Historically significant Civil Enigineering projects

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Significant Civil Engineering Landmarks

There are many different structures that are significant in multiple ways, but not many get labelled as landmarks, which cannot be demolished. I will notify you on some of the more historic civil engineering landmarks that have made big impacts, but in their own unique history-related ways.For example, such landmarks in the New York area that are well known include the Croton Water Supply System, Statue of Liberty, Manhattan bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, and many more in the link below. If you would like to learn about their significance to the area, they go into great detail on their significance.


http://www.ascemetsection.org/content/view/286/815/


I am gonna broaden the spectrum outside of the United States, and talk about the most historic civil engineered structures on earth. To the right is a picture you should easily recognize, the Taj Mahal was originally created to house the tomb of the emperor Shah Mahal's third, and favorite, wife Mumtaz Mahal. It was built 1643 and is still in amazing shape today, but the reason it is so historic is because it is one of the seven wonders of the world.

Another historical civil engineered landmark to the left is the Eiffel Tower Paris, France. It was built/completed in the 1889 by Gustav Eiffel in an unanimous decision on the design plan and was meant to symbolize the french revolution. Up until 1930, this building was the tallest building in the world and something very unique about it is that its elevators go up the legs of the tower at a 54 degree ascent and descent. The amount of pieces it took to put this metal tower together is astounding as well, it took 18,038 individual segments of cast iron and it has roughly 2,500,000 rivets.

Some people may not be totally familiar with Emperor Constantine, but to simplify who he is, he was the emperor of a declining Roman Empire that had expanded to the now today Istanbul, Turkey and has a very significant church dedicated to him. The church named the Hagia Sophia which translates to "holy wisdom", and was built in 360 A.D. The thing is, it was destroyed by the Nika Revolt and was rebuilt in 565 A.D. and dedicated to another emperor named Theodosius II. The two who are said to have designed this structure are Anthemios of Tralles and Isidoros of Miletos, and they both used the mathematical theories of Archimedes to do the arch supports and vaults. It is a great architectural phenom of the Byzantine empire era because all orthodox churches descend from its design.

So all of these have historical significance, which is why they cannot be destroyed or demolished. Most of these structures definitely get refurbished and renovated so they can last as long as possible because these are not very new buildings and are like any other structure that needs consistent maintenance done.