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Figure 1. The John Hancock Center

John Hancock Center

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John Hancock Center

SOCIAL, POLITICAL and ECONOMIC CONTEXT

As the nation transitioned into the 1950’s, Chicago (along with the nation’s other large cities) was faced
with the phenomenon of ‘white flight’ – the tendency of upper and middle-class citizens to abandon the
innercity and move to surrounding suburbs. Over the decade, Chicago’s population shrank by nearly
700,000 people, leaving the city center impoverished and in disarray (University of Illinois at Chicago,
2001). To combat this, Chicago’s City Council and Mayor Daley implemented the Chicago 21 Plan, an
urban renewal project focused on improving neighborhoods near downtown and the lakefront. Though
the Hancock was not a direct result of the project, the 21 Plan was responsible for creating the
gentrified atmosphere that enabled the construction of a luxurious, mixed-use development.

The original developer of the building, Jerry Wolman, was convinced that the Hancock would be
financially viable because of an existing proposal to construct a rapid-transit line in the vicinity of the
site. Although the public transportation line was never implemented, demand for high-density
development existed due to extensive urban development at the time, as well as the cachet brought
about by media attention on the Hancock itself.

Quick Facts Location: 875 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago Engineer: Fazlur Khan Architect: Skidmore,
Owings, and Merrill Start of Construction: 1965 Completion: 1970 Height: 1127 ft (343.5 m) Number of
Floors: 100 Material: Steel

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STRUCTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

The Hancock Center debuted Fazlur Khan’s “trussed tube” structural system, which employs stiff, multi-
story diagonal bracing to assist in carrying gravity loads as well as lateral loads. Prior to the development
of the “trussed tube”, Khan’s “framed tube” was the preeminent structural system for high-rise
construction.
SOM’s initial calculations for a single mixed-use tower at the Hancock site demonstrated that, for the
total square footage desired, a tower of the required height would be unfeasible from a cost perspective
due to the amount of structural steel that would be required. When the building was redesigned with
the trussed tube system, the unit quantity of steel used for the 100story tower was equivalent to that
required for a traditional building of only 40 or 50 stories (Khan, 2004)

The trussed tube is the natural progression towards achieving purer tube behavior: in the framed tube,
only 70% of the total deflection was due to tube action, while 30% was due to the frame action. Where
the trussed tube suffered from shear lag due to the flexibility of spandrel beams, the X-braced Hancock
behaved “very similar to that expected in a true cantilever tube” (Khan, 1966).

STRUCTURAL SYSTEM

For structures above 60 stories, Khan found using the rigid-box type structure, with all exterior wall
elements would act together like the walls of a tube, was the best and most economical solution. This
could be achieved either with closely spaced exterior columns and stiff spandrels, closely spaced
diagonal members on an exterior wall, or by tying together the exterior columns by adding the minimum
number of diagonals in the exterior wall planes (Khan, 1965).

When Khan decided use the “optimum columndiagonal-truss tube,” for the structural system, he knew
from a research project he had recently worked on with a graduate student at Illinois Institute of
Technology that diagonal bracing at approximately 45 (Khan, 1974) could be used to improve lateral
stability for structures highly affected by horizontal wind loads.

In the John Hancock Center, Khan recognized that bracing would also redistribute loads in the system.
Figure 2, showing just two levels, illustrates the probable transfer of gravity and wind loads in an
unbraced scenario. Figure 3 qualitatively demonstrates the new load paths, with the loading in both the
horizontal spandrels and vertical columns diminished through the

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introduction of axial loading in the bracing. As the figures show, the introduction of the diagonal load
paths simultaneously relieved horizontal stresses due to wind loads, and vertical stress from gravity
loading in the system. Thus the diagonals take the majority of the wind shear while acting also as
inclined (Khan, 1972).

Figure 2. Un-braced: Transfer of gravity & wind loads

Figure 3. Braced: Transfer of gravity & wind loads

While without bracing the horizontal and vertical loads are largely handled separately, the redistribution
of the stresses allows the braced system to handle loads in a more integral manner, and the tube
becomes a stiffened box. Ultimately, the system can thus be ideally modeled as if it were a steel beam,
responding to lateral loads in bending as a pure cantilever (Tucker, 1985), as shown in Figure 4.

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Figure 4. Trussed tube as cantilever

SPECIAL NOTES

Khan was very involved in the project throughout the construction process. When several construction
problems relating to some of the caissons of the foundations were found, he made the difficult but
necessary decision of having the rest of the caissons

examined, delaying the construction schedule. It was due to these unforeseen increases in the cost in
the project that forced the developer Jerry Wolman, who had started the project in 1964, to sell it to the
John Hancock Mutual Life Company only a year after construction had started (Khan YS, 2004).

Khan also involved himself in optimizing the design down to the level of individual apartments. While
concrete slab ceilings were usually placed under the beams in most steel buildings, Khan recognized this
as an inefficient use of space. In this project, the walls were designed to coincide with the beams, so
that the concrete slabs between the beams could be used as the ceilings. This increased the clearance
of the apartment buildings from about 8 feet to 9 feet, making the rooms look much larger (Khan YS,
2004).

As of January 1, 2011, the Hancock Center will be home to the “world’s highest ice skating rink”, which
will be installed in the building’s observatory on the 94th floor, more than 1000 feet off the ground.
(Schwarz J, 2010)

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REFERENCES

Khan, F. (1966). Optimization of Building Structures. Structural Engineering Conference at University of

Illinois in Chicago, pp 29-30.
Khan, F. (1965). Design of High-Rise Buildings. A Symposium on Steel at University of Illinois in Chicago,
pp 13-15.

Tucker, J. (1985). Superskyscrapers: Aiming for 200 stories. High Technology vol.5(no.1), pp 52-55.

Khan, F. (1964). Methods of Bracing and Structural Deflections. Research Paper, pp 4-8.

Khan, F. (1968). Report on Column-Free Multi-Story Buildings With and Without Rigid Cores. IABSE, 8th
congress, pp 5-10.

Khan, F. (1969). Framed Tubes and Interacting Framed Tubes and Shear Walls. Research Paper, pp 3-5.

Khan, F. (1974). New Structural Systems for Tall Buildings and Their Scale Effects on Cities. Vanderbilt
Symposium on Tall Buildings, pp 114-115.

Khan, F. (1966). Bearing Wall. Research Paper, p 37.

Khan, F. (1972). Structural Systems for Multi-Storey Steel Buildings. Research Paper, pp 26-35.

Khan, Y.S (2004). Engineering Architecture: the vision of Fazlur R. Khan. London: W. W. Norton and
Company, Inc.

(University of Illinois at Chicago, 2001). Gentrification in West Town: Contested Ground. The Natalie
Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement.

(Schwarz J, 2010). Hancock Building Set to Install Ice Rink on 94th Floor. NBC Chicago.
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/HancockBuilding-Set-to-Install-Ice-Rink-on-94th-
Floor.html

FIGURE REFERENCES

Figure 1: http://www.visitingdc.com/images/john-hancockcenter-address.jpg Figures 2-4: Jeremy Chen

and Scott Huang