, the base comprised the first through fifth stories. A large cornice was located above the fourth story, and smaller cornices above the second and fifth stories. The original ornamentation on the rest of the tower was relatively restrained, except around the clock faces.
The 1960's renovation replaced the marble between the first and fifth stories, and between the 20th. and 36th. stories, with limestone.
The "shaft" of the tower spans the 3rd. through 28th. floors. The southern façade of the tower contains windows only above the 11th. story, and the eastern facade contains windows above the 12th. story, because the former east wing was located below these floors.
On each floor, the "shaft" contains three sets of three windows per side. The exception is at the 25th. through 27th. floors, where the building's clock faces are located.
The Clock
A clock face is centered on all four sides of the tower from the 25th. through 27th. floors. Each clock face is 26.5 feet (8.1 m) in diameter, while the numerals on the clock faces are four feet (1.2 m) tall. The minute hands weigh 1,000 pounds (450 kg) and are 17 feet (5.2 m) long, while the hour hands weigh 700 pounds (320 kg) and are 13.33 feet (4.06 m) long.
The mechanism was controlled by electricity, a novelty upon the tower's completion. The master clock, which controlled the large clock faces as well as a hundred other clocks in the same complex, was located on the first floor of the former home office, and ran with a maximum error of five seconds per month.
The clock faces, which were made from reinforced concrete, were the largest in the world upon their completion. Blue glazed tiles run along the circumference of each face; in addition, there is a tiled corona at the center of each face.
The clock faces contain ornamentation by Pierre LeBrun, and include dolphins and shells on the spandrels at each face's corner, as well as marble wreaths with fruit-and-flower motifs on the faces themselves.
The Roof
The pyramidal roof of the tower is topped by a peristyle and cupola. The roof comprises the 39th. and higher floors, and is set off by a cornice at the 39th.-story level. Dormer windows protrude from the roof on the 39th. through 43rd. floors.
The 44th. floor is illuminated by two small windows on each side, located between ribs that rise to support a square viewing platform on the 45th floor. The 46th. and 47th. floors comprise a two-story-tall peristyle, supported by eight columns.
The 48th. floor contains a gold-colored aluminum cupola with eight windows. The topmost level is the 49th. floor, which consists only of a platform with a gold-colored aluminium railing.
The 41st through 45th floors are accessible only by a staircase. The viewing platform was originally publicly usable, receiving 120,000 visitors from around the world between 1909 and 1914.
The tower contains four bells within the peristyle. These include a 7,000-pound (3,200 kg) Bâ™ bell on the west, a 3,000-pound (1,400 kg) Eâ™ bell on the east, a 2,000-pound (910 kg) Fâ™® bell on the north, and a 1,500-pound (680 kg) Gâ™® bell on the south. The bells were the highest in the world at the time of their construction.
The bells are respectively struck by hammers weighing 94, 71, 61, and 54 pounds (equivalent to 43, 32, 28, and 24 kg respectively). A fifth hammer, weighing 131 pounds (59 kg), strikes the 7,000-pound bell each hour. The smaller hammers strike the bells every 15 minutes.
An eight-sided, 8-foot-wide (2.4 m) beacon is located at the top of the cupola. As designed, the white lantern is lit after 10:00 p.m., and momentarily turns off every 15 minutes when red and white lights flash the time. The beacon was one of a few broadly visible features of the New York City nighttime skyline until the mid-20th. century.
Interior of the Tower
When built, the tower section featured granite floors and metal interior furnishings, though there was very little wood trim, unlike other contemporary structures. The lower floors contained bronze grillwork and doorways, especially around the elevators, while on the upper floors, ornamental iron is used for the metalwork around the elevators.
The second-floor spaces contained offices of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, and contained white marble wainscoting, plaster cornices, marble mantels, etched-glass doors facing the executive offices, and red mahogany door, wall, and window panels.
Each of the tower's floors are up to 5,400 square feet (500 m2) in area, smaller than the floor areas of most other nearby office buildings.
During the 1960's renovation, the tower was fitted with more modern furnishings such as air conditioning, acoustic ceiling tiles, and automatic elevators, to match the new eastern wing. Marble floors were one of the few holdovers of the previous decor.
The staircase leading to the top floors of the tower also retains its original decoration, including cast-iron railings, ceramic-tile wainscoting, marble stair treads, and landings with mosaic-tile floors.
Repurposing of the Tower
Since 2015, the tower section has been a 273-room luxury hotel called the New York Edition Hotel, with per-night hotel room rates starting at $600. Most of the historic detail in the interior was removed in the individual hotel rooms, but there are some remaining vestiges, such as the original scalloped ceilings.
On the second floor is an upscale restaurant called The Clocktower, a Michelin-starred eatery headed by British chef Jason Atherton. The restaurant has a dining area, a separate bar, and a room with a billiards table, and is only accessible through the building's lobby.
One Madison Avenue
The east wing is at One Madison Avenue, and was fourteen stories tall when completed in 1955. It extends east to Park Avenue South, covering nearly the entire block, and originally had nearly 1.2 million square feet (110,000 m2) of interior space.
As of 2020, the stories above the ninth floor are being demolished, and an 18-story glass-faced office tower is being built over the roof of the ninth floor. The glass addition is separated from the roof of the 1955 structure by large diagonal steel trusses.
One Madison Avenue's internal structure consists of a steel frame. The lowest two floors contain a granite façade, while the remaining stories contain a façade of Alabama limestone, as well as stainless-steel spandrels between each window.
The lobby of One Madison Avenue was combined with that of the clock tower when the east wing was originally constructed. It consists of floors and walls made of white marble and darker-marble accents, as well as a sheet rock ceiling with lighting panels, and stainless-steel doors and trim.
A replica of the original home office's board room was built on the 11th. floor of the east wing, and featured mahogany wainscoting, a coffered ceiling, and leather covering the walls.
When the glass addition is completed in 2023 or 2024, it will contain event areas, a 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m2) food market, and a 9,000-square-foot (840 m2) tenants' lounge and fitness center.
One Madison Avenue is connected to the Metropolitan Life North Building by a preexisting tunnel. Until 2020, the buildings were also connected by a sky bridge on the eighth floor.
There were also many amenities for employees, including a library, auditorium, gymnasium, and medical and dental offices. There was also a recreational space on the roof of the home office's 23rd. Street portion, and through the larger complex's extensive system of kitchens and dining rooms, the company offered free lunch to every employee between 1908 and 1994.
Though the home office accommodated 14,500 workers by 1938, they were split up into different social hierarchies, with immigrants in service jobs, women in seamstresses' and cleaners' jobs, and native-born workers of both genders in white-collar jobs.
Building of the Tower
Plans for the proposed clock tower were filed with the New York City Department of Buildings in January 1907. At the time, the tower was to rise 690 feet (210 m) above ground, with 48 usable stories, or 50 in total.
By February 1908, thirty-one stories of the tower had been built. The lower floors of the Metropolitan Life Tower were occupied by May 1908. The tower was topped out the following month, although the tower was not completed until 1909, with one of its original tenants being the National Kindergarten Association.
The tower had cost $6.58 million, and the expanded complex had 2,800 workers at the time of the tower's completion. Metropolitan Life officials held a jubilee dinner in January 1910 to celebrate the tower's completion.
The tower was the world's tallest building until 1913, when it was surpassed by the Woolworth Building in Tribeca. A 1914 company history estimated that the entire complex could accommodate 20,000 visitors and tenants per day.
The Tower in the 21st. Century
In March 2005, SL Green Realty bought the clock tower, intending to convert it to apartments. The east wing at One Madison Avenue was part of the sale, but would not be converted to apartments, being leased to Credit Suisse First Boston until at least 2020.
In May 2007, the tower and adjacent air rights were sold for $200 million to Africa Israel Investments. In 2011, Tommy Hilfiger and a partner signed a contract to buy the clock tower for $170 million, planning to transform it into Hilfiger's first hotel, with luxury condominiums. However, Hilfiger backed off the project in September 2011.
Africa Israel then sold the tower to Marriott International in October 2011 for $165 million. Marriott announced in January 2012 that it was converting the tower to the New York Edition Hotel, one of three boutique hotels in the Edition line. The Edition hotels were sold in January 2013 to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority for $815 million. The New York property was conveyed to its new owner on its completion. Marriott continues to manage the hotels under long-term contract, and the New York Edition Hotel opened in May 2015.
Image Enhancement
Metropolitan Life intended the tower to promote the company's image, with company president John Rogers Hegeman calling the building "a symbol of integrity".
As such, the tower was surrounded by publicity. It was featured on the front of prominent magazines such as Scientific American, as well as on the sides of corn flake boxes, coffee packets, and cars. Metropolitan Life valued the free publicity surrounding its skyscraper at over $440,000 (equivalent to $13 million in 2021). The company also published three oversized monographs with images featuring the building, in 1907, 1908, and 1914.
The tower figured prominently in Metropolitan Life's advertising for many years, illustrated with a light beaming from a lantern at the top of its spire and the slogan "The Light That Never Fails".
While other life insurance companies used sculptural representations for their respective symbols, Metropolitan Life used the building itself to represent the company's work and ideals.
Critical Appraisal of the Building
Though not structurally distinctive, the Metropolitan Life Tower nevertheless was highly scrutinized. The design of the tower won critical acclaim within the American architectural profession.
The American Institute of Architects' New York chapter called the clock tower "the most meritorious work of the year" upon its completion. The writer Roberta Moudry observed that "the tower appeared from Madison Square Park as an entity unto itself", distinct from other tall structures nearby, and at the time of its construction, "served as a timely large-scale public declaration of civic stature and ethical responsibility".
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission described the original home office's design as doing "much to establish Metropolitan Life in the eyes and the mind of the public."
In a company history book written shortly after the building's completion, Metropolitan Life characterized the structure as "the most beautiful home office in the world".
Members of the public also viewed the clock tower positively, with one anonymous reviewer calling the clock "a reassuring melody to hear on a trustworthy schedule". One newspaper columnist stated that when the clocks' hands were taken apart for cleaning in 1937, "letters poured in, asking what went on".
On the 11th. December 1984, to celebrate the building's 75th. anniversary, the United States Postal Service issued a pictorial cancellation that depicted the Metropolitan Life Tower, which was available only on that day.
A Grandt Line Porter locomotive spots a car at the tipple on Russ Reinberg's On30 layout. It will come as no surprise that most of the structures on the layout are scratch-built, considering that Russ is publisher and editor of the Fine Scale Annuals.
Russ joined us on Episode 15.
The Tillamook structure in north Milwaukie will carry the light rail tracks from the west side of existing heavy rail tracks to the east side. One half of the structure can be seen under construction on the right side of the photo. The Springwater Corridor Trail bridge can be seen in the upper half of the photo where it crosses the railroad tracks. The SE Tacoma St/Johnson Creek MAX Station is at the top left.
Licensed for all uses by TriMet.
This structure is about two feet tall and was built in front of the bunker mounds. It wasn't clear who built it or what its purpose is.
WESTLAKE - On August 13th, 2019, 42 firefighters knocked down flames in the garage of a one-story single-family home in 26 minutes. A gas line had caught fire in the garage. Firefighters shut off the utilities to eliminate the hazard, while finishing the fire attack. One patient was assessed and treated for a minor laceration. No other injuries were reported.
Photo by Adam Van Gerpen
LAFD Incident: 081319-0614
Connect with us: LAFD.ORG | News | Facebook | Instagram | Reddit | Twitter: @LAFD @LAFDtalk
On Saturday, May 16, 2020 at 6:26 p.m., the LAFD responded to a reported structure fire at 327 E. Boyd St. in downtown Los Angeles. The first companies arrived on scene within four minutes to find a one-story commercial building with smoke showing. The businesses were not open at the time and firefighters had to force entry with power saws to make access.
They immediately initiated an aggressive interior fire attack with hose lines, and a truck company was sent to the roof to perform vertical ventilation. As firefighting operations continued, the firefighters encountered increased pressurized smoke and heard a rumbling high-pitched sound. Firefighters identified the changing conditions and immediately started exiting the building and the roof as the situation rapidly deteriorated.
Shortly thereafter, a significant explosion created a massive fireball that enveloped the firefighters descending from the roof via an aerial ladder. The searing heat melted helmets, burned through protective coats and hoods and blistered and charred nearby fire apparatus.
A MAYDAY was immediately broadcast over the radio and treatment began on the 11 firefighters that had been caught in the inferno. All of the injured were working at Fire Station 9 on Skid Row, one of the nation’s busiest. Dozens of additional fire and ambulance resources were dispatched to the scene to assist with medical treatment and fire suppression as the blaze continued to spread.
All 11 firefighters were rapidly transported to LAC+USC Medical Center for treatment. A 12th firefighter was later treated and released at the hospital for a minor extremity injury. All 11 burned firefighters were admitted to the hospital with injuries of varying severity. Thankfully, all are expected to survive and as of the morning of Saturday, May 17, three had already been released from the hospital.
At the peak of the incident, more than 230 LAFD firefighters were on scene and the Major Emergency blaze was declared extinguished at 8:08 p.m., one hour and 42 minutes after it was reported. LAFD Arson investigators are working in conjunction with their law enforcement partners to investigate the cause and origin of the fire, as well as the nature of the business at the incident address.
© Photo by Chris Conkle
LAFD Incident: 051620-1073
Connect with us: LAFD.ORG | News | Facebook | Instagram | Reddit | Twitter: @LAFD @LAFDtalk