What does it take to reach 100? As part of our 100th anniversary celebration, we’re posting a piece of Berglund’s history on our blog each day for the next 100 days. Check in each day to learn new tidbits about our company, win prizes based on your Berglund knowledge, and, most of all, to help us celebrate.
Spotlight on Berglund’s Work: Construction
The Ledge at the Willis Tower Skydeck
Want to check out this Berglund creation? Hope you’re not afraid of heights.
One of the most logistically complex and safety-sensitive projects in Berglund history, The Ledge at the Willis Tower Skydeck gives visitors a dizzying view of Chicago from 103 stories up. The four all-glass, retractable observation boxes jut out nearly 4 ½ feet from the side of the skyscraper, allowing brave souls to take in the city’s skyline or peer down to the ground, 1,353 feet below. The glass panes are hung from a cantilevered steel frame, and the boxes have special systems in place to prevent moisture, fog and ice formation.
Berglund was the general contractor for the six-month, $2.1 million project, completing work in July 2009. Constructing the boxes so high up in the air took some crafty planning – while Berglund brought most of the materials to the 103rd floor by hoisting them on top of elevators at night, some materials, such as the 16-foot steel supports and glass panes, wouldn’t fit. For those pieces, Berglund took the freight elevator to the 100th floor (as high as it will go), and then hoisted them to the 103rd floor on the passenger elevators.
All that work paid off – the boxes have boosted visitor attendance to the Skydeck, and the project won the 2010 Divine Detail Award from the American Institute of Architects’ Chicago Chapter.
Tags: 100 years, Construction
[...] regularly bid on – and get – highly technical, large-scale or otherwise demanding jobs, such as The Ledge at the Willis Tower Skydeck. The job required us to hang glass panes 103 stories in the air, and we installed special systems [...]