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ABOUT HIM
INTRODUCTION
- The GM technical center was constructed in 1956, with Saarinen using models. These models allowed him to share his ideas with others, and gather input from other professionals.
- With the success of the scheme, Saarinen was then invited by other major American corporations to design their new headquarters: these included John Deere, IBM, and CBS.
- Despite their rationality, however, the interiors usually contained more dramatic sweeping staircases, as well as furniture designed by Saarinen, such as the Pedestal Series.
-In the 1950s he began to receive more commissions from American universities for campus designs and individual buildings; these include the Noyes dormitory at Vassar, as well as an ice rink, Ingalls Rink, and Ezra Stiles & Morse Colleges at Yale University.
-He served on the jury for the Sydney Opera House commission and was crucial in the selection of the now internationally known design by Jørn Utzon.
-Eero Saarinen and Associates was Saarinen's architectural firm; he was the principal partner from 1950 until his death in 1961.
- Many of these projects use catenary curves in their structural designs.
The arch is located at the site of St. Louis' foundation,on the west bank of the Mississippi River where Pierre Laclède, just after noon on February 14, 1764, told his aide, Auguste Chouteau, to build a city.
The Gateway Arch was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen and German-American structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel in 1947. Construction began on February 12, 1963, and ended on October 28, 1965, costing US$13 million at the time. (approximately $95,900,000 in 2012)The monument opened to the public on June 10, 1967.
Historic events
- The association expected that $30 million would be needed to undertake the construction of such a monument. It called upon the federal government to foot three-fourths of the bill ($22.5 million).
- The Jefferson memorial idea emerged amid the economic disarray of the Great Depression and promised new jobs. The project was expected to create 5,000 jobs for three to four years. Committee members began to raise public awareness by organizing fundraisers and writing pamphlets
-Densely covered with trees that it will be a forest-like park, a green retreat from the tension of the downtown city.
Characteristics
Physical characteristics
- Both the width and height of the arch are 630 feet (192 m). The arch is the tallest memorial in the United States and the tallest stainless steel monument in the world.
The cross-sections of the arch's legs are , narrowing from 54 feet (16 m) per side at the bases to 17 feet (5.2 m) per side at the top.Each wall consists of a stainless steel skin covering a sandwich of two carbon-steel walls with reinforced concrete in the middle from ground level to 300 feet (91 m), with carbon steel to the peak. The arch is hollow to accommodate a unique tram system that takes visitors to an observation deck at the top.
In January 1970, amid frigid temperatures, the arch shrank 3 inches (7.6 cm). Jefferson National Expansion Memorial superintendent Harry Pfanz said the contraction was normal in cold weather and that safety was not at risk.
-The structural load is supported by a stressed-skin design.
- The arch is resistant to earthquakes and is designed to sway up to 9 inches (23 cm) in either direction while withstanding winds up to 150 miles per hour (240 km/h).
- This hyperbolic cosine function describes the shape of a catenary. A chain that supports only its own weight forms a catenary; in this configuration, the chain is purely in tension.
- Likewise, an inverted catenary arch that supports only its own weight is purely in compression, with no shear. The catenary arch is the stablest of all other arches since "the thrust passes down through the legs and is absorbed in the foundations, whereas in other arches, the pressure tends to force the legs apart.The
- Gateway Arch itself is not a common catenary, but a more general curve of the form y=Acosh(Bx) This makes it an inverted weighted catenary—the arch is thicker at its two bases than at its vertex.
Visitor center
 The underground visitor center for the arch was designed as part of the National Park Service's Mission 66 program. The 70,000 square feet (6,500 m2) center is located directly below the arch, between its legs. Although construction on the visitor center began at the same time as construction for the arch itself, it did not conclude until 1976 because of insufficient funding; however, the center opened with several exhibits on June 10, 1967. Access to the visitor center is provided through ramps adjacent to each leg of the arch.
The center houses offices, mechanical rooms, and waiting areas for
the arch trams, as well as its main attractions: the Museum of Westward Expansion and two theaters displaying films about the arch. The older theater opened in May 1972; the newer theater, called the Odyssey Theatre, was constructed in the 1990s and features a four-story-tall screen. Its construction required the expansion of the underground complex, and workers had to excavate solid rock while keeping the disruption to a minimum so the museum could remain open. The museum houses several hundred exhibits about the United States' westward expansion in the 19th century and opened on August 10, 1977.
Observation area
Near the top of the arch, passengers exit the tram compartment and climb a slight grade to enter the arched observation area. There are 32 windows (16 per side), each measuring 7 by 27 inches (180 mm × 690 mm) and allowing views across the Mississippi River and southern Illinois with its prominent Mississippian culture mounds to the east at Cahokia Mounds, as well as the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County to the west beyond the city.The observation deck, 65 feet (20 m) long and 7 feet (2.1 m) wide, has a capacity of about 160 passengers—the capacity of four trams.On a clear day, one can see up to 30 miles (48 km) from atop the arch.
Modes of ascension
Interior of the tram capsule in the Gateway Arch
There are three modes of transportation up the arch: two sets of 1,076-step emergency stairs (one in each leg). a 12-passenger elevator to the 372-foot (113 m) height, and a tram in each leg;
Each tram is a chain of eight egg-shaped, five-seat compartments with a small window on the doors.
As each tram has a capacity of 40 passengers and there are two trams, 80 passengers can be transported at one time, with trams departing from the ground every 10 minutes.The cars swing like Ferris-wheel cars as they ascend and descend the arch.This fashion of movement gave rise to the idea of the tram as "half-Ferris wheel and half-elevator.The trip to the top takes four minutes; and the trip down takes three minutes. At the top, passengers disembark to a 65 feet (20 m)-long observation area.
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side elevation
front elevation
section
interior
