CHAPTER 1 REACHING FOR THE SKY The elevator door slid open Amelia and her friends were 1,354 feet 413 m in the air The students walked to the Skydeck They stood at the top of the Willis Tower in Chicago Illinois From the glass structure Amelia could see parts of four states People on the sidewalk seemed as tiny as ants The Skydeck is on the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower in Chicago 5
Builders have been reaching for the sky for ages Pyramids in ancient Egypt were made of heavy stone In the Middle Ages builders used stone to construct churches and towers These buildings had few windows so they were cold and dark And the structures couldn’t be built too high The weight of the stone would cause them to collapse Things started to change during the 1700S and 1800s This period was known as the Industrial Revolution It was a time when many new machines were being invented Millions of people were moving away from the country to work in cities 6
New York City’s Empire State Building was the world’s tallest building from 1931 to 1972 However this created challenges for engineers They had to figure out how to fit more homes and offices in the crowded cities And then they had to make their buildings safe comfortable and fireproof 7
