#3: Abraj Al Bait

The third tallest building in the world is also commonly known as Mekkah Royal Clock Hotel Tower (or informally the Mecca Clock Tower). The location of this tower is very special as it was built only 50 meters away from Islam’s holiest site Kaaba. The central tower of the complex is 601 meters tall and has 120 floors. The crescent at the very top of the tower alone contributes 23 meters to its overall height, which is equal to a 7-story building.

It may not be the tallest building in the world, but it does hold a record for its bulk. According to The Tower Info, the Abraj Al Bait has the most floor area of any skyscraper in the world. What’s more, the base of the whole complex covers an area of 34,794 square meters. It’s comprised of 7 individual towers of varying heights. The lowest height among the towers is a whopping 230 meters tall.

It was originally built in response to the ten million tourists every year that are habituating the city. The government decided to build a large number of hotels and the Abraj Al Bait was built to increase the subordinate scope of the area.

The construction for this project began in 2002. It was contracted and developed by the Saudi Bin Laden Group- the largest construction group in Saudi Arabia. The original struggle was making room for the ambitious complex. The government had to shovel a hill and demolish a fortress that was built in the 18th century in order to make room for this looming tower. The destruction of the fortress initially sparked controversy among some as it was the remains of the Empire of Ottoman. The complex was finally completed by 2012 and cost a total of 15 billion dollars to build.

#2: Shanghai Tower

Coming in at number two on the list is the Shanghai Tower. This innovative tower came with its fair share of challenges in construction as it had to be built to combat the windy climate, an active earthquake zone, and clay-based soils.

In order to combat the harsh winds, the tower was designed to have an asymmetrical form, a tapered profile, and round corners. The form was refined after wind tunnel testing and it ultimately led to a 24% reduction in structural wind loading (as opposed to the rectangular shape) according to Designing Buildings.

This utterly unique design required more than 20,000 curtain wall panels of more than 7,000 different shapes. Typically, this would be an unrealistically complex and costly venture. However, for this project, they used computer-aided design tools with parametric software and laser measuring technology. This was able to significantly cut down on cost and make the extremely specific customization possible.

The building is supported by a strong concrete core, approximately 61,000 cubic meters of concrete to be precise. They used steel super columns to support the tower, with ‘branches’ extending out at the base of each zone. A 1,000 metric ton tuned mass damper is located near the top of the tower as well, to further counteract the sway.

The tower has also become famous for its green initiative as one-third of the site is green space. It accomplishes this through a trigeneration system and a greywater/rainwater system. Not only that, but the lighting for the tower is powered by 270 wind turbines which are built into the facade.

#1: Burj Khalifa

Last, but not least (literally) is the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai. To build at 828 meters tall, you have to begin with a solid foundation. This tower’s construction is supported by a reinforced concrete mat, which is itself supported by 192 concrete piles. In an attempt to counter the effects of highly-corrosive groundwater, a high density, low permeability concrete and a cathodic protection system was used.

Concrete, as well as steel rebar, were used in the construction of the building itself. In fact, if you were to lay out the steel rebar used end to end, it would extend over a quarter of the way around the world. They developed a special concrete mix that was pumped to a height of more than 600 meters without segregating. Because the concrete was worked on for more than three hours before hardening, it ultimately cut down on construction time and made the building more sustainable.

During the exterior cladding process, they installed an aluminum and glass facade. There are close to 26,000 glass panels used on the building, each individually hand cut. According to Arabian Business, the total weight of aluminum used on the building is equivalent to five A380 aircrafts.

This was a massive undertaking and involved working with more than 60 contracting and consulting companies from all over the world. At their peak of construction, there were over 12,000 workers and contractors on site each day. Now, 22 million man-hours later, this tower still holds the record for tallest in the whole world.

Architecture is a strange constant in our otherwise rapidly changing lives of the 21st century. Regardless of whether this list changes in a few years, these structures and the work that was put into them will likely remain with us for a long time to come.

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It was originally constructed as a fortress by Philip II, who commissioned its construction to protect France from Northern Invasions. The original structure included bastions at each corner, a surrounding moat and a 98 foot tower at the center. Once France expanded its territories in the 14th century, however, new defensive posts were constructed at the new borders, so the Louvre was no longer needed as a fortress.

Charles V made attempts to remodel the original structure, but because of the Hundred Years’ War the Louvre fell into disuse until 1546. Francis I, king and art collector, had the original structure destroyed and built a new royal residence in its place. The section constructed during this time was created by the architect Pierre Lescot and it is what we know today as the southwestern part of the Cour Carrée.

Major revisions to the building were made during the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV. Both of the ministers to each king helped them acquire outstanding art collections during their rule. During this time, architects Claude Perrault and Louis Le Vau, along with decorator and painter Charles Le Brun, created the portion of the Louvre now known as Colonnade.

The idea of turning the Louvre into a public museum originated in the 18th century. By the time Napoleon III finished his work, the Louvre was a large complex of buildings forming two main quadrilaterals and enclosing two vast courtyards.

The most recent construction to the building brought us one of the most well-known architectural additions: the Louvre Pyramid. In 1983, French President Francois Mitterand commissioned I.M. Pei, a Chinese-American Architect, to revive the Louvre. Once commissioned, Pei took several trips to the Louvre before even beginning to sketch out a design. Over his trips, he noticed how the galleries accounted for most of the interior, leaving the curators no space to store and care for the artifacts. He also noted there wasn’t really an organized entrance to the museum and the old corridors were difficult for the public to navigate.

Pei decided to design a new entrance space in the Cour Napoléon, the exterior courtyard surrounded by the museum’s existing buildings. He built a new infrastructure underground which led to a more organized and welcoming reception area. The additional space also allowed for more exhibition and storage space. The glass dome gives a natural, bright light to the underground addition.

When the design was first revealed, it was extremely controversial. This was, in part, because Pei was the first architect commissioned to work on the Louvre who wasn’t a French citizen. There was already local hesitation towards the project, and when the design was revealed there was an uproar. People felt the pyramid was a modernist eyesore, ruining the traditional architecture by which it was surrounded.

In reality, Pei didn’t want the more modern design to contrast the old architecture at all. According to Architectural Digest, Pei wanted the glass of the dome to be “super-clear”. This way, if you looked through it, the glass wouldn’t, “alter your perception of the color of the existing buildings.” This proved to be quite a challenge because, at the time, glass used in buildings had a greenish tint. Finding perfectly clear glass wasn’t a simple feat.

For the framework, Pei wanted to match the metalwork perfectly with the gray hue of the surrounding roofs. This also turned out to be more difficult than anticipated as, upon examination, those buildings sported 11 different shades of gray.

Pei also attempted to keep the sizing as unobtrusive as possible. He conducted a study to determine the height of the pyramid based on the height of the surrounding buildings. The structure was designed to fall below a certain line, this way it wouldn’t stick out above the rooftops.

The final product measures at 116 feet wide and 70 feet high. It consists of 673 glass panels, using 95 tons of steel and 105 tons of aluminum to support the structure. Today, the Pyramid structure is a defining part of the Louvre and beloved by the public, who will crowd the courtyard in an attempt to get a photo with what was once considered an eyesore.

This building has had quite a long journey, but the current structure is beautiful and has just the perfect blend of modern and classic architecture. If you’re ever lucky enough to make it across the pond to this historical site, you’re sure to louvre your visit.

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First, let’s get some context on just how grand this structure is. It was the largest man-made structure for nearly 4,000 years and it stands at 479 feet tall. It’s estimated that around two million stone blocks were used to make the Great Pyramid. This is an unbelievable feat, especially given the lack of advancements at the time. How on earth did they manage it?

The Learning Curve

In every creation, there’s always a certain amount of trial-and-error. To err is human, after all. The techniques used to construct these incomprehensibly labor-intensive creations were developed over the course of centuries. And, like modern-day engineers, they experienced their fair share of setbacks.

The first pyramid was developed from the simple rectangular “mastaba” tombs that were originally used in Egypt around 5,000 years ago. According to LiveScience’s report on pyramid-building techniques, the first advancement took place during the rule of Pharaoh Djoser (2630 B.C.). The planning of the structure has been attributed to Imhotep, a vizier, who evolved the structure from its original rectangular form to a 197 foot high pyramid with six layer and tunnels underneath.

The next innovation in pyramid building came during the reign of Snefru (2575 B.C.), who was the first to create smooth-faced or “true” pyramids, as opposed to the step pyramids that were made previously.

When we think of pyramids, we think of inexplicably flawless and imposing structures, but, like all great inventors, even the Egyptians made mistakes. During Snefru’s reign he constructed a total of three pyramids, one of which is referred to today as the “Bent Pyramid” because the angle of the pyramid changes part way up, giving it the appearance of being bent.

Creation can be a process that feels like you’re failing upwards constantly. It’s comforting to know that even the great Egyptians made mistakes and they learned from them, too. Snefru corrected the design flaw in the next two pyramids he built and passed down his knowledge to his son, Khufu, who would be the one to oversee the construction of what we now know as “The Great Pyramid.”

Materials

A great architectural triumph is only as good as it’s foundation. Which, in the case of the Egyptians, comes down to the specific metals and stones they used for the construction.

The outside of the pyramids in Giza were constructed using a rough yellow limestone. Build sites were chosen based on where prehistoric oceans had deposited the most of this material. They’d dig channels and pry the blocks directly from the earth. They even determined the size of the block based on the natural thickness of the limestone layers.

This is where things got trickier because the only metal the Egyptians had access to in terms of tools was copper (which is not a particularly hard metal).

Being the innovators they were, the Egyptians learned if they used sand or powdered rock as an abrasive, their copper tools would be able to cut through the limestone.

The inner chambers of the pyramid were constructed with granite, which is one of the harder rocks out there (because it contains quartz). This was probably the most painstaking part of building, they’d chip away at the granite by hand using dolerite hammer stones.

To give you an idea of just how time consuming this was, researchers have estimated that they’d make about 5mm progress per hour. This would mean you would have to spend a full day pounding against the rock over and over, just to chip away a few centimeters. Nowadays people are barely patient enough to wait for the office printer to warm up and the Egyptians spent entire days hitting one rock against another rock.

Once finished, the pyramids were covered with a layer of white limestone. Over time, this layer has weathered and gone, but in the past it would’ve made the pyramids appear a bright white color instead of the sandy brown we see today. It’s also speculated that the very top of the pyramid may have been covered with electrum, which is a mixture of gold and silver. But, again, time ruins all things. Get it…ruins?

Transportation

Sad to say for the Egyptians, but the invention of the wheel (though it happened before their time) never reached these worker bees. It probably would’ve made their lives a lot easier, but the Egyptians found other ways to move these huge tons of rock.

Let’s start with the outer rock: limestone. There are ancient drawings of Egyptians which show them moving huge monuments using sleds being pulled through sand. That may sound painstaking and inefficient, but in a recent study done by researchers at the University of Amsterdam in 2014, we discovered how they made this work more…well… humanly possible. The researchers found that sand has an interesting property where, if it’s wet with the right amount of water, it becomes slick so objects can be moved easier with fewer workers. This simple and resourceful technique cut their required pulling force by half.

If you can believe it, the granite was even trickier to transport. However, researchers have discovered records of boats that could’ve been used to float the stones down the nile when it overflowed into channels.

It’s safe to say that a person in modern day society couldn’t even begin to imagine this level of painstaking work and dedication. In fact you may even get tired for them just reading about this whole process. And we’re not even done. Once they got the supplies to the location there was the matter of actually getting the stones into place.

It’s widely agreed on that Egyptians used some sort of ramps to deliver the stone to its particular place on the pyramid. This may be the first and only time in your life where you’ll ever hear the phrase mysterious ramps, but these ramps are mysterious. This is actually where researchers speculate the most in terms of the pyramid constructing process as there’s no clear documentation of the ramp system used.

However, engineer Craig Smith created a detailed ramp analysis, calculating how many stones could be delivered with each design. Having done this analysis, he believes that Egyptians (most likely) extended a big wide ramp near the bottom, where most of the stones would go, and smaller spiral ramps at the top where fewer stones were needed.

Once the stones had been moved to where they were needed, wooden levers and round dolerite “ball bearings” were used to guide stones into place, where they were carved to an exact fit.

Workers:

Last but not least, no project can be completed without a good workforce. According to the show It’s Okay to be Smart, to build the Great Pyramid in 23 years, “an Olympic swimming pool worth of stone needed to be added every 8 days.” For this to be possible, it’s estimated that the Great Pyramid alone required 1,200 to 1,500 workers. It’s also estimated that, between the three pyramids built in Giza, a total of 10,000 workers were likely used.

Now, anyone who has even the most basic knowledge of pyramid-building will associate the labor with an… unwilling workforce (slaves). And this was what researchers assumed for the longest time. However, in recent years, Egyptologists like Mark Lehner have uncovered massive cities built to feed, house, and care for the builders. These cities were equipped with breweries, bakeries, tool shops and even evidence that families lived nearby. A 2013 study published by Richard Retting, the chief research officer of AERA shows that enough cattle, sheep and goats were slaughtered every day to produce 4,000 pounds of meat to feed the pyramid workers.

According to Redding, “They probably got a much better diet than they got in the village.” They even received honourable burials (something a slave wouldn’t have received). Given this recent evidence, Egyptologists now speculate that, rather than slaves, these were skilled workers that were employed to build and were treated fairly well.

It’s fascinating to see how an architectural process from over 4,000 years ago can still be so relatable to modern-day building and manufacturing. Although the tools and the means are very different, they require the same basic elements- materials, transportation, workers and learning.

If you’re a creator who gets discouraged from time to time, learning about the imperfections of the Greats can make you feel a lot better about your own journey. Who knows, maybe you’ll build the next “Great” (with a capital G) thing.

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