Construction of a High Rise Building

Constructing a High-Rise

A Non-Participatory Observation Photo-Op Essay

I call this a photo-op essay because it is unplanned and opportunistic. One day construction began across the laneway from my condo window and I realized that this might be a good opportunity to track the stages of the work. I did not have the time, the background, or the access, to undertake a proper study. Do not expect anthropological insights, but do expect to be led into questions for a future colleague to answer. I did endeavour to entice a worker for a beer, but he brushed me off.

Building a high rise, or other large buildings, is typical of the urban world. Many of the workers in Canada are immigrants, but they know about such an industry in their countries of origin. Are any anthropologists studying this, including the interaction of work, home life, recreation , and cross cultural variations?

Here in Vancouver, for several years it has been the official city policy, led by a now famous planner, ? Busby, to replace the decaying downtown core with high rise mixes (to save land) of retail, office, work and residential activity - huge change from the twentieth century mantra of the physical separation of functions. This has recreated a vital life downtown, which was once dead outside of office hours. We have young and old, families, young smarties, social housing, with the streets alive at night. There is much more to come. But the point is, some one, some people , unless they are the millionaire developers, have to do the building, and they get almost no attention from the media, nor do they enter the history books. I alas cannot tell you who they are. But they are a proud bunch, that I know, and exhibit precise skills that should be the envy of every academic.

It might be too that instructors in civil engineering or architecture could create quizzes for their students, based on this material. What are the two men (no women here, though there are some elsewhere) likely to be discussing? What would happen if the metal rod supporting the crane at the base was out one centimetre? How would you calculate the weight to be supported by one of the main supports for the building? What is that stuff, that concrete. made of? Who is this fellow with the suit and the different hard hat, and what is his role? What does that hand signal mean? Who's the boss in that group? Is there an architect around and what is his job? How would you recognise a foreman?

This is an experiment in multi-media presentation. I use various techniques to blend the text and the images. At the beginning, in 2001, the images were straightforward with an occasional FrontPage slide show or photogallery, with video in streaming code. Recently I have introduced InAlbum slide shows and Macromedia Swishvideo. My intent is to keep everything as simple as possible and to give colleagues, thinking of similar projects from their own work wherever it might be, to consider some of the choices of presentation.

The pages are arranged month by month.

Across the laneway from my present condo apartment, BOSA is building a combination townhouse, rental tower and garden.

Initially there was much confusion as to responsibility. The west side of Richards Street between Davie and Drake has been divided entirely in two, and the east side, already with one high rise and a supermarket, has one six floor building under construction and the next door property is scheduled for a high rise, both with the same innovative ownership. For the west side the City-required notice board which invites public responses to permit applications mentioned two different developers. One site, not yet begun belongs to BOSA, possibly the most respected builder of condos. The other site carried another name. But as the work began the name of BOSA appeared, and BOSA opened an advance showroom in an old garage building next door. I thought then that the site in question, this one, would be a Bosa condo. It turns out no. The showroom is for the next door condo high rise, and in the first three months is almost completely sold out though ground has not yet been broken, and despite such buildings growing by the tens. Such is the Vancouver demand. Mind you they are offering mortgages at 0.9% for a few years.

But BOSA is the contractor for the site I am looking at, building for another developer called Concert, whose sign now appears on the cranes. And this building will be twenty-something floors of complete rental. (That later changed to purchase). Where are the anthropologists studying the interplay and social organisation the layers upon layers of corporate involvement in a project? AnthroGlobe would like to hear from them........

In the early months of 2001 workmen tested the soil for contaminants, and especially for large rocks, since this land is glacial moraine. In July work began in earnest. I couldn't help spying, could I? So I have taken a bunch of pictures at various stages of the work, and as I observed more began to ask questions.

For example, the crews worked like the very devils were in them. To begin with there were no breaks from 7.45 to 3.45 that I could detect, and I didn't see anyone stop for coffee or lunch. [On some other construction sites the work goes on until 6 or 8 pm when the City requires noise to stop.]

The crews were of mixed ethnicity.

Individuals have to be exactly precise in their location, movement, measurements. The future of the 22 story highrise is in their hands. A centimetre or so out and the bad results would multiply. A step in the wrong direction and they'd risk colliding with a colleague, tripping over material, being squished by a dropped load. Accidents are rare.

I saw at the beginning no obvious sign of supervision. The crews did not stop for advice. They knew what they were doing.

Even now I am not sure of the division of labour, but am reasonably sure of specific specialization. Carpenters and crane operators are certainly a breed apart; and so were the proud operators of the cats -- which they washed down whenever they had a break.

Communication was obviously at a premium, yet it did not seem to intrude. No one yelled at anyone else. Occasionally as work became more complex, there would be a huddle over a plan. Bosses were there, but the hierarchy seemed subdued, even when a supervisors more suity clothing under his danger jacket, walk, and hard hat marked him as different.

That's the beginning.

First we'll start on 4th August 2001, and add notes as we go.

The cats excavated to a depth of some four parking floors, working in tandem, alternating between digging and loading. Their relationship was precise. Sometimes they were used to pick objects up and move them out of the way -- from lumber to hose pipes. Only rarely did someone outside guide their movements. They could be surprisingly delicate. Loading and delivery trucks on one of the main city outlet roads sometimes blocked off not only the parking lane but also both central road lanes. Did they pay the city for that???? Sometimes the excavations were flat, sometimes they made a rabbit warren of holes and dirt walls that looked like an archaeological site from the distance.