![]() Many architects, therefore, consider The Home Insurance Building as the world’s first true skyscraper. The Home Insurance Building set out the pace in utilizing a full metal structure skeleton which enabled it to rise to its landmark 12 floors at that period. However, the building lacked eternal support against wind load a factor that led to its demolition in 1931. For example, the home insurance building completed in 1884 utilized an iron framework from the ground floor up to the sixth floor followed by a steel frame from the sixth floor to the twelfth floor. A thinner wall meant less resistance to wind load. ![]() Use of steel skeleton meant a more thin wall in many buildings such as the home insurance building. However, he was the first to use exterior decorations in the form of the spires to provide more mechanical support. Sullivan was not the first architect to use the steel frame in the design of buildings to enhance the strength of the structure. Besides, to provide even more stability, the building had an underground foundation of about two floors made of concrete reinforced with steel. The base housing the shops was broad to support the upper floors. Finally, a capping cone was meant for storage of mechanical equipment. A ground floor and first floor with large windows for shops followed by a middle section meant for offices with narrower windows and vertical elements meant to dramatize the building’s height. The Wainwright Building comprised of three parts in its construction. Sullivan used a steel framework to enhance the building’s stability then in a stone outer shell. The more stability a building required, the larger the stone blocks required. Building construction also utilized stone blocks to enhance stability. Sullivan succeeded in eliminating all these decorations in the Wainwright building. Prior to the construction of the Wainwright building, buildings designs included historical ornaments adorning their structure such as carvings of angels, gargoyles, former presidents or even previous wars. Louis Sullivan succeeded in achieving all these objectives in the Wainwright building. Still, Sullivan set to establish new decorations for the surface, to express the building’s structure more clearly and to express the commercial purpose of the building much more clearly (Vladimir, 1981). Another objective was to use new materials and techniques in construction. One was to eliminate historical ornaments from buildings. In its design and construction, Sullivan set out to achieve several objectives. Louis Sullivan designed and constructed The Wainwright Building completing its construction in 1890. ![]() The Wainwright Building and the Home Insurance Building Architectural Comparison
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