Half way between the Meisian ideals of the past and the skyscrapers of the future, the Boeing Headquarters manages to present a modern face to the world while being covered in a forest of unnecessary spandrels. But the big story here is how the tower was built. It is constructed hovering over very active rail lines running in and out of Amtrak's Union Station. The developers leased so-called "air rights" to create their building. In essence, they are renting the air above the rail lines for $1,300,000 a year for 99 years. To accomplish such a feat, a large portion of the skyscraper is built on a platform that actually hangs in the air, suspended above the tracks in part by a truss visible on the roof. To further complicate matters, when it was constructed the building and the land had different owners. The building owners leased the ground for their 36-story tower from another company for about a hundred years. Remarkably, the building was erected without stopping rail service even though some of the train tracks had to be moved.

This object is part of "Scan The World". Scan the World is a non-profit initiative introduced by MyMiniFactory, through which we are creating a digital archive of fully 3D printable sculptures, artworks and landmarks from across the globe for the public to access for free. Scan the World is an open source, community effort, if you have interesting items around you and would like to contribute, email stw@myminifactory.com to find out how you can help.

Scanned : Photogrammetry (Processed using Agisoft PhotoScan)