Structures of Particular Interest To Me
Nashville’s "Bat Tower"
The postmodern style BellSouth Tower is the tallest structure in the State of Tennessee at 617 ft (33 stories). There is actually a building in Nashville with more stories (the Renaissance Hotel has 35 floors), though, since the floors of the BellSouth Tower are so tall.
Source: Nashville Heights and Skyscrapers.com
James Monroe Building
The tallest building in the Commonwealth of Virginia at 449 ft (25 stores), which isn’t saying much for tall buildings in the commonwealth. This building is relatively slim, yielding less office space than many other towers in downtown Richmond. I think it’s interesting filleted corners are worth noting here.
Source: Richmond City Watch
The WTVR Television tower is actually the tallest structure in Virginia. It was the tallest free-standing tower in the country when it was completed in 1953. It’s tip is 1045 ft in the air.
Source: skyscrapers.com
The Pentagon
It is widely considered to be the world’s largest office buidling. With nearly 4 million square feet of office space, it’s not hard to believe.
The Natchez Trace Parkway Bridge
This striking bridge is the first double arch, precast segmental bridge of its kind in the United States (which doesn’t mean much if you’re not a structural engineer). However, anyone can appreciate it’s beauty. The bridge is 1,572 feet long, and elevates the two-lane parkway 155 feet over Tennessee Route 96.
Source: PCL Constructors
The Smart Road Bridge over Wilson Creek
This is the highest bridge in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and is another Figg Bridge. It stands 175 ft above Wilson Creek in Ellet Valley. The bridge’s total length is 2,000 ft with 5 spans of varying length. The bridge is decorated with local “Hokie Stone” (known as granite everywhere else). This bridge is located about 1 mile from my old apartment in B’Burg.
Source: VDOT
TN State Route 52 Bridge Over Big South Fork River
This bridge was opened in August of 1999. It spans 1,080 ft and is 208 ft above the river. The bridge is on the Fentress/ Morgan Co. line, only miles from where I grew up. It is the third highest bridge in the state, although the concrete piers are actually the tallest of any bridge in the state. The bridge superstructure consists of 8 ft tall (approx.), high strength steel girders and a reinforced concrete deck.
Source: Fentress Courier; Wed. August 11th, 1999.
Tall Buildings of the World
Here is an image showing some of the world’s tallest buildings as of 2001 and how they compare (Courtesy of NalyD of Skycrapers.com, whose updated charts of tall buildings of the world can be now found at SkyscraperPage.com):
Also, note that this image is fairly out of date, as Taipei 101 and other various structures are not shown.
World Trade Center
These are some photos I took on a high school trip to New York City. I felt like it might be nice to post them now, in memory of the World Trade Center and the lives that were lost when they were destroyed. I hope that we never forget these marvelous structures, which stayed standing for some time after a remarkable and horrible event, allowing so many lives to be spared.
This is a photo of lower Manhattan as seen from, you guessed, the Statue of Liberty. That’s one of the spikes of her headdress.
This was taken standing on the sidewalk outside of 1WTC. I was in awe of those buildings then as much as I am now, even though they are gone. The caption on the back of my original photo reads “110 stories a piece. Big huh?”