Men of Steel

Well hello there reader, welcome back.

Every morning, on my daily commute, I get to go past a construction site downtown. It’s on Liberty Ave, at 10th Street. Each day I’m continually amazed at the engineering that goes into constructing something so large in such a cramped space.

Now I of course have seen large urban buildings, in fact I work in one. But I’ve never been lucky enough to see one being constructed. I have gotten to see the daily progress ever since they broke ground on the project. Granted this building isn’t even going to be that big. I think 4 or 5 stories. I’m not sure, but I think it’s the new African American Cultural building.

Right now, the building is only a collection of steel girders, but it’s still fascinating to watch it take shape. Already I’m trying to figure out what goes where. For example, I’m fairly certain I know that there are going to be some escalators, and consequently where the lobby is going to be. There are 3 rows of ascending steel frames that have the look of an escalator. I can also see that the building is going to be very unique looking, because it’s not modular or square at all. There are beams going every which way.

What’s so awesome is how a building transforms from this scraggly collection of steel beams into a structure capable of supporting people with form and function. How the empty spaces between the beams become rooms and hallways and offices is just so fascinating.

Anyways, this might be the first actual topic that I've pondered. So that’s kind of exciting. Have a great day everyone.

Oh, also. On a side note. Last night during a game of Scrabble I was observing, I, along with everyone else, learned that "et" is actually the past tense of the word eat. Who the hell knew? "Last night I et some pizza" I guess "ate" is getting the shaft on this one.