In the mid-1980s, the government initiated a plan to create a mobile dam to save the city.
After nearly 4 decades and $8B, the dam system — an engineering marvel called MOSE — is active and working (so far).
Here’s the story🧵
What is MOSE?
It’s a system of 78 metal barriers (20-30m long x 20m wide) built to block high tides from the shallow Venetian lagoon, which has an avg. depth of 1m (~3ft).
The English translation for MOSE (which alludes to Moses+Red Sea) is Experimental Electromechanical Model.
The barriers are placed at 3 points where water from the Adriatic Sea enters the Venetian Lagoon.
Two points are on Lido Island, an 11km sandbar that has historically protected Venice (the southern tip is Malamocco). The third is Chioggia, a fishing town at south of the lagoon.
Located in NY, it was the world's 7th tallest building but had a big structural flaw: a very strong storm wind could knock it over.
The expert architects had no idea, until an anonymous Princeton undergrad cold called them.
Here’s the story🧵
Today, the 59-story structure is called 601 Lexington Avenue.
The tower was originally built to house Citibank's headquarters and construction ran from 1974 to 1977 (it cost $175m and was later called Citigroup Center).
The 45-degree roof is a stand out in Manhattan's skyline.
The Citicorp engineering flaw starts at the base: the first 9 floors are built on stilts.
Why? St. Peter's Lutheran Church sits on the corner of the lot. The church refused to leave but agreed to renovations.
So architects used stilts to build Citi over a newly designed church.