You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy™
Building Envy.
Men measure it, treasure it, and sometimes pleasure it.
Women have always known, Bigger is Better, right?
When it comes to “Edifice complex” higher is hipper.
This building bonanza is also controversial.
Chicago versus New York City. The city of broad shoulders versus the Big Apple.
Two of America’s biggest and brightest also want to be its most well endowed.
It’s controversial because both cities can claim erection perfection.
On Tuesday, the official vote was levied and the official winner is: One World Trade Center in New York City.
The World Trade Center is now officially the tallest building in the USA. It won by an antenna, or in this case, an antenna that was ruled not to be an antenna.
Here’s why Chicago has a beef as big as its mercantile exchange.
Side by side, structure to structure, The Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Towers, is bigger.
The Willis Tower building is 1,451 feet high. That’s 83 feet taller than the Freedom Tower.
So Chicago should win tallest building right?
If you count habitable space, where a human could sit at a desk and waste time on facebook, then yes, Chicago has the biggest erector set in the country.
But…
If you want to count places where birds can fornicate in thunderstorms? Ah well then, that is a very different measuring stick.
When you add the Freedom Tower’s “spire” it rises to a very symbolic 1776 feet.
Chicagoans, long tired of being 2nd city to the Big Apple are feeling slighted like a Cubs team all ready 30 games out before Nathans Annual Hot Dog Eating Contest.
I know this sounds like a bad case of E.D. (Edifice Dysfunction), but whose skyscraper is bigger is a sense of pride. It’s kind of like two guys in a fire hall whipping it out and measuring for bragging rights.
Instead of winning by a micron, the World Trade Center won by a few feet.
One World Trade Center reaches 1,776 feet compared with the Willis Tower’s 1,729 feet.
In building measurements, that’s a scant 47 feet. It’s hard for a city to swallow losing by a mere 47 feet.
So NYC is the tallest building in America. And Chicago is 2nd.
As Dale Earnhardt once said, 2nd place is the first loser.
So if you like your pizza deep and square, you might argue that One World Trade Center has an antenna which is not a fixed structure and thus should not count.
That’s when a bunch of architects got involved.
I don’t know about you, but as soon as you involve a bunch of architects in anything, the S*** usually hits the fan.
How many architects does it take to screw in a light bulb…
I don’t know even know what that means.
Many in Illinois feel that New York City got the 911 sympathy vote.
According to the council’s Height Committee, the the mast atop One World Trade Center is a spire and therefore a permanent feature of the building. If it were deemed an antenna, it would be considered functional equipment and subject to change, and not counted in the whose bigger debate.
So there it is.
New York City is the Biggest. Chicago always the ugly step child, is wishing it could whip it out and re-measure.
In case you care, the world has a whose bigger fixation too.
One World Trade Center is the third largest building in the world after Dubai’s Burj Khalifa at 2,717 feet and the Makkah Royal Clock Tower in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, at 1,972 feet.
Makes me wonder if women should design more sky scrapers.
Women don’t care about size right?
They just want their designs to last longer.
Life’s Crazy™