Empire State Buiding

Architectural Wonders; The Empire State Building 
By: Jabina Shrestha 
The Empire State Building is a marvel of engineering and architecture, which was a tallest building in the world with 102 stories, until the completion of the first tower of the World Trade Center in 1972. After the terrorist attack on World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the Empire State Building again became the tallest building in New York. The Building was designed by Gregory Johnson and his architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon. The cost of the building was $ 40, 948,900 including land, where as cost of building alone was $24, 718,000.

The construction of the building began in March of 1930 and was completed after 15 months, April 11 1931. The building has 6,500 windows and 73 elevators and there are 1,860 steps from street level to the 102nd floor. The base of the building is about 8,094 square meters and the total floors are of 257, 211 square meter. The building has 113 km of pipe, 740,000m of electrical wire and 9,000 faucets. The building was one of its kinds at that time and still it is architectural wonder.

The architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, produced the building drawings in two weeks. The building was design from the top down. The bid of construction was won by general contractors Starrett Brothers and Eken. The construction was unique, proper type of equipments were introduced according to need as per site condition. “The Starret Brothers decided to take a different tack. During the interview process, when asked how much equipment the construction company had on hand they answered that they did not own anything that would be useful on this project. They explained to the investors that the size and scope of the Empire State Building would create unusual problems. Ordinary building equipment would not suffice so they would have to design and purchase all new, custom pieces. They would sell that equipment and credit the investors with the difference when the project was complete. Their opinion was that this would cost less than renting secondhand equipment and would be more efficient. The investment group agreed.

The schedule of this project was very tight, which has to be complete by eighteen months. During the construction of The Empire State Building, the technique of fast track construction was introduced which was first in commercial construction project. The fast track construction technique consists of starting the construction project before the designs are fully completed, which reduce the time and inflation in materials other things.

During the construction, Starret Brothers determined that more than 60 different types of trade people would be required and most supplies would need to be ordered to specification. The supplies had to be made at the plants in as close to finished state a possible to minimize preparatory work needed at the site. In addition to this most of the construction activities had to be overlapped in order to minimize the time. Excavation for the new building began in January 1930, with the double shift (day/night) of 300 men. After less than two months, in March 1930 construction of steel skeleton began. The installation rate for the construction was about a story a day, which was fast compare to other building construction. Which shows that the proper management of logistics and skilled organized workforce.

As mentioned earlier, the supplies that reach on site have to be in finished state. The 60,000 tons of steel for the framework arrived at the site marked with their place in the framework and with the number of the derrick that would hoist them. So, the workers could then rivet them. Hence, reducing the construction time and managing the limited storing space.

To reduce the construction time and to overcome storing space limitation, Starrett Brothers employed convenient techniques at that time. For example, to move materials quickly and in less effort a railway was built at the construction site. Likewise they used larger derricks to move the girders from lower level to upper level. Also, 10 millions bricks needed for the job site were handled with the help of a chute that led to a hopper in the basement. As a brick arrived by the truck, dumped down the chute, and according to need, the brick was released from the hopper and dropped into carts and then hoisted up to the appropriate floor.

The Starret Brothers managed a workforce of 3,500men, who put in seven million labor-hours including work in Sundays and holidays. Most of the activities were carried out in parallel sequence. Hence the project was completed ahead of schedule and under budget. The construction of building finished under fifteen months than the estimate time of eighteen months, was completed on April 11, 1931, one year and 45 days.

References:
1) Empire State Building History and Facts
2) Construction Company.com – Historic Construction Project; Empire State Building
3) Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; The Empire State Building