|
||||||
helping
architects and engineers deliver superior design documents |
||||||
|
Revisiting Buffalo City Hall by Stardust Atkeson
Buffalo City Hall is a massive 29 story steel-framed building designed by architects George Dietel, John Wade and Sullivan Jones in the Art Deco style; construction was completed in 1932. It is clad in two types of Berea, Ohio sandstone, Kasota limestone and is ornamented with polychromatic geometric Terra Cotta. To learn more about the original survey, see the Buffalo City Hall Project Profile (www.vertical-access.com/buffalo.html)
Mike Gilbert annotated his drawings directly in AutoCAD using the Tablet PC Annotation System (TPAS). To learn more about the history of the development of the TPAS system, go to www.vertical-access.com/handheld.html. For information about and upcoming presentation on the TPAS system being given by Kent Diebolt at the APTI conference in Galveston, TX from November 4-7, 2004, visit the APTI website at www.apti.org.
Technical Highlight: OSMOS installation at St. John the Divine By Kelly Streeter
History
In 1888, the firm of Heins & Lafarge won the contract for the Cathedral with a Romanesque, Byzantine design. Their plan called for a cathedral 520 feet in length crowned at the crossing by a towering conical spire. The choir and the crossing with its four immense arches were completed by 1911 . The Guastavino tile dome, 162 feet high at the apex, was built to temporarily cover the crossing. At the time of completion of the dome, Heins and LaFarge were replaced by Ralph Adams Cram as architect in charge and so began the "second phase" of construction. Though the original plans called for the dome to be replaced by a fleche, the Guastavino dome is still there today. This second phase of work on the cathedral continued until November 1941, when the full length of the Cathedral was finally opened to the public. Just seven days after the opening, Pearl Harbor was attacked work ceased on the Cathedral for 32 years. The third phase of work, from 1972 - 1997, saw the advent of the Stoneworks Program at the Cathedral, designed to train stone mason apprentices - an all but forgotten trade in North America. During this time, progress was made on the North and South towers as blocks were cut and laid. In
recent years (1998 - present) the Cathedral has primarily addressed
preservation issues. When Mayor Edward Koch addressed the festive gathering at the Stoneyard's dedication in 1979, he stated, "I am told that some of the great cathedrals took over five hundred years to build. But I would like to remind you that we are only in our first hundred
years" Now into its second century, the Cathedral in its
current incarnation retains the character that was the original intent
of its progenitors - "a house of prayer for all nations".
Vertical
Access and OSMOS
OSMOS manufactures a variety of continuous integrated building and installation monitoring equipment. More on the OSMOS system can be found at www.osmos-group.com. For more information about VA's work at the Cathedral, see our project profile.
|