Overview of the Construction Industry

History Traditional Limits on Construction Options Mud Brick, aka Adobe, in West Africa

History North American Native people developed specific solutions to their needs for shelter. Some served the purposes of a nomadic life.

History The Teepee could be easily assembled, and disassembled

History The Pueblo people of Taos, New Mexico inhabit the oldest town in the United States

History The houses of Taos are made from Adobe, or mud brick

History Adobe is one of the most popular materials on the planet for construction

History In this African village, adobe is used to build houses and granaries to store food.

History More African Adobe shelter.

History Adobe is essentially sun-dried brick. Mud bricks that dry in the sun. They are easily fabricated, but must be protected from moisture.

History Early settlers in the midwest of the US built quickly by harvesting sod, and stacking it to make walls. Crude but effective

History Historically, buildings were constructed by their users. Native Americans built their own homes, as did the early settlers, or homesteaders. In small villages all over the world, houses are built by owners, or by a collective of local villagers. Barn raisings are an example of this type of collective construction Some ancient civilizations organized the labor required to build massive structures, either on the backs of ‘slave’ labor ( Slave labor was a key component in much early American construction, including early buildings in New York City) or by elevating the importance of the worker

History Stone is a very, very, very durable material. It is also very labor intensive, particularly when fabricated with primitive tools.

History The Egyptians gave us the term ‘Master Builder’ or ‘Architect’. Recent discoveries have led archaeologists to believe that a job working on the great tombs of Egypt was a highly coveted position.

History – Ancient Egypt Simple stone construction, such as the methods employed by the Egyptians, was massive - incapable of spanning across any large distance.

History – Ancient Greece Similarly, the ancient Greeks did not understand how to span great distances. They built their structures from stone, and could span short distances, from column to column in stone, or would be forced to change materials for roof spans, constructing these from wood.

History – Ancient Greece The Acropolis, in Athens, was constructed by individual ‘contracts’, the origin of the title ‘contractor’

History – Ancient Greece Records indicate that the columns for the Temple of Athena on The Acropolis, in Athens, were each contracted to separate individuals based upon a ‘specification’

History – Ancient Rome The Romans, who came to dominate Europe in the aftermath of the Greeks, were engineers. They developed the arch, or vault, to span greater distances, the dome, and, concrete.

History – Ancient Rome The Coliseum in Rome is one demonstration of their engineering skills.

History – Ancient Rome The Romans were builders, and much of what they built still stands today.

History A Roman roadway in the United Kingdom

History – Ancient Rome The Pantheon in Rome, constructed by the Romans, was the largest dome in the world for over a thousand years. It was constructed from a crude recipe for light weight concrete The apex of the dome was left open to allow light to enter

History – Gothic Cathedrals Construction in Europe declined with the fall of the Roman Empire, and did not return in any substantial way until the Middle Ages, when slowly society began to organize, guilds were formed, and the great Cathedrals of Europe were constructed. These structures were built almost entirely of stone with glass infill

History These structures often took several hundred years to complete. No drawings were known to have been done to guide the construction. The work was supervised by a master builder, and completed by members of the guilds, or trades.

History – Middle Ages The Guilds, or trade unions, developed in Europe to train workers in fields of specialized work, and to pass on the tricks of the trade to younger generations.

History – Guilds Carpenters, Masons, Blacksmiths,Glaziers

History - Guilds The Guilds preceded the modern trade union

The Historical Limitations on Construction Available Materials Skills of the Laborers Skills of the Master Builder Functional Requirements Climate Research and Development

Another way of looking at The Historical Limitations on Construction We build from materials that we can source We are dependent upon skilled labor to install the work correctly We need a plan and a leader. Our buildings must fulfill our functional requirements We adapt our buildings to the local climate We are constantly evolving our designs, learning new skills, trying new materials, developing new tools

Mankind is constantly adapting to new situations, new requirements, developing technologies, and changes in the supply line. Here in Myanmar, elephants are used in the place of heavy equipment, or teams of horses, depending upon which century you compare to.

Here in our neck of the woods, tens of thousands of people migrated from the eastern half of the US and from Europe to follow the Oregon Trail in the hopes of building a better life for their families. They took with them their skills, and found materials once they arrived, if they made it.

They found trees, and cut them down to build Portland.

And the march of progress never stopped. Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum in Portland, a state of the art facility at it’s time, constructed by Hoffman Construction

History The dynasties that ruled China for centuries took advantage of the many hands in their society and built monumental structures on the backs of the people.

History The Forbidden City in Beijing

History The Walled City in Kowloon, Hong Kong Built by residents. Eventually demolished by the government.

History - The Renaissance The end of the Middle Ages brought on a newly revitalized Europe, known as the Renaissance, and with it, Architects, Engineers, Clients and organized skilled trades

History – Industrial Revolution In a very short number of years, we began to use science to develop materials capable of spanning great distances, carrying great loads, and attaining unimaginable heights. And we won’t stop.

History – 20 th Century The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco

History – 20 th Century The Brooklyn Bridge, The Woolworth Building, and The World Trade Center

History – 21st Century The glass stairs in the Apple flagship store, 5 th Avenue, Manhattan, NYC

History – 21st Century The Burj Khalifa tower, Dubai, tallest structure in the world, 160 floors