“Hey, see here—listen to the voice of experience. You can be running this place in five years. Why on earth would you trade that for a chance to build a bridge across Lake Michigan? Like the Chinese say, the nail that sticks up gets pounded down.”
When the dust settled from the chaos of the fall of the United States, the four Contingents were born: Western, Eastern, Mountain, and Great Lakes. The basic premise were agreements struck between the Contingents, depending on the usefulness and benefit of the agreement for each Contingent.
The ground began to shake. We knew it must have been a big one. Our building’s design would withstand the quake’s tremors with ease, and our regenerative control systems were going to make us fully operational within a few minutes.
"That's a drafting board, Will. It was largely used by architects to develop drawings of a building before construction," explained George, Will's grandfather, as they toured the Museum of Architecture and Engineering.
The group I had joined was supposed to be considering an exciting topic: the future of construction. Wow—where to start? So many potential breakthroughs: design, materials, methods, techniques. And then there are the new building sites: the oceans, outer space—limitless possibilities in the Digital Age.
It was going to be the press tour of a lifetime. Genevieve Taylor.53.Wong, the editor-in-chief of Engineering News-Record, stretched back in her office chair and tapped a few keys on the armrest. She was transferring all the background data she thought she would need on the trip into the implant in her temple, leaving messages for her editors, and checking on her zip car to JFK.
As Huan arrived at work he was confident that it was going to be a good day. He had been working with this client for some time and he was glad that the project was finally breaking ground.
President Rodriguez stood at her podium in the East Room of the White House. To her left, my friend and mentor, Julian Lewis, stood awaiting his reception of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His seventy-year-old face showed the creases of countless days and nights of hard work and dedication, and his composure revealed his equanimity even in the face of such an honor.
The night work lights and laser coordinate grid were just shutting down as Denise Scott arrived at the Four Suns Towers jobsite for what was planned to be a very important day. She’d been on site constantly as the collaborating architect since the project’s inception sixteen months prior.