Wade
Morris on the revolving glass floor of the
Seattle Space Needle.
The first time Wade Morris (ME 97) was working on the newly
installed revolving glass floor of the Seattle Space Needle he was caught off
guard. Morris was preparing a test run of the mechanism that makes the floor
turn and he stepped backwards off an opaque section onto the clear glass. He
didn’t realize he was standing on what appeared to be 500 feet of thin air,
until he looked down. “My arms flailed for a moment before I realized I was not
stepping off a cliff,” he laughs.
Morris is not typically afraid of heights, but the view from
what is called “The Loupe” takes a bit of getting used to. “Now that I’ve spent
more time up there, I am perfectly comfortable on the glass,” he says.
“However, now I take pleasure in watching the other tourists’ first experiences
as they step out onto the glass for the first time. From kids to little old
ladies to big strong men, everybody has a unique way of reaching past the fear
of having nothing but glass beneath their feet.”
Morris is an automation mechanical engineer with the company
Fives Lund. He was the project manager for the design, build, and install of
what’s marketed as “the world’s first and only revolving glass floor.” His work
is part of “The Century Project,” which is the on-going renovation of the Space
Needle.
Dangling fifty stories in the air on a glass floor is
unsettling, but not unsafe. This is thanks to the work of engineers like
Morris. The renovation of the Space Needle includes a huge number of upgrades
that bring the building into compliance with modern codes that have evolved
since its construction in 1962. Finding the right building code to use in this
project was one of the challenges Morris and his team faced in the design
phase. “They don’t have a spec or standard written for revolving glass floors,”
he notes. He worked alongside a structural engineer and found codes used in
amusement parks to help inform the design. The project also had to meet strict
seismic codes required for all buildings in Seattle. Morris and his team
designed everything associated with the revolving floor: the rack-and pinion
drive mechanisms, contact rollers, support mechanisms, and the steel frame that
supports the glass panels themselves. “When I graduated, I figured my
engineering life would be rather mundane,” Morris laughs. “I never had any
suspicion I would be working on projects as intricate, technologically
advanced, or as high profile as the Space Needle.”
For most his career Morris has worked on industrial
applications, mainly for Boeing. He designs and builds large machines made for
factory floors that are normally only seen by employees and other engineers.
This project is directly in the public eye. The drive mechanism for the
revolving floor is visible through the glass. Patrons who look down not only
see the amazing views of Seattle, they also see the engineering of Morris and
his team. “It’s been a fantastic opportunity for me to encourage my daughters
to explore STEM activities,” says Morris. Maybe his daughters will someday call
themselves Hardrockers. Regardless, there is little doubt that the work of Wade
Morris will inspire future generations of engineers for years to come.