User:Asurreir

The Ludlow Clock Tower
Ludlow, Massachusetts is a large town in Western Massachusetts, which was established in 1774. Sitting right on the Chicopee River, it should be no surprise that Ludlow quickly became a mill town. The mill provided the community with a great source of revenue and jobs and, as a result, the town blossomed and grew in population. In 1886, Ludlow Manufacturing and Sales Company opened a large mill, located right by a bridge leading into a Springfield suburb. The most notable aspect about the mills is a large clock tower, facing the bridge-side of the mill. The clock tower has always been a major symbol in the Ludlowians' lives. It is on the town seal and those driving over The Ludlow Bridge see it everyday.

Structural Description
The clock tower resembles the façades of many gothic cathedrals like the Saint-Denis in Paris. Composed entirely of brick and iron, it has a pointed roof, with a short pointed spire at the top. The clock face is like the circular glass windows of some cathedrals. The tall columns of the tower and the arch at the top are also common in gothic structures. The buttresses of the wall provide a solid foundation. The door to the clock tower is enclosed within another arch, mimicking the grand entrance to a church. The tower has a strong presence associated with it, looking down on all onlookers, just like the cathedrals of old.

Qualifications as Structural Art
Rather than simply being looked at as a beautiful architectural piece of work, it is better to view the Ludlow Clock Tower as structural art. A work of structural art is defined as such because rather than basing a design upon purely architectural reasons, ie. aesthetics and symbolism, the design is instead a careful balance between the three E’s: economy, efficiency, and elegance. Structural engineers take great care in creating an equilibrium between the three and many times must make sacrifices in one of the categories in order to better another.

Economically, the building of the Ludlow Clock Tower as well as the mills attached to it created many jobs and brought in a good source of revenue to the town of Ludlow, Massachusetts, as mentioned above. The exact cost of the project could not be found, but could most likely be unearthed by taking a trip to the Ludlow Town Hall and asking to take a gander at old documents. The last few decades, however, the mills have become abandoned due to an economy that is struggling nation-wide. Recently hope is found in an effort to convert the mills into hospital space and senior housing. The reuse of structures is key as it saves on the cost of knocking down the buildings and replacing it with a new structure.

The Ludlow Clock Tower has elegance in its image. The designer may likely have based the blueprints of the structure upon old Gothic cathedrals. Standing as the tallest building in Ludlow, it towers over the residents. The building is constructed of brick, which is a material more costly than concrete, but the aesthetic effect is irreplaceable. At about mid-span of the structure and at about mid-span of the upper-half of the structure, the tower has an outer layer of iron as a beauty choice. The rest of the tower is setback from the bottom half, possibly a response to the deteriorating amount of sunlight caused by tall buildings as in New York, but most likely since it is the only building of its height in town the decision was based only on aesthetics. The four clock faces of the tower are large glass circles with iron hands incased in iron set above an iron balcony. Today, the clock only tells the correct time twice a day, but this idiosyncrasy does nothing to take away from the beauty of the tower.

If a look is taken at the efficiency of the Clock Tower solely, it can be said that the structural engineer achieved his or her desire to express a large, sturdy tower that demonstrates more detailed beauty as the viewer’s eyes ascend the structure. The load path of the tower follows a trend of compressive force in the main four columns, or buttresses, on the corners of the structures. Between floors the live and dead loads are transferred from the iron girders inside the structure to these columns. The loads follow this path until they hit the bottom of the building, which is styled much like the bottom of the Eiffel Tower. However, instead of widening the distance between the legs, the legs are instead made thicker and are conjoined by arches. This buildings has no trouble with wind loads and has yet to have a major structural collapse of any kind. It is hope that it will continue to stand without problems for many years.

Structural Recycling
It should be noted that the mills have recently been purchased by WestMass Area Development Corporation for $7 million. The company plans to sell some of the space to HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital and some buildings to WinnDevelopment for senior housing.. This is good news because the mills have been abandoned for some 20 odd years. Rather than knock down the buildings and conjoined clock tower, they will be reused. This landmark will once again strongly service the local community.