Here at SITECH, we offer construction management software technology to help construction workers perform their tasks with more efficiency, safety, and comfort. With the scope of modern construction projects, it is pretty much impossible to do a job well without state of the art technology at your disposal. Luckily, we have scalable, affordable options at your disposal. In the meantime, in the spirit of construction, we thought we would list some fun construction facts here.
Great Pyramid of Giza
For about 3,800 years, the Great Pyramid of Giza was the tallest building in the world, and is still one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Its title was displaced by the Lincoln Cathedral in England in 1311 AD, which held the title for 250 years. No other structure has held the title of World’s Tallest Building for 250 years since.
Newby-McMahon Building
Known for being the world’s smallest skyscraper, the Newby-McMahon Building measures in at a measly 40 feet tall. How could such a thing come to be? The story goes that J.D. McMahon raised $200,000 from investors in Wichita Falls, TX by never verbally stating the size of the building. The blueprints did read 480″ (symbol for inches), but the investors never caught it, assuming it would be 480 feet. This is one of the more amusing cases of swindling investors in history.
Hoover Dam
Built between 1931 and 1936, the Hoover Dam was one of the largest single construction undertakings in American history. For a little perspective, 3,250,000 cubic yards of concrete were used in its construction. That is enough concrete to pave a road from San Francisco to New York City. And what is more American than stretching “from Califoooornia, to the New York Iiislands!”?
Chrysler Building’s Spire
In the 1920s in New York, tall buildings were sprouting up left and right, which turned into a competition of sorts for architects at the time. One such rivalry was between William Van Alen (who was tasked with building the Chrysler Building) and H. Craig Severance (who was tasked with building the 40 Wall Street building). In order to ensure that his building was the tallest, William Van Alen secretly made plans to add the 185 foot spire at the top of the Chrysler Building. His plan worked, giving his building bragging rights for being the tallest building in the world, at least for 11 months until the Empire State Building stole the title.
Burj Khalifa
Not even the Empire State Building could hold the title of tallest building in the world. That title goes to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It took the equivalent of a small US city to build, and is now the tallest man made structure in the world (not just building, but any structure). It took 12,000 people to build when construction was at its height.
How Big Is Construction in the US?
According to information for this year, the construction industry in the United States is worth approximately 1.18 TRILLION dollars! That is a ton of money! It is up from 3.1 percent the year before, and seemingly continues to grow. About 59 percent of this total is from commercial or non residential use, while about 41 percent is residential.
How Many People Work in Construction?
Currently, the United States employs about 7.9 million people in the construction industry. That is a lot of people! But it is actually much less than ten years ago. Between 2006 and 2011, about 40% of the jobs in the construction industry were eliminated. While those job numbers have not resurfaced, it is expected, however, that some of those jobs will be replaced if the economy grows.
Who Is the Fastest Growing Construction Market?
The United States sits somewhere at about 3 percent projected market growth. However, the growth rate in the Middle East is about twice that at 6 percent. This includes country markets like UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Egypt. It is expected that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will surpass Saudi Arabia this year for the title of largest projects market.
What Is the Most Used Construction Material?
You may have guessed that concrete is the most used construction material. The use of concrete for construction actually dates all the way back to Ancient Egypt. Many people have tried to capitalize or improve on concrete. Thomas Edison, for instance, had 49 different concrete patents, and even attempted experiments to create a precast concrete house, full with concrete appliances, furniture, etc. Today, there are even companies putting chemical agents in their concrete in order to make it smell good.
Giant Buddha Statue
In the middle of the 16th century, Hicleyoshi (the “peasant ruler” of Japan who succeeded the infamous Oda Nobunaga) banned the lower classes from having swords. He sent out his samurai to confiscate any and all steel weapons not owned by samurai or the government, and had them melted down into a gigantic Buddha statue. This effectively stopped the possibility of any peasant revolts. Unfortunately, there are no extant pieces of it, as it was completely destroyed in an earthquake.
Skyscrapers
The study of a word’s language origins is called etymology. The etymology of the word “skyscraper” actually stems from an old meaning referring to the sail of a ship. The tall sail would appear to scrape the sky, so to speak. As engineering technology developed, the giant buildings we refer to as skyscrapers today probably better earned the name.
Leaning Tower of Pisa
Back between 1990 and 2001, restoration work was done on the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Its tilt had become exacerbated to about 5.5 degrees, and the restoration shifted it back to four degrees. Luckily, not so far that we would have to change the name!
Colosseum
Everybody has heard of the infamous Roman Colosseum, but do you know just how big it actually was? Erected in the year 80 AD in Rome, Italy, the Colosseum was big enough to house 50,000 spectators at a time. It was used for a wide range of spectacles, including gladiator contests, religious dramas, and animal hunts.
Petronas Towers
Everybody is always talking about the world’s tallest tower, but what about the world’s tallest towers? That title goes to the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They are the tallest twin buildings in the world, measuring in at a whopping 452 meters, or 1,483 feet.
Big Buildings, Fast Elevators
Now that we live in the era of huge, sprawling skyscrapers, have you ever considered how hard elevators need to work to keep up? Those buildings don’t do anyone any good if it takes all day for people to get up them, so we have built some extremely fast elevators to make that possible. Nowadays, elevators can travel up to 1,000 meters a minute, or 3,280 feet per minute.
All Kinds of Big
The tallest buildings get all the credit, but building high isn’t the only way to make a building big. If you are looking for the biggest building by floor size, that would be the Pentagon in Virginia. It measures in at an amazing 6,500,000 square feet, about half of which is used as office space.
Incas and Bridges
The Inca people had an interesting relationship with bridges, which they considered to be sacred. Anybody who was caught tampering with a bridge was put to death by law. This is because thousands of people may have relied on a bridge daily to survive. Incas often built chacas, or roped bridges that spanned huge distances over gorges or rivers. Some were as long as 175 ft, and were made using plaited woven grasses strung together as thick as a man’s body.
Bridge of Eggs
A bridge of eggs may sound like something out of a fantasy novel, but that is exactly what the Bridge of Eggs is. Located in LIma, Peru, it was constructed in 1610 using mortar mixed with 10,000 eggs instead of water. Don’t believe us? You can visit the bridge yourself, as it is still standing today.
Column of Trajan
Built in 113 AD in order to commemorate the victory of Trajan, a Roman emperor, over the Dacian tribes, the Column of Trajan stands 128 feet tall, with a 12 ft thick base, and was constructed completely out of gilded bronze. On it is a 218 yard long depiction of over 2,500 human figures, boats, horses, and military equipment and vehicles. Inside this massive column is a circular staircase, where the ashes of Trajan were laid out. This ancient construction marvel is still standing today.
Rice Houses
In ancient Japan, rice farmers would often build their houses with a paste made from the husks of their rice crops. After stripping away the white kernels from these husks, they would be ground into a paste and molded into brick shaped blocks. In Japan, these buildings made of rice are denoted with a character than means “houses of rice skin”.
Great Pyramid
The Great Pyramid of Giza is one of the great wonders of the ancient world. It is so large, in fact, that it covers ten whole football fields worth of space. From extant writings of Herodotus, we know that he wrote that it took 400,000 men over twenty years to construct this huge architectural marvel.
Great Wall of China
What is now known as the great wall began as a series of smaller walls built for protection by the Chinese as early as the 7th century BC. Since then, it has been built up, destroyed, maintained, and rebuilt many times over. In its entirety, the Great Wall measures approximately 13,171 miles long. It is so big, that it is the only man made structure to be visible from space.
Hopefully you found these fun facts interesting. If you’re a construction company looking to improve productivity with construction management technology, then give us a call and learn more about how our software and systems can increase efficiency on your job site.