The Building of the Pentagon

The Pentagon was completed in 16 months. It was built on a swamp and on the field of the Washington airport. Trucks hauled some 5.5 million cubic yards (4.2 million cubic meters) of junk and dirt and dumped it in the marshes. The building’s base rests on piles.

Buying land price .25 million (in 1943 dollars). The building itself cost c. million, or million together with outside facilities. The Pentagon stands 29 acres (=c. 120,000 sq.m.).

The center court alone occupies 5 acres (c. 20,000 sq.m.). The heating and refrigeration plant and the sewage structure sprawl on 1 acre per (c. 4,000 sq.m.). Fifty miles (=80 kilometers) of accessibility highways were especially constructed, replete with 21 overpasses and bridges. The parking area is dispersed over 67 yards (c. 270,000 sq.m.) and will accommodate up to 8,800 vehicles.

Every wall of the Pentagon is much more than 920 ft long (=300 meters). It’s nearly 78 ft high (or a small short of 25 meters). It ought to have been greater but the partners needed to maintain the perspective of the Arlington National Cemetery. You will find nearly 18 miles (c. 29 kilometers) of corridors in the construction, 131 stairways, 19 escalators, 13 elevators, 672 fire hose cabinets, 284 rest rooms (toilettes), 691 drinking fountains, 4200 electrical clocks with sockets for another 2800, 16,250 light fixtures (250 bulbs have been replaced daily), 7,754 windows, and seven acres of glass – or c. 29,000 sq.m.

More than 23,000 people work from the Pentagon. It comprises a heliport, enormous restaurant and shopping malland bus and taxi terminals. The Pentagon has its own metro (subway) station)

George Edwin Bergstrom created this masterpiece of technology. Despite its size, the space between each two points in the complex never needs over just a 7 minutes walk. Approaches to convert the Pentagon following the second world war into a hospital were abandoned with the outbreak of the Cold War.

The September 11 assault totaled 400,000 sq. ft of space and damaged another 1.6 million. To recover them could cost 0 million. Approximately 1000 tons of limestone in 3700 separate pieces were quarried in Indiana to overhaul the facade. Until the facade was remade, Over just a 1000 laborers worked in three changes for nine months. Restoration will be completed in Spring 2003.

The State Department says that”a condolence book, a photo, and handmade sympathy cards composed by children had been contained in a bronze box which was sealed to the limestone facade of this newly rebuilt segment of the Pentagon. The capsule isn’t intended to be opened.”