Computer Design of 100-Story John Hancock Center

The 100-story John Hancock Center in Chicago, Ill., with a total of about 2,800,000 sq ft of floor area had to be completely designed within one year. Because of the unique structural system and the tapered shape of the building, a large volume of analysis and design work was anticipated. Therefore, because of the extremely short schedule, a detailed program of coordinated usage of large and small computers was developed. Although the writers' firm had a small computer (IBM 1620) at that time, it was immediately recognized that the complexity of the structure would require special use of large computers. The various phases of small-to-large computer coordination that led to the successful completion of the design of this unusual and complicated structure, are described in detail.