The Construction of the Eiffel Tower, Essay Example for Everyone

The universe has witnessed many projects that have made history in different parts of the world. One such construction project was the building of the Eiffel Tower. The main reason for constructing the Eiffel tower was to commemorate the French revolution period. The project was started in 1887 after the engineers and scientist working on the project decided on the type of design to use. Gustave Eiffel, an engineer, came up with the first blueprint of the tower. He proposed and drew it when he and other friends decided that they should make a tall building in Paris. After lengthy consultations and considerations of 107 designs, the panel of engineers decided to adopt the design created by Gustave Eiffel, who was an entrepreneurial engineer. Engineers, Emile Nouguer and Maurice Koechlin, and architect Steven Sauvestre supported the design (Anonymous, 2000). The project began on the 26th of January 1887 when the first digging of the foundation was inaugurated to mark the beginning of the construction of the worlds tallest building at that time.

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From research, the Eiffel tower is made of 18,000 pieces of wrought iron. Similarly, the entire tower comprises of a lattice structure of iron bars measuring 984 feet in height. Further research indicates that the tower was completed on March 31st, 1889, and it was opened during the world fair held in Paris that same year. Further information reveals that the engineers used at least 50 tons of paint to repaint the tower every year. The project was completed within the set budget of $1.5 million and before the opening of the fair as per the plan. The structure of the tower is minimal to reduce any forces of the wind from destroying it (Anonymous, 2000). From observations, the engineers took the wind forces on tall buildings into consideration and came up with a streamlined shape for the tower to reduce air resistance and action of the wind that would destroy it.

The main issues and problems that the team faced were the effects of strong winds on the tower. They decided to come up with a streamline or thin upper part to resist the actions of winds on the tower. Secondly, the engineers faced the predicament of assembling all the 1800 iron bars that were to be used to making the tower and hence the completion of the project. The crew assembled all the iron bars using cranes and other machines within 21 months before the beginning of the construction (Klein, 2010). Similarly, as the critics stated that the project was an eyesore and thought the project would never work out in so doing, they decided to follow instructions and measurements of the blueprint to the latter to come up with a great and stronger building.

The members of the team also realized that the construction of the tower would go over the budget and that they might have to incur more finds. However, they also decided to follow instructions keenly ensuring that they made as little waste as possible so that they could come up with the tower and within the stipulated budget (EiffelTower, 2000). The result was that the engineers and the constructors managed to make the tower with the budget. Some critics also claimed that the tower was too elaborate to be completed within a specified time- and it needed more materials. The materials also required to be ferried to the site and this would delay the completion of the project. To overcome these problems, the crew decided to assemble the materials first before beginning constructions to avoid wasting time between buildings and assembling of materials.

Some of the lesson that one can learn from the construction of the Eiffel Tower include the importance of planning. The team that constructed the tower planned everything in advance before starting to build the tower. Secondly, the completion of any project, big or small requires adequate teamwork. Without proper collaboration, the Eiffel tower would not have been a reality. It is evident that the team consisted of an entrepreneur, engineers, and architectures among others. Another important lesson is that it is important to consider any negative environmental factor that might affect the completion of any project and deal with them before hand.

Therefore, it is important to forecast future problems that might hinder the completion of the project. For example, the team took note of the actions of wind and came up with the right shape for finishing the project. Every project must have a blueprint to follow for its competition by so doing, the builders of the Eiffel tower were able to choose the best deign to go by so that they could come up with the best structure. On the same note, every project has both active and negative impacts on human lives. Therefore, it is important to consider all the adverse impact on peoples lives and device methods of dealing with them

References

Anonymous. (2000). Eiffel Tower. Paris: Wonders of the World Data Bank.

Klein, C. (2010). 10 things you might not know about the Eiffel tower. History.com.

EiffelTower. (2000). The construction and history of the Eiffel tower.