Dubai
Dubai is the largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates. On the southeast coast of the Persian Gulf, it is the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, one of the seven emirates that make up the country. Dubai is a global business hub of the Middle East, it is a major global transport hub for passengers and cargo. Oil revenue helped accelerate the development of the city, a major mercantile hub, but Dubai's oil reserves are limited and production levels are low: today, less than 5% of the emirate's revenue comes from oil. A growing centre for regional and international trade since the early 20th century, Dubai's economy today relies on revenues from trade, aviation, real estate, financial services. Dubai has attracted world attention through large construction projects and sports events, in particular the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa; as of 2012, Dubai was the most expensive city in the Middle East. In 2014, Dubai's hotel rooms were rated as the second most expensive in the world.
Many theories have been proposed as to the origin of the word "Dubai". One theory suggests the word was used to describe the souq, similar to the souq in Ba. An Arabic proverb says "Daba Dubai", meaning "They came with a lot of money." According to Fedel Handhal, a scholar on the UAE's history and culture, the word Dubai may have come from the word daba, referring to the slow flow of Dubai Creek inland. The poet and scholar Ahmad Mohammad Obaid traces it to the same word, but to its alternative meaning of "baby locust" due to the abundant nature of locusts in the area before settlement; the history of human settlement in the area now defined by the United Arab Emirates is rich and complex, points to extensive trading links between the civilisations of the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia, but as far afield as the Levant. Archaeological finds in the emirate of Dubai at Al-Ashoosh, Al Sufouh and the notably rich trove from Saruq Al Hadid show settlement through the Ubaid and Hafit periods, the Umm Al Nar and Wadi Suq periods and the three Iron Ages in the UAE.
The area was known to the Sumerians as Magan, was a source for metallic goods, notably copper and bronze. The area was covered with sand about 5,000 years ago as the coast retreated inland, becoming part of the city's present coastline. Pre-Islamic ceramics have been found from the 4th centuries. Prior to the introduction of Islam to the area, the people in this region worshiped Bajir. After the spread of Islam in the region, the Umayyad Caliph of the eastern Islamic world invaded south-east Arabia and drove out the Sassanians. Excavations by the Dubai Museum in the region of Al-Jumayra found several artefacts from the Umayyad period; the earliest recorded mention of Dubai is in 1095 in the Book of Geography by the Andalusian-Arab geographer Abu Abdullah al-Bakri. The Venetian pearl merchant Gasparo Balbi visited the area in 1580 and mentioned Dubai for its pearling industry. Dubai is thought to have been established as a fishing village in the early 18th century and was, by 1822, a town of some 7–800 members of the Bani Yas tribe and subject to the rule of Sheikh Tahnun bin Shakhbut of Abu Dhabi.
In 1833, following tribal feuding, members of the Al Bu Falasah tribe seceded from Abu Dhabi and established themselves in Dubai. The exodus from Abu Dhabi was led by Obeid bin Saeed and Maktoum bin Butti, who became joint leaders of Dubai until Ubaid died in 1836, leaving Maktum to establish the Maktoum dynasty. Dubai signed the General Maritime Treaty of 1820 along with other Trucial States, following the British punitive expedition against Ras Al Khaimah of 1819, which led to the bombardment of the coastal communities of the Persian Gulf; this led to the 1853 Perpetual Maritime Truce. Dubai – like its neighbours on the Trucial Coast – entered into an exclusivity agreement in which the United Kingdom took responsibility for the emirate's security in 1892. In 1841, a smallpox epidemic broke out in the Bur Dubai locality, forcing residents to relocate east to Deira. In 1896, fire broke out in Dubai, a disastrous occurrence in a town where many family homes were still constructed from barasti - palm fronds.
The conflagration consumed half the houses of Bur Dubai, while the district of Deira was said to have been destroyed. The following year, more fires broke out. A female slave was subsequently put to death. In 1901, Maktoum bin Hasher Al Maktoum established Dubai as a free port with no taxation on imports or exports and gave merchants parcels of land and guarantees of protection and tolerance; these policies saw a movement of merchants not only directly from Lingeh, but those who had settled in Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah to Dubai. An indicator of the growing importance of the port of Dubai can be gained from the movements of the steamer of the Bombay and Persia Steam Navigation Company, which from 1899 to 1901 paid five visits annually to Dubai. In 1902 the company's vessels made 21 visits to Dubai and from 1904 on, the steamers called fortnightly – in 1906, trading seventy thousand tonnes of cargo; the frequency of these vessels only helped to accelerate Dubai's role as an emerging port and trading hub of preference.
Lorimer notes the transfer from Lingeh'bids fair to become complete and permanent', that the town had by 1906 supplanted Lingeh as the chief entrepôt of the Trucial States. The'great storm' of 1908 struck the pearling boats of Dubai and the coastal emirates t
Elevator
An elevator or lift is a type of vertical transportation device that moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel, or other structure. Elevators are powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems like a hoist, although some pump hydraulic fluid to raise a cylindrical piston like a jack. In agriculture and manufacturing, an elevator is any type of conveyor device used to lift materials in a continuous stream into bins or silos. Several types exist, such as the chain and bucket elevator, grain auger screw conveyor using the principle of Archimedes' screw, or the chain and paddles or forks of hay elevators. Languages other than English may lift; because of wheelchair access laws, elevators are a legal requirement in new multistory buildings where wheelchair ramps would be impractical. There are some elevators which can go sideways in addition to the usual up-and-down motion; the earliest known reference to an elevator is in the works of the Roman architect Vitruvius, who reported that Archimedes built his first elevator in 236 BC.
Some sources from historical periods mention elevators as cabs on a hemp rope powered by hand or by animals. In 1000, the Book of Secrets by al-Muradi in Islamic Spain described the use of an elevator-like lifting device, in order to raise a large battering ram to destroy a fortress. In the 17th century the prototypes of elevators were located in the palace buildings of England and France. Louis XV of France had a so-called'flying chair' built for one of his mistresses at the Chateau de Versailles in 1743. Ancient and medieval elevators used drive systems based on windlasses; the invention of a system based on the screw drive was the most important step in elevator technology since ancient times, leading to the creation of modern passenger elevators. The first screw drive elevator was built by Ivan Kulibin and installed in the Winter Palace in 1793. Several years another of Kulibin's elevators was installed in the Arkhangelskoye near Moscow; the development of elevators was led by the need for movement of raw materials including coal and lumber from hillsides.
The technology developed by these industries and the introduction of steel beam construction worked together to provide the passenger and freight elevators in use today. Starting in the coal mines, by the mid-19th century elevators were operated with steam power and were used for moving goods in bulk in mines and factories; these steam driven devices were soon being applied to a diverse set of purposes—in 1823, two architects working in London and Hormer, built and operated a novel tourist attraction, which they called the "ascending room". It elevated paying customers to a considerable height in the center of London, allowing them a magnificent panoramic view of downtown. Early, crude steam-driven elevators were refined in the ensuing decade; the elevator used a counterweight for extra power. The hydraulic crane was invented by Sir William Armstrong in 1846 for use at the Tyneside docks for loading cargo; these supplanted the earlier steam driven elevators: exploiting Pascal's law, they provided a much greater force.
A water pump supplied a variable level of water pressure to a plunger encased inside a vertical cylinder, allowing the level of the platform to be raised and lowered. Counterweights and balances were used to increase the lifting power of the apparatus. Henry Waterman of New York is credited with inventing the "standing rope control" for an elevator in 1850. In 1845, the Neapolitan architect Gaetano Genovese installed in the Royal Palace of Caserta the "Flying Chair", an elevator ahead of its time, covered with chestnut wood outside and with maple wood inside, it included a light, two benches and a hand operated signal, could be activated from the outside, without any effort on the part of the occupants. Traction was controlled by a motor mechanic utilizing a system of toothed wheels. A safety system was designed to take effect, it consisted of a beam pushed outwards by a steel spring. In 1852, Elisha Otis introduced the safety elevator, which prevented the fall of the cab if the cable broke, he demonstrated it at the New York exposition in the Crystal Palace in a dramatic, death-defying presentation in 1854, the first such passenger elevator was installed at 488 Broadway in New York City on 23 March 1857.
The first elevator shaft preceded the first elevator by four years. Construction for Peter Cooper's Cooper Union Foundation building in New York began in 1853. An elevator shaft was included in the design, because Cooper was confident that a safe passenger elevator would soon be invented; the shaft was cylindrical. Otis designed a special elevator for the building; the Equitable Life Building completed in 1870 in New York City was thought to be the first office building to have passenger elevators. However Peter Ellis, an English architect, installed the first elevators that could be described as paternoster elevators in Oriel Chambers in Liverpool in 1868; the first electric elevator was built by Werner von Siemens in 1880 in Germany. The inventor Anton Freissler developed the ideas of von Siemens and built up a successful enterprise in Austria-Hungary; the safety and speed of electric elevators were enhanced by Frank Sprague who added floor control, automatic elevators, acceleration control of cars, safeties.
His elevator ran faster and with larger loads than hyd
The Magic Numbers
The Magic Numbers are an English pop rock band comprising two pairs of brothers and sisters from Hanwell in west London. The group was formed in 2002, releasing their debut album titled The Magic Numbers on 13 June 2005, their follow-up album, Those the Brokes was released on 6 November 2006, The Runaway was released on 6 June 2010, Alias was released on 18 August 2014, their most recent album, was released on 11 May 2018. The Magic Numbers consists of Romeo Stodart, his sister Michele, Angela Gannon and her brother Sean Gannon; the Stodarts are the children of a Scottish father and a Portuguese mother and were born in Trinidad in the Caribbean, where their mother was an opera singer and had her own TV show. When the family fled an Islamic coup attempt there in 1990, they were raised in New York City. In the mid-1990s, when Romeo was 16 and Michele was 10, they moved to London; the Gannons are of Irish descent but lived in Hanwell, London where they became friends with their neighbours the Stodarts.
Prior to forming the Magic Numbers and Sean spent time trying to form a band together under various guises, performed under the name'Guess'. In late 2002 The Magic Numbers formed in their present guise, they began touring the London circuit developing their sound and building a small cult following, not least amongst some established artists including The Chemical Brothers, Ed Harcourt, with the latter influential in their signing to record label Heavenly Records, narrowly choosing that label over Rough Trade Records, their rise came swiftly, beginning in the summer of 2004 and that year when they began supporting well-known artists such as Travis, Ed Harcourt and Snow Patrol and appearing on the bill of some low-key UK festivals, building a larger following by increasing their live performances. In November 2004, they released a limited edition 7" vinyl single, "Hymn for Her", to coincide with a three-show residency at The Borderline in London. On the back of releasing just one commercially available single, "Forever Lost", before their debut album was released, they played a sold-out show to a crowd of over 2,000 at The Forum in Kentish Town, where a limited number of live albums of the gig were released.
They played their first live session on UK radio on the Dermot O'Leary Show for BBC Radio 2. Their eponymous debut album was recorded in late 2004 and early 2005 at Metropolis Studios in London, released on 13 June 2005; the album was recorded by American producer Craig Silvey. Prior to release, only "Forever Lost" was promoted as a commercial single; this was followed up by single releases "Love Me Like You", "Love's a Game" and "I See You, You See Me". Following the release of their debut album, the remainder of 2005 and the first few months of 2006 were spent touring and promoting their album and singles, throughout the UK and United States, across Europe and in New Zealand and Japan, their Japanese tour was featured as a side documentary on Jonathan Ross's Japanorama. They received a large amount of press attention for being the first band to walk off the TV show Top of the Pops after host Richard Bacon insulted their physiques shortly before they were due to appear on the show to promote their single "Love Me Like You".
The album was shortlisted in 2005 for the coveted Mercury Music Prize. After their heavy touring and promotion of their self-titled debut, The Magic Numbers would return in autumn of 2006 with their follow-up album, Those the Brokes; the band did another extensive run of shows to promote and tour for the album, including supporting The Who in Southampton, an appearance at the 2007 Glastonbury Festival. The album was recorded in New York at Allaire Studios in Spring 2006, a venue, used in the past by David Bowie, The Strokes and Ryan Adams, was recorded and engineered by Richard Wilkinson. A live album entitled Live at the Kentish Town Forum was released in February 2007, featuring a live performance of songs from both of the band's two albums; the band took some time off during 2008, before reconvening in late 2009 to begin work on their third studio album. The band's website was updated to inform fans; the album was produced by Romeo Stodart with Valgeir Sigurðsson, who has worked with artists such as Björk, Bonnie Prince Billy and Múm.
The album was mixed by Ben Hillier, features string arrangements by the late Robert Kirby, who worked on Nick Drake's Five Leaves Left album. The album was released on 26 July 2010; the Magic Numbers played at the 2010 Splendour in the Grass festival. During their time in Australia, they did shows in Melbourne and Sydney with Blue Mountains band Cloud Control, they played at the annual Glastonbury Festival. In 2012, Michele Stodart released a solo album with a strong country music influence, Wide-Eyed Crossing, accompanying herself on the guitar, it was promoted on a solo tour by Stodart. In 2016, she released Pieces, on One Little Indian Records; the album featured guest appearances from her brother Romeo Stodart and singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams. In May 2013, The Magic Numbers announced their first-ever acoustic tour; the five-week tour saw the band play in the intimate surroundings of some of the most beautiful theatres and live music venues across the UK and Ireland supported by British act Goldheart Assembly.
The band's fourth album Alias was released in August 2014. In November 2015, The Magic Numbers toured the UK wi
Langstone Harbour
Langstone Harbour is an inlet of the English Channel in Hampshire, sandwiched between Portsea Island to the south and west, Hayling Island to the south and east, Langstone to the north. Together with Chichester Harbour, at the other side of Hayling Island it is designated as a Special Protection Area for wildlife. West of Portsmouth is Portsmouth Harbour and the three linked harbours are important recreational and conservation areas as well as supporting commercial fishing and shipping, it is administered by the Langstone Harbour Board. The eastern boundary with Chichester Harbour is defined by a historic causeway known as the wade way, the only crossing between Hayling Island and the mainland, it is now impassable, having been cut in two by a deep channel for the Portsmouth and Arundel Canal in the 1820s. Langstone Harbour contains a number of islands; these are subject to erosion and during the 1990s a seven-year archaeology project took place before their history was lost to the seas. There are two smaller islands: Round Nap Island, connected to South Binness Island by a tidal causeway and Oyster Island.
Langstone Harbour was a river valley of one of the tributaries flowing into the River Solent. With the end of the last ice age sea levels rose until sometime between 4000 and 3500BC the harbour took on the form it would have until the 18th century. For much of its history the harbour has been an area of salt production; the Domesday Book records three salterns around the harbour and by the early 17th century a saltern at Copnor was well established. Here a large shallow area of the harbour meant that without further improvement salt could be extracted from the area after each tide; the Copnor saltern ceased production in 1800 but salt production continued elsewhere in the harbour until 1933. In 1771 Farlington Marshes were reclaimed from the north of the harbour. Oyster farming began in the harbour around 1820 with winkle and clam cultivation starting around much the same time. Production ceased in the 1950s. An attempt at oyster farming in the 1980s soon failed. In 1997 work began to turn the remains into an artificial lagoon.
The lagoon which has a small island at the centre has, as planned, become a breeding ground for birds little terns. During the Second World War the harbour was used as Starfish decoy site to misdirect German bombers; the harbour is home to an extensive range of bird life. Fifty species of fish have been found in the harbour; the harbour's bird life is richer, the harbour hosting a wide range of species some of which are represented by over 10,000 individuals. This is in a large part due to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds acquiring harbour's islands and a number of tidal areas in 1978 and turning them into bird sanctuaries; as a result of the number of birds the harbour as become a popular spot for bird watchers. Seals appear in the harbour in winter. American hard-shelled clams have been found in the harbour spreading from an initial release site on the lower River Test; the harbour is home to a population of Sand smelt. On 31 July 2008 a 26-foot, 7-tonne northern bottlenose whale was beached on a mudflat in Langstone Harbour.
A rescue operation was carried out to try to save the whale off the south coast of England and managed to free the whale from mudflats using a special lifting pontoon but it remained in shallow water. A decision was made to give the whale a lethal injection as a blood test revealed that it was suffering from kidney failure. If the whale swam into deeper water it could take up to two days to die from renal failure; the whale ended up about 3,000 miles off course due to its illness. There are several boat wrecks in the harbour. One of these is a tug dating from 8 May 1941; the tug named the Irishman was sunk by a magnetic mine and now rests submerged at low tide. A older wreck dating from 1926 is a Bucket dredger named the Withern. Of unrecorded age is the wreck of the Excelsior an 80-foot long barge; the harbour contains a wrecked landing craft that rests with its bows permanently above the surface. Close to the entrance of the harbour there is a wrecked Phoenix breakwater type C, it was constructed to form part of a World War 2 Mulberry Harbour.
Various artefacts have been found from the prison hulks that were kept in the harbour during the Napoleonic wars. RSPB reserve website Map sources for Langstone Harbour
Fernsehturm Berlin
The Fernsehturm is a television tower in central Berlin, Germany. Close to Alexanderplatz in Berlin-Mitte, the tower was constructed between 1965–69 by the government of the German Democratic Republic, it was intended to be both a symbol of Communist power and of Berlin. It remains the latter today, as it is visible throughout the central and some suburban districts of Berlin. With its height of 368 metres it is the tallest structure in Germany, the third-tallest structure in the European Union. Of the four tallest structures in Europe, it is 2 m shorter than the Torreta de Guardamar, 0.5 m shorter than the Riga Radio and TV Tower, 8 m taller than the Trbovlje Power Station in 2017. The structure is more than 220 metres higher than the old Berlin Radio Tower in the western part of the city, built in the 1920s. In addition to its main function as the location of several radio and television broadcasting stations, the building – internally known as "Fernmeldeturm 32" – serves as a viewing tower with observation deck including a bar at a height of 203 metres, as well as a rotating restaurant.
The Berlin TV Tower can be booked as a venue for events. The distinctive city landmark has undergone a radical, symbolic transformation: After German reunification, it changed from a politically charged, national symbol of the GDR into a citywide symbol of a reunited Berlin. Due to its universal and timeless design, it has been used as a trademark and is identified worldwide with Berlin and Germany. In 1979, the Berlin TV Tower received monument status by the GDR, a status, perpetuated after the German reunification; the tower has become one of the most prominent symbols of the country and is in the establishing shot of films set in Berlin, alongside monuments such as the Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Victory Column and the Reichstag building. It is one of the ten most popular attractions in Germany with more than 1,000,000 visitors every year. Due to its location near Alexanderplatz, it is called Alex Tower; the original total height of the tower was 365 metres, but it rose to 368 metres after the installation of a new antenna in 1997.
The Fernsehturm is the fourth tallest freestanding structure in Europe, after Moscow's Ostankino Tower, the Kiev TV Tower and the Riga Radio and TV Tower. The sphere is a revolving restaurant in the middle of the sphere; the visitor platform called panoramic floor, is at a height of about 203 metres above the ground and visibility can reach 42 kilometres on a clear day. The restaurant Telecafé, which rotates once every 30 minutes, is a few metres above the visitors platform at 207 metres; when first constructed, it turned once per hour. Two lifts transports visitors to the sphere of the tower within 40 seconds. A stairway with 986 steps provides access, however it is not accessible by wheelchair. To mark the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, for which the final match was played in the Berlin Olympic Stadium, the sphere was decorated as a football with magenta-coloured pentagons, reflecting the corporate colour of World Cup sponsor and owner of the Fernsehturm, Deutsche Telekom; the Berlin TV Tower is located southwest of the Alexanderplatz station and northeast of the Marx-Engels Forum.
The structure is erroneously described as being part of the Alexanderplatz that lies to the northeast. Because of its proximity to the famous square, the TV Tower is sometimes referred to as the Alex Tower. In addition to the Berlin U-Bahn and S-Bahn lines, several tram and bus lines stop at Alexanderplatz station, from which the middle exit leads to the entrance building of the TV Tower; the Interhotel Stadt Berlin on Alexanderplatz, planned at the same time as the TV Tower and completed in 1970, is 125 metres high and is now operated as a Park Inn by Radisson Berlin Alexanderplatz. Between 1967 and 1972, the Rathauspassagen shopping arcade was built next to the Red Town Hall, directly south of the TV Tower. At the European Broadcasting Conference in Stockholm in 1952, responsible for the coordination of frequency waves in Europe, the GDR – not recognised politically by most countries at the time – was only allocated two frequency channels. Under these circumstances, it was impossible to cover Berlin's urban area by multiple small broadcasting stations without interference and thus disturbances or gaps in the broadcasting signals.
For comprehensive and continuous coverage, a powerful large broadcasting facility at the highest possible location was required. In the 1950s, this task was fulfilled in Berlin by the weak makeshift stations of Deutscher Fernsehfunk; as early as 1952, GDR's Deutsche Post began planning a TV tower for Berlin. The plans involved a location in the southeast of Berlin. However, the project was interrupted after construction had started, when it transpired that the site was only eight kilometres away from the Berlin Schönefeld Airport and the tower threatened to jeopardise flight operations due to its height and location at the edge of an airport corridor. After various compromise solutions failed, the construction project was discontinued in 1956. In the following years, alternatives were sought and several sites were discussed, including in Berlin Friedrichshain, but these plans fell victim to austerity measures triggered by the high costs of building the Berlin Wall. In the next few years, the search for a new location was continued.
Alongside its actual purpose of providing the best possible broadcasting services, the role of the tower as a new landmark of Berlin was gaining significance. For this
One World Trade Center
One World Trade Center is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. One WTC is the tallest building in the United States, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, the sixth-tallest in the world; the supertall structure has the same name as the North Tower of the original World Trade Center, destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The new skyscraper stands on the northwest corner of the 16-acre World Trade Center site, on the site of the original 6 World Trade Center; the building is bounded by West Street to the west, Vesey Street to the north, Fulton Street to the south, Washington Street to the east. The building's architect is David Childs, whose firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the Burj Khalifa and the Willis Tower; the construction of below-ground utility relocations and foundations for the new building began on April 27, 2006. One World Trade Center became the tallest structure in New York City on April 30, 2012, when it surpassed the height of the Empire State Building.
The tower's steel structure was topped out on August 30, 2012. On May 10, 2013, the final component of the skyscraper's spire was installed, making the building, including its spire, reach a total height of 1,776 feet, its height in feet is a deliberate reference to the year when the United States Declaration of Independence was signed. The building opened on November 3, 2014. On March 26, 2009, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey confirmed that the building would be known by its legal name of "One World Trade Center", rather than its colloquial name of "Freedom Tower"; the building is 104 standard floors high. The new World Trade Center complex will include five high-rise office buildings built along Greenwich Street, as well as the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, located just south of One World Trade Center where the original Twin Towers stood; the construction of the new building is part of an effort to memorialize and rebuild following the destruction of the original World Trade Center complex.
The construction of the World Trade Center, of which the Twin Towers were the centerpieces, was conceived as an urban renewal project and spearheaded by David Rockefeller. The project was intended to help revitalize Lower Manhattan; the project was planned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which hired architect Minoru Yamasaki. Yamasaki came up with the idea of building twin towers. After extensive negotiations, the New Jersey and New York State governments, which supervise the Port Authority, consented to the construction of the World Trade Center at the Radio Row site, located in the lower-west area of Manhattan. To satisfy the New Jersey government, the Port Authority agreed to buy the bankrupt Hudson & Manhattan Railroad, which transported commuters from New Jersey to Lower Manhattan; the towers were designed as framed tube structures, giving tenants open floor plans, unobstructed by columns or walls. This design was accomplished by using many spaced perimeter columns, providing much of the structure's strength, with the gravity load shared with the core columns.
The elevator system, which made use of sky lobbies and a system of express and local elevators, allowed substantial floor space to be used for office purposes by making the structural core smaller. The design and construction of the towers involved many other innovative techniques, such as wind tunnel experiments and the slurry wall for digging the foundation. Construction of the North Tower began in August 1966; the first tenants moved into the North Tower in December 1970. In the 1970s, four other low-level buildings were built as part of the World Trade Center complex. A seventh building was built in the mid-1980s. After Seven World Trade Center was built in the 1980s, the World Trade Center complex had a total of seven buildings; each tower was over 1,350 feet high, occupied about 1 acre of the total 16 acres of the site's land. During a press conference in 1973, Yamasaki was asked, "Why two 110-story buildings? Why not one 220-story building?" His response was, "I didn't want to lose the human scale."
When it was topped out on December 4, 1970, One World Trade Center became the tallest building in the world, surpassing the Empire State Building, which had held the record for 40 years. The North Tower was 1,368 feet tall, in 1978, a telecommunications antenna was added to the top of the roof. With the 360-foot -tall antenna, the highest point of the North Tower reached 1,728 ft. However, the tower only held its record until May 1973, when Chicago's Sears Tower, 1,450 feet tall at the rooftop, was completed. At 110 floors, the World Trade Center towers had more floors than any other building at that time; this number was not surpassed until the construction of the Burj Khalifa, which opened in 2010. Of the 110 stories, eight were set aside as mechanical floors, which were four two-floor areas that were spaced up the building in intervals. All the remaining floors were open for tenants; each floor of the tower had 40,000 square feet of avail
Blackpool Tower
Blackpool Tower is a tourist attraction in Blackpool, England, opened to the public on 14 May 1894. Inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, it is 518 feet tall and is the 120th-tallest freestanding tower in the world. Blackpool Tower is the common name for the Tower Buildings, an entertainment complex in a red-brick three-storey block that comprises the tower, the ground floor aquarium and cafeteria, Tower Circus, the Tower Ballroom and roof gardens, designated a Grade I listed building in 1973; the Blackpool Tower Company was founded by London-based Standard Contract & Debenture Corporation in 1890. John Bickerstaffe, a former mayor of Blackpool, was asked to become chairman of the new company, its shares went on sale in July 1891; the Standard Corporation offered £ 150,000 worth of shares to the public. Bickerstaffe, to avoid the potential collapse of the venture, bought any available shares until his original holding of £500 amounted to £20,000, he released the Standard Corporation from its share commitments.
When the Tower opened in 1894, its success justified the investment of nearly £300,000, the company made a £30,000 profit in 1896. Two Lancashire architects, James Maxwell and Charles Tuke, designed the tower and oversaw the laying of its foundation stone on 29 September 1891. By the time the Tower opened on 14 May 1894, both men had died. Heenan & Froude of Manchester, were appointed structural engineers and constructing both the tower, the electric lighting and the steel front pieces for the aquariums. A new system of hydraulic riveting was used, based on the technology of Fielding & Platt of Gloucester; the total cost for the design and construction of the tower and buildings was about £290,000. Five million Accrington bricks, 3,478 long tons of steel and 352 long tons of cast iron were used to construct the tower and base. Unlike the Eiffel Tower, Blackpool Tower is not freestanding, its base is hidden by the building. The building occupies a total of 6,040 square yards. At the summit of the tower there is a flagpole where the height at the top measures 518 feet 9 inches from the ground.
A time capsule was buried under the foundation stone on 25 September 1891. The tower's design was ahead of its time; as a writer for the BBC noted: "In heavy winds the building will sway, what a magnificent Victorian engineering masterpiece." When the Tower opened, 3,000 customers took the first rides to the top. Tourists paid sixpence for admission, sixpence more for a ride in the lifts to the top, a further sixpence for the circus; the first members of the public to ascend the tower had been local journalists in September 1893, using constructors' ladders. The top of the Tower caught fire in 1897, the platform was seen on fire from up to fifty miles away; the Tower was not painted properly during its first thirty years and became corroded, leading to discussions about demolishing it. However, it was decided to rebuild it instead, all the steelwork in the structure was replaced and renewed between 1920 and 1924. On 22 December 1894, Norwegian ship Abana was sailing from Liverpool to Savannah, but was caught up in a storm, mistook the built Blackpool Tower for a lighthouse.
Abana was first seen off North Pier, drifted to Little Bispham where she was wrecked, can still be seen at low tide. The ship's bell still hangs in St Andrews Church in Cleveleys. In 1940, during the Second World War, the crow's nest was removed to allow the structure to be used as a Royal Air Force radar station known as'RAF Tower', which proved unsuccessful. A post box was opened at the top of the tower in 1949; the hydraulic lifts to the top of the tower were replaced in 1956–57 and the winding-gear replaced by electric. The top of the tower was painted silver in 1977 as part of Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee celebrations. A giant model of King Kong was placed on the side of the tower in 1984. In 1985, escapologist Karl Bartoni and his bride were married suspended in a cage from the tower; the lifts and winding gear were again replaced in 1992. The same year the tower complex was renamed Tower World, was opened by Diana, Princess of Wales; the tower is painted in dark red, except for its centenary year in 1994 when it was painted gold by abseiling painters.
In 1998, a "Walk of Faith" glass floor panel was opened at the top of the tower. Made up of two sheets of laminated glass, it is two inches thick. In October 2007, a laser beam installed on the Tower for the duration of the annual Illuminations was criticised by astronomer Sir Patrick Moore, presenter of television programme The Sky at Night, who said: "Light pollution is a huge problem. I am not saying we should turn all the lights out, not practical, but there are some things which are unnecessary; the Blackpool Tower light is something I do not think we should be doing. I much oppose it." The beam could be seen 30 miles away. The Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston said the laser has added to a spiralling problem affecting astronomy; the tower has transmitters for some non-broadcast services. The tower continued to be owned by the Bickerstaffe family until 1964, when the Blackpool Tower Compan
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