Empire State Building Project: Archetype of “Mass Construction”
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 136, Issue 6
Abstract
Analysis of historical projects, with the dual benefits of hindsight and modern concepts of construction systems, can help fill the gaps in our theoretical understanding of production in construction, which have increasingly been identified as a barrier to progress in improving construction project management. The richness of the historical record describing construction of the Empire State Building provides a unique opportunity to analyze and compare it with the paradigms of craft, industrialized, and lean construction. Its size and its record rate of construction, which has not been broken since for tall buildings, make it of prime interest. The project progress was reconstructed using line-of-balance software and its different flows were assessed. The results lead to the conclusion that it is an archetypal example of what we propose be called “mass construction.” This enables a richer understanding of the taxonomy of production systems in construction, and should aid theoreticians and practitioners alike to devise better production systems for construction projects.
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Acknowledgments
The writers thank Sven Bertelsen for posing the initial question regarding the comparison of the Empire State Building project to modern projects, and for the productive discussions and collaboration that ensued.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 136 • Issue 6 • June 2010
Pages: 702 - 710
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 9, 2009
Accepted: Oct 13, 2009
Published online: Oct 22, 2009
Published in print: Jun 2010
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