(Photo Credits: Katrina Tuliao)

There is a certain informal theory among certain value investment type traders that you should sell a stock if the company builds too tall a skyscraper. The psychology behind this theory is quite simple. There are very few companies that actually need a hundred stories to run their business, and those that actually do are probably too big to grow much more. A skyscraper can therefore often be seen as a symbol of egomaniac executives and corporate excess.

Chicago was evidently not immune to this principle; in fact, one of its skyscrapers is its most famous example. In 1969, the world’s largest retailer was running out of space to grow. In 1969, it decided that it needed a central office space to house its massive number of employees, and the best way to accomplish this would be to commission their own tower. The company thus commissioned architecture firm Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill to design the building.

The firm in turn put architect Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan in charge. The building would prove to be a bigger architectural puzzle than one might expect, as the enormous space demands of the retailer meant that the skyscraper would be breaking new architectural grounds. It’s not that the height itself was a problem. The material, architectural, and engineering progress society had achieved were surely sophisticated enough to support a mere large building. However, for Graham and Khan, this was not enough. They wanted a building that was large without sacrificing aesthetic appeal.

The basic idea of the tower is that it would consist of a series of parallel tubes, with each of the tubes supporting each other. This design innovation would serve the function, but what about the form? The question of form was famously settled when Graham took out a pack of cigarettes one lunch and tapping the various cigarettes out, each at varying lengths. This had the effect of taking advantage of usefulness of the parallel tubes while also creating a design that is visually interesting and appealing.

Unfortunately, very soon after the completion of the tower in 1974, the stock of the retailer peaked and started declining, and from then, the company would suffer a slow, painful decline until in 1988, it was forced to sell the building and move out. As a business move, the building of the tower was probably more a product of ego than of rational calculation. And yet, if the company executives could go back and do it all again using hindsight, it is unclear that they would do things any differently. Maybe it is true that the tower was not a profit making proposition, but nonetheless, it created a legacy. Today, it is one of the most famous buildings in the Chicago skyline and even if one day, the retailer ceases to exist, the name will live on.

Think you know a lot about the tower described in this piece? Click on the below link to test your knowledge:

https://www.qzzr.com/c/quiz/159712/the-aesthetics-of-cigarettes