John Hancock Center
John Hancock Center is located in Chicago, Illinois and all affectionately call it the Big John as a sign of love for this wonderful building.
The building was built over four years - from 1965 to 1969. It rises to a height of three hundred and forty-four meters from the ground and comprises one hundred floors.
The skyscraper, now known as Big John, caused a lot of conflicting opinions after its construction, including some completely negative ones.
Many people believe that the skyscraper is too massive and too rough from the dark metal that was used liberally in the construction of the building.
However, this skyscraper became one of the most famous in the world and one of the most popular in the U.S. Itis one of the most favorite places to visit by tourists, who arrive in Chicago.
Nowadays, the skyscraper is the twelfth in order of rating of the tallest buildings in the world and the fourth level is among the tallest buildings in the U.S. To obtain this, however, the engineers who worked on the building had to create great items with great endurance.
It consists of several massive steel columns and steel elements, which are concentrated around the perimeter of the tower.
Construction of the building was done by engineer Fazlur Kahn and the architect Bruce Graham. Thanks to them, the building is extremely windproof.
Five giant diagonal braces, which are located on the outer walls of the tower, give it additional resistance, especially against the wind. These brackets are attached to the exterior steel columns, which reduce by fifty percent the use of steel, compared to the method used in the attachment of internal columns.
The cone, which decorates the building, provides additional structural stability of the building against the forces of wind, especially at the higher levels.
When designing a building of this height, you require a stable base that can withstand such a huge mass. The building rests on foundations that are of great depth in the earth, helping to make the building more stable.
Diagonal braces, which give added resistance of the building, completely obscure the view from the windows in some rooms in the building. Ironically it is these areas that have become a sign of prestige and therefore the rent for them is much higher than other rooms in the building.
In 1997, the John Hancock Center skyscraper was reconstructed so that half the windows on the south side of the ninety-fourth floor were replaced by screens. Tourists can visit this floor to enjoy the air of the city and hear the sound of Chicago at such a great height. This is the most visited by tourists’ floor of the building.
The skyscraper rises above the ground floor and has offices located on the lower floors. On the upper floors are luxury homes - total number of apartments is 711, there are forty-eight occupied floors.
Some apartments are located in high altitude so that their owners were forced to call the concierge to find out what the weather is, because their apartments are literally above the clouds.
The building has different fitness clubs, restaurants, a pool and even a playground for ice skating and a prestigious hotel, which is designed for businessmen. From the high windows of the tower is a magnificent view of the city.
