BUILDING HANGING DOWN.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 5 January 1929, Page 7

BUILDING HANGING DOWN.

FIRST OF THE SUSPENDED CON STRUCTION TYPE.

A five-storey building hanging down instead of standing up is being put together at Chicago. It will swing out over ail awkward angle of Chicago’s first great air rights development. Foundations could not he laid because of the railroad track below. Its builders say it is the first suspended construction of its type in the world. This pendant block will he a- wing on the 26-storev home of the “Chicago Daily News.” Tt will hang from huge trusses instead of being supported by the usual columns set on caissons. More than 65,000 of the 100,000 square feet in the building area- is being erected in the air rights oyer the terminal properties of the Union Station Como any. In the area occupied by the 'suspended wing the railroad tracks were too close together to permit the use of supporting columns.

Each of the trusses used to swsoend the five-storey wing is: 100 feet in length, and weighs 42 tons. To assure' a proner fit the trusses were first assembled at the steel compaany’s plant, and then taken apart for shipment. Three flat cars were necessary to transport each girder that goes into the tresses.

Special smoke chambers and stacks for lifting the smoke and steam from the track area beneath and' carrying it away above the- “Daily News” building have been designed. Such an exhaust system has never before been used’, as other structures erected in air rights have been above elect-rifled railroads, it is stated.

Construction presents n 1 difficult erection problem. as uninterrupted train service must be maintained, and this during rush hours when thousands of commuters' enter and leave the city by trains over these tracks. However, up to date no- train has been delayed. A working schedule for 72 hours in advance is filed with the Union station Company to facilitate train disnat'hing.