Understanding the Risks of Tower Crane Operation

A construction crane collapsed in downtown Seattle on Saturday afternoon, killing four people and injuring several others. High winds may be partly to blame, though builders usually know when to cease crane operations under such conditions. Some witnesses report seeing the crane break in half as it collapsed. The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries has already announced it will conduct a thorough investigation to uncover the root cause of the accident. 

Seattle currently has the most tower cranes (60) of any city in the country punctuating its skyline, plain evidence of the city’s ongoing development boom. Like other major city centers, the density found in Seattle’s core leaves no option other than to utilize overhead cranes for construction. Consequently, their safe use is of paramount concern as ensuring the wellbeing of workers and the public is the first duty of any construction project. 

The reality is working with tower cranes is inherently a high-risk business. Overloading is responsible for many crane structural failures. Improper foundations are also sometimes implicated. Mostly though, the majority of crane accidents having nothing to do with the structure of the cranes themselves but are instead simply a consequence of human error. There can be no substitute for proper training, adherence to safety procedures, and prudent construction planning when it comes to operating cranes. 

Eugene is experiencing a surge in construction activity, and with it its own proliferation of tower cranes. My guess is we’ll soon see more large cranes at once in Eugene than ever before.(1) Here are some in current operation: 

At the 35 Club Road development: 

Large mobile cranes are being used at the New Hayward Field project: 

At the Obie Companies’ Market Expansion project: 

And at the Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact: 

An additional tower crane will soon rise at the location of the future Midtown Arts Center at 16^th Avenue and Pearl Street. I may be forgetting others in the Eugene-Springfield area that may be imminent or already in use, so let me know if I have and where they may be located. 

Tower cranes have provided millions of accident-free hours of operation on countless building projects worldwide. They are vital to the efficiency of modern construction and won’t be going away anytime soon. Nothing can make up for the loss of human life, but my hope is today’s tragedy in Seattle will contribute to a greater understanding of how to safely work with tower cranes and serve as a reminder of the risks associated with them. 


(1)   I wrote a previous post back in 2012 about the tall tower crane Lease Crutcher Lewis used to help build the Lane Community College Downtown Campus project here in Eugene and my opportunity to climb it.

Restoring the Related Wholeness of Notre-Dame de Paris

Notre-Dame de Paris ablaze (photo by LeLaisserPasserA38 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78064310) 

Great edifices, like great mountains, are the work of the ages.
― Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame 

Like countless others around the world, I was grief-stricken a week ago by the sight of the historic cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris engulfed by flames, its very survival threatened by a conflagration so sudden and violent we feared it might be lost altogether. “Oh no! Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral is on fire,” I tweeted when I learned of the news. I don’t know whether it’s because I’m someone with an informed appreciation for its architecture or because I visited Notre-Dame years ago and recalled my sense of awe and wonderment while before it, but the spectacle of the angry blaze consuming the roof and flèche (spire) very much felt like a punch to my gut. 

Many took to Twitter as I did to express their anguish, among them the venerable journalist Dan Rather: 

“Why has the burning of Notre Dame moved so many? Because we believe in beauty, majesty, faith, art, history, and the human expressions thereof. We recognize in this cathedral our common humanity. A scar now emerges in our connections to our past, our future, and each other.” 

To some, the symbolism of the fire’s occurrence on the holiest of weeks for Catholics did not go unnoticed. They took comfort in knowing that from temporal death comes the promise of resurrection. 

Thought to have been accidental and perhaps caused by faulty electrical wiring, the tragedy did not entirely consume the structure. Yes, it is badly damaged, but Notre-Dame de Paris can become whole once more. 

Talk of restoring the great cathedral ensued even as the heat of the fire had yet to fully cool. French president Emmanuel Macron immediately declared his government’s commitment to rebuild, and subsequently announced its intent to host an international design competition to replace the lost timber spire. Pledges of nearly a billion Euros toward the restoration effort poured in within days(1). With matching alacrity, renowned architects (including Norman Foster) declared the destructive fire to be an opportunity to remake Notre Dame in a manner that acknowledges today’s technology and contemporary spirit. (Foster famously designed the new glass dome that crowns the 19^th century, neoclassical Reichstag building in Berlin as a symbol of German reunification). 

The spire before the fire (photo by Jebulon [CC0]) 

So, the spire and the roof over the nave, transepts, and choir will be rebuilt. The question posed thusly is: In what manner should they be? Should Notre Dame be resurrected as an utterly transformed building for the 21^st century? Should the destroyed elements be replicated exactly as if the fire never occurred? Or is doing something between these two poles the correct path forward? 

In discussing the question of how to repair Notre-Dame, Michael J. Crosbie of Common Edge cited the Trappist monk and mystic Thomas Merton: 

“. . . Merton warned against recreations of religious buildings; he saw them as denying the possibility that the sacred could be encountered in anything but a structure that looked like it had been built ages ago, as if God did not belong to all ages and as if religion were really only a pleasant, necessary social formality, preserved from past times in order to give our society an air of respectability. Merton believed that it’s up to every new generation to create architecture that speaks to the spirituality of its time, whatever it is.” 

What do I think? Unlike many of my contemporaries, I don’t believe all architecture today must be immediately recognizable as new and original; fealty to that unbending modernist dogma may likely impose a less than sympathetic vocabulary upon Notre-Dame. On the other hand, like Merton I don’t favor replicating in every detail what has been lost, nor am I an advocate for rebuilding anew in a strictly “Gothick” fashion as Witold Rybczynksi prefers. Instead, I subscribe to an attitude that underscores the primacy of the idea of “wholeness” and the adaptive process of wholeness-generating transformations. 

Notre-Dame de Paris is not the product of a single, stylistically consistent vision. Begun in 1160, its initial construction would not be completed until centuries later, and throughout its life it would further be modified along the lines of a number of styles, albeit all variations of or sympathetic to the original Early Gothic (including the Rayonnant or “High Gothic” style). Notably, the spire in the fire was not the first; it was instead a 19^th century design by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. Importantly, what the work across the cathedral’s long history shares in common is a consistent appreciation for the interconnectedness of and the relationship of parts to wholes. As an example of “traditional” architecture, Notre-Dame de Paris has remained a unified composition that belies its layering over time and the complexity of its expression. 

Applying an adaptive, recursive, and unfolding process of “creative transformation” toward a preferred state and the production of wholeness in the environment is the prescription for Notre-Dame. Christopher Alexander pioneered the application of this process in urban design and architecture. It was further expounded by others, including Nikos Salingaros. The core principle is that the components of which a final product (building) is comprised are not themselves the only thing of importance; it’s the pattern of how the structure is developed and works as a whole that’s primary. Additionally, both Alexander and Salingaros postulate that, irrespective of culture, there are universal rules discernible in nature that govern human appreciation of architecture. 

According to Salingaros, good buildings present us with rich information we can “decompose” into manageable units that are still related among themselves and to the overall whole. This means structures at different scales do not have too abrupt an association to one another, but instead have a coherent, proportional kind of relationship. Geometrical coherence, both on the same scale and across different ones, seems to play a key role in what we perceive as beautiful and visually nourishing. In architectural terms, this translates to geometries of differentiated symmetries, boundary groupings, and fractal scaling. The design process relies upon the identification of wholes, and the reinforcement of those wholes and their mutual contribution to successively greater ones. The resultant geometries are often evident in traditional architecture but far less so in contemporary designs. These include multiple levels of detail across a range of scales. 

Notre-Dame de Paris as we remember it (photo by Madhurantakam [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

The Gothic idiom is characterized by ribbed vaulting, flying buttresses, pointed arches, circular rose windows, massive towers, and soaring spires, but also by more intricate features: pinnacles, moldings, tracery, gargoyles, and narrative sculptures integrated with the architecture. The eye shifts comfortably between these features because they exhibit geometries associated with physical properties of life we naturally resonate with.(2) Every element of the most beautiful examples of Gothic architecture is a center strengthened by other centers, each one reliant upon the others and reinforcing comprehension of the entire composition. 

Suitably, what might a new spire and roof for Notre-Dame look like if designed with these principles in mind? Regardless of their modern provenance or even the materials they are crafted from, they would look “right,” as if they were a logical and organic outcome of a striving for wholeness. The new spire and roof would each be “living centers,” mutually intensifying the structure’s other, existing centers. The new spire and roof would not utilize unique and isolated geometries but rather relate to their context within the overall fabric of the building and the city. Each would be made of other strong centers, at different scales, which in turn contribute to our awareness of the whole of which they are an inextricable part. 

A striving for wholeness does not preclude creativity or innovation. We may be pleasantly surprised by the originality of the design solutions for a new spire and roof structure, but we won’t find them awkward or alien if they are the products of a process dedicated toward ensuring the relatedness of the new parts with the greater whole. I’m hopeful this Easter Sunday the outcome of the planned design competition will be a resurrected Notre-Dame Cathedral everyone will continue to celebrate as truly one of the finest examples of its type. Paris and the world of architecture deserve nothing less. 


(1)   The overwhelming and immediate offering of financial support—including President Trump’s offer of US assistance—struck a discordant tone for some. As noted by Teen Vogue, while rebuilding a great landmark is a good cause, all aid comes at the expense of something else and does say a great deal about identity and compassion. What about the historically black churches in Louisiana’s St. Landy Parish, malevolently torched by an arsonist? Are they less worthy of our caring and money? What about the continued suffering in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria more than a year ago, or the ongoing lack of access to clean water in Flint, Michigan? Will the deadly terrorist bombings of churches in Sri Lanka move the meter? 

(2)   Christopher Alexander described fifteen fundamental properties of wholeness and living things in his magnum opus The Nature of Order.

National Architecture Week 2019

National Architecture Week 2019 takes place later this month: Sunday, April 21 through Saturday, April 27 to be exact. Architecture Week is an online celebration of architecture sponsored by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) intended to draw attention to the ways architects positively impact everyone’s life. The AIA will post articles, photos, videos, and resources via its Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter channels that align with daily themes throughout the week. The institute encourages all of us to likewise participate by sharing our own content on all social media platforms and using the hashtags #ArchWeek19 and #blueprintforbetter. 

The AIA has assigned each day of Architecture Week its own theme: 

Sunday, April 21, 2019 

Architects in our communities 

We will celebrate the ways architects design public spaces that positively impact our lives. 

Monday, April 22, 2019 

Sustainability & Resilience #EarthDay2019 

Happy Earth Day! We are sharing how architects design sustainable projects that will help us reach our 2030 Commitment goals. 

Tuesday, April 23, 2019 

Affordable Housing 

Cities across the world are facing affordable housing challenges and architects are developing solutions. We will share information about several of the solutions. 

Wednesday, April 24, 2019 

Architecture Education 

What can we do to inspire more young people to pursue a degree and career in architecture? We will highlight the work architects are doing to introduce architecture to young people. 

Thursday, April 25, 2019 

Civic Engagement 

Architects can make a huge impact in their communities through civic engagement. We will share information about what architects are already doing and how those interested can get involved.

Friday, April 26, 2019 

Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion 

We are committed to building a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive profession. We will highlight the work architects are doing to help us reach our equity, diversity, and inclusion goals. 

Saturday, April 27, 2019 

Architecture & Technology 

How will technology like artificial intelligence impact the profession in the near future? We’ll explore this and more. 

In my opinion, the AIA can and should do more to promote public awareness of the campaign. I’m not as engaged in AIA goings-on as I have been in the past, but I suspect I’m not alone among AIA Eugene members who have heard next to nothing about Architecture Week this year. I consider myself to be generally well-informed when it comes to architecture news, so the absence of press about Architecture Week is puzzling to me. 

The celebration doesn’t coincide with the 2019 AIA Conference on Architecture, which takes place June 6-8 in Las Vegas, nor does it correspond with next week’s biennial Oregon Design Conference at Salishan Resort.(1) Compounding matters, at least one AIA component (Central Oklahoma) commemorated its own Architecture Week earlier this month, as did prominent firm Gresham Smith. Couple this confusion with the lack of buzz about National Architecture Week 2019 and the net effect is considerably less than inspiring. Given that one of the AIA’s primary mandates is to be the voice of our profession, I find this troubling. 

I do plan on doing my part, primarily through my Twitter account. I’ll post at least one tweet per day, each aligning with the AIA’s daily theme. National Architecture Week is an opportunity to remind ourselves and the communities we serve why architecture is important and why good design matters.

(1)  Of course, if all these events did overlap, attendance at either the AIA Conference on Architecture or the Oregon Design Conference would suffer.

Super High-Tech Zero-G Indicator

Elon Musk's Tweet announcing the "Super High-Tech Zero-G Indicator."

How many of you read or watched coverage of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule’s arrival at the International Space Station last month? I’m a big fan of SpaceX, the audacious company founded and bankrolled by the enigmatic Elon Musk, so I lapped up media reporting of the event. An unlikely star of the mission was a little stuffed planet Earth, which Musk dubbed as SpaceX’s “super high-tech zero-G indicator.” It featured prominently during the live feeds from Crew Dragon as it playfully floated about the cabin, immediately becoming an unofficial mascot for the ISS.

Down here on terra firma sales of the same plush toy have taken off (pardon the pun). I just learned Celestial Buddies—the company that produces the fuzzy, miniature Earth as well as other astronomical bodies (including the Sun, Moon, Comet, Mars, Black Hole, Pluto, and Charon)—is the brainchild of Jessie Silbert, a current student in the University of Oregon’s Sports Product Design graduate program. Jessie began her business after completing her undergraduate degree and while working as a designer in New York. Even though she now attends grad school here in Oregon, she continues to manage Celestial Buddies and its sales. According to the Around the O article featuring Jessie and her achievements, she ultimately envisions a career producing athletics clothing and accessories for women from all backgrounds and walks of life.

As an Oregon alum, I think it’s cool a budding designer and current University of Oregon graduate student contributed to the achievement of a major milestone for manned spaceflight, albeit unwittingly and only because of Elon Musk’s shrewd command of the news cycle. Oregon Ducks are flying high on a variety of fronts (including the talented and exciting-to-watch Women’s basketball team, who won their way into the NCAA Final Four for the first time in program history). Kudos to Jessie for doing an out-of-the-world job of repping the “O!”