Sailing And Soaring

by William H. Miller

There is a distinct parallel between the great liners and skyscrapers. It was the quest for size and distinction. In 1907, Cunard introduced the 790-foot-long, 32,000-ton Lusitania and Mauretania, which dwarfed the 47-floor Singer Building in New York.

By 1913, it was Germany’s 52,000 ton Imperator and another Manhattan tower, the 60-story Woolworth Building.

While not all broke records, there were more great liners and towers in the late 1920s and early 1930s, culminating with the likes of the first ‘thousand footers’, the Normandie and Queen Mary, and the 1,250-foot-tall Empire State Building.

By the 1970s, it was the age of the QE2 and the 110-floor World Trade Center. However, the race was far from over. In the 1990s, cruise ships grew and grew as did the skyscrapers, mostly in Asian cities. Another decade passed and in 2010, the 225,000-ton, 1,198-foot-long Oasis of the Seas and the 162-story Burj Khalifa in Dubai were constructed. There is a great similarity, a fascinating parallel, between these two categories of design, engineering and creative genius.

This is a well put together book and I would highly recommend it to any readers with an interest in this area.