For many, many decades the U.S. had been the leader in architectural design and engineering of skyscrapers. Now, many of the world’s tallest buildings are outside the United States. At 2717 feet, the current tallest building is Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Following closely behind is the Makkah Royal Clock Tower Hotel in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. By 2019 both will be eclipsed by the Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia at a staggering 3281 feet. That is almost one kilometer into the heavens!
Why is this important? A lot of technology, engineering and scientific know-how goes into building such tall structures. Not to mention national stature.
Unfortunately, most of our nation’s recent building industry fervor has centered on whether the World Trade Center or The Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sear’s Tower) was our country’s tallest structure. A recent decision by the Chicago-based nonprofit Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat ruled that the World Trade Center is taller because its 408-foot mast is part of the building’s architecture.
Additionally, there has been a lot of national focus on privatizing our nation’s space programs to reduce the strain on NASA. For example, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) recently returned a private unmanned spacecraft from a pioneering resupply mission to the international space station. Sure this important. It is also important to expand our space program to investigate Mars and beyond, but a skyscraper race has a lot more utilitarian value to our nation’s engineers, scientists and technical personnel. In dire need of creating more jobs, our national leaders should enact a contest towards building a mile high skyscraper! Sound impossible? Well not too long ago erecting a building over 2000 feet high seemed unmanageable.
To make this work would take a cadre of architects, design engineers, civil engineers, CAD drafters, process engineers, quality assurance engineers, mechanical engineers, material scientists, chemists, polymeric engineers, product developers and even electrical engineers, software engineers and IT professionals working in unison towards a common goal in a Manhattan-like project (i.e. our nation’s first atomic bomb project) to ascend back into the forefront of tall building construction. In soaring towards the heavens both our national employment and stature will be greatly increased.
As a firm that specializes in engineering, scientific and technical recruiting we regularly receive many resumes from related engineers, scientists and technical candidates seeking a new challenge. Let’s provide them one and boost our national prestige in the process.
