> It was the John Hancock Tower, in Boston, in the early 70's.
The exterior of the John Hancock tower is mostly glass. Pittsburgh Glass
supplied the glass. They knew the windows wouldn't survive, they told
the architects they wouldn't work, but they insisted on using them anyway.
And then the fun began.
> The solution
> was thicker glass!
Well, the first solution was wood! For a while I thought Boston was going
to be the first city to have a wooden skyscraper; so much of the exterior
had been replaced with big wood panels.
Another solution they tried was chicken-wire in the glass, but I think that
was only a stopgap to keep shards from blowing out and impacting the people
down at street level.
Fortunately, in time they found a better solution.
> Inquiring minds want to know: why is 2000 ft scarier than 20 ft?
I don't know ... but some of those 2000 foot towers come down rather
suddenly. Wasn't there another one in the last year?
When I was up on top of a much shorter tower, I suddenly realized that the
top of the tower wasn't anchored to the sky anymore. Didn't matter whether
or not it was moving. That kind of really changed my perspective. That,
and the dead bird that was wedged in right in front of me.
Andy
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