The Pentagon essays

The Pentagon essays Hailed as the largest office building in the world, and home to the men and women that control the military, the Pentagon is a national symbol. Its rich history includes its construction, renovation and the September 11th attack. During 1941 and World War II, the United States deemed it necessary to build a new building to house all of its defense offices. The project order came from Franklin Roosevelt and within three days, the plans were drawn up and approved by Congress. Remarkably, only 2 days after that, the thirty-five million dollar project was started, September 11th, 1941. Within six months fifteen thousand workers, near the Potomac River, erected the first section of the Pentagon. Today the Pentagon is an amazingly large building covering over 20 acres at 5 stories tall. It is broken up into 5 wings, which can hold a total of almost 25,000 people. By the 1990s, the older and less modern Pentagon was in need of serious restoration. The idea of just doing away with the Pentagon, or using its space to keep records after the war was dismissed because it had become a national symbol in the United States. With the up and coming technological age of the twenty- first century, the building needed updated electronics, plumbing and heating and cooling. Computers were a huge cause of power failures in the Pentagon, and with their rise in the 1970s, they needed access to better wiring. The heating did not work well, and many sewage and water pipes were leaking or broken. Also there was the issue of harmful substances below the pentagon such as mercury and asbestos. All these things needed replacing and updating in the Pentagon. Finally in the mid 1990s, the order for renovation was given and a 1.2 million dollar project was begun. The windows were replaced with two inch, one ton, ten thousand-dollar panels that would be stronger and shatter proof in the case of an aerial attack. Finally, the wall ...