1,450 feet is pretty far
After measuring the 1,450-foot distance with this measuring wheel, it was surprising how far it was. (for explanation of this project, see this previous post). The distance was far enough away that it seemed odd to be taking photos of the Sears Tower. People were looking at me curiously with the measuring wheel at the end distance… To read the rest of this post, click on the comments.
Three ideas for different identification
It would be nice to use some sort of other marker. I wasn’t very pleased with the photographs. Here and here. The angle doesn’t work well in photos with chalk.
1. Maybe an orange cone
The simplest idea.
2. People holding hands, making a big circle
Actually I should have asked some of the people walking by to stand in the shot. It would be cool if I could get a people holding hands to form a line from the base of the Tower to 1,450-foot mark.
It would be even more incredible to have people holding hands to form a circle with a radius of 1,450 feet around the Sears Tower. Can you imagine that around the World Trade Center site? Wow.
How many people would it take to form the straight Sears Tower line of 1,450 feet? Saying that each person would take up an average of three feet. That would be 483 people. The circumference is 9,111 feet. (Oh weird. Can you imagine if the World Trade Center height was 1,450? That 9,111 feet number would be very odd. But the WTC was 1,350 feet tall–8482′ circumference). So it would take about 3,037 people to circle the Sears Tower. But then you have buildings in the way. It would be neat to form the illusion of a perfect circle. When the circle runs into a building, the end person just “holds hands” with the building.
This circle of people would have to be either:
A) Photographed from the Sears Tower
B) Photographed from an airplane/helicopter
You couldn’t get the sense of a circle from the ground.
All the people could wear white t-shirts, so you could more easily identify the people standing from far above. And the t-shirts could be their reward for participating.
3. One person with a sign
But back to the simple photo idea with one person at 1,450′ distance with the Sears Tower in the background. Maybe this person could hold a sign and stand at the 500′ mark, then 1,000′, etc. And the sign would indicate the distance—perhaps a thermometer style image. The further away from the tower. The more the thermometer fills up. Maybe the thermometer is a diagram of the Sears Tower.
Do cell phones work at the top of the Sears Tower? Can you see someone 1,450 feet away on the ground when in the observation deck? How big would the a sign have to be to be legible?
[i”>Do cell phones work at the top of the Sears Tower?[/i”> Do you mean the actual [i”>top[/i”> top, or just the observation deck? If you’re referring to the latter, then yes, cell phones work there. I’m not so sure about the roof, though. :o)
yeah. the observation deck.
The thing is that you can’t look straight down from the observation deck, you’re too high … so the person would have to be a distance away from the Sears Tower before you could see them. Seems to me, if memory serves me, that you cannot see people from the observation deck. They would have to be holding a pretty big sign … how big? I don’t know.
but if the person (or people) are 1450 feet away, the angle would work. The only thing that would probably screw it up is buildings between that 1450′ mark and the Sears Tower. They will totally block the people. Ok ok. I’ll just have to rent a helicopter.
I’m thinking of trying some 22×28 yellow or orange posterboard and laying it on the ground, at the 1450-foot mark and then going up to the tower and take some pics.
Make sure you put some orange cones or barrier tape around it so people don’t step on it. Oh, and make sure you secure it to the pavement so it doesn’t blow away. Things tend to get blown around in that area of town.
yeah, i was thinking of taping it down. Using long pieces of tape around the edges. Kinda like a border of tape around it. And then writing something on it about the project. Written really big: “1450 feet” And then in smaller text: “The Sears Tower is 1450 feet tall. This marks the spot that is 1450 feet away from the Sears Tower. If you were to lay the Sears Tower on its side, this is where the top would be.” Maybe that’s too long? But maybe also have a little pouch of cards for people to take and check out the website. Of course, if it rains, this would be all yucky. And I probably wouldn’t want to leave it out there for too long. Maybe I should get some of that nice plastic Stratocore board: twinwall corrugated polypropylene product designed for use in screen printing, display and packaging markets. Perfect for outdoor signage. http://store.artcity.com/bie-970658.html Then I wouldn’t feel so bad leaving it out, cuz it wouldn’t get all messed up. If someone wants to take it away, that’s fine, I just don’t like my public art to leave a mess that’s difficult to clean up.
I could always help! In fact, I would love to help. I could help with traffic control or even placing the sign and removing the sign, reducing the amount of time the sign would be suspectible to the elements or people. Plus once you are in position in the Tower we could coordinate exactly where and how the sign should be placed. You could snap the pictures [even having me move the sign to different points around the Tower, as you show in the two pictures”>
… and then not have to worry about getting down from the Tower and rushing to get the sign or other materials. I’m sure this could be coordinated on a day when no rain is forecasted.
you guys are crazy… I want to participate.