Sunsphere

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Information
Sunsphere

Location	Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Status	Complete
Constructed	1982
Use	Observation tower, restaurant
Height
Roof	81.07 m (266 ft)
Companies
Architect	Community Tectonics
Engineer	Rentenbach

The Sunsphere is an 81.07 m (266-foot) high hexagonal steel truss structure, topped with a 23m (74-foot) bronze glass-plated sphere. It is the most distinctive structure on the Knoxville, Tennessee skyline.

Designed by the Knoxville architectural firm Community Tectonics, the Sunsphere was created as the theme structure for the 1982 World's Fair. It was noted for its unique design in several engineering publications. Today, most of the World's Fair site is a public park and a convention center, but the Sunsphere itself shows no sign of going away.

However, to most people (including most residents of East Tennessee), the Sunsphere is more frequently "appreciated" for its eccentricity and uselessness than its unique design. University of Tennessee students (adjacent to the site) have occasionally held competitions for "alternate uses" of the Sunsphere.

1 Redevelopment
2 Sunsphere in popular culture
3 Trivia
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Redevelopment

Although the Sunsphere is the most recognized feature of the Knoxville cityscape, it has remained vacant for most of its post-fair life, being used however from 1992 to 1997 as the Knoxville Welcome Center. Various proposals have been submitted to the city from time-to-time for its redevelopment.

[edit] 1994

A pair of failed proposals was presented to the World's Fair Park Development Committee on March 31, 1994, that sought to reopen the Sunsphere as a restaurant (similar to Dallas' Reunion Tower, which features a restaurant at the top of the tower). These proposals included:

The proposal from CEB Enterprises would have opened a casual dining restaurant called World's Fare Restaurant.
The proposal from Cierra Restaurant Group would have opened a fine dining restaurant.

[edit] 1999

The Sunsphere is proposed to be included as part of the newly constructed Knoxville Convention Center, but those plans never fully materialize.

[edit] 2005

Kinsey Probasco & Associates of Chattanooga propose reopening the tower complete with a renovated restaurant, office space and a public observation deck.

[edit] Sunsphere in popular culture

An episode of The Simpsons features the Sunsphere, as Nelson accidentally topples the object (which, in The Simpsons' universe, has become a center for wig outlets) during the episode Bart on the Road which pays ironic tribute to the 1982 World's Fair. There is some speculation that the wig shop angle was inspired by J's Mega Mart, a nearby emporium notable for its selection of Korean snack food and a large stock of wigs.

[edit] Trivia

In order to meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article's trivia section requires cleanup.
Content in the trivia section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article.

A similarly designed tower by architect Marc Cardoso called the Tower of Power was rejected by fair planners in 1977.
In its original design, the sphere portion was to have had a diameter of 86.5 feet to symbolically represent the 865,000-mile diameter sun.
The towers window glass panels are layered in 24-karat gold and cut to seven different shapes.
It weighs 600 tons and features six double steel truss columns in supporting the seven story sphere.
The tower has a volume of 203,689 cubic feet and a surface of 16,742 square feet.
Its fire escape contains exactly 418 steps.
During the fair it cost $2 to take the elevator to its observation deck.
During the fair, the tower was painted blue, but it has since been repainted forest green.
On May 12, 1982, a shot was fired from outside the fair site and shattered one of its windows in the early morning hours.
During its tenure as a restaurant items such as the Sunburger and a drink called the Sunburst were served.
In October 1987, the sphere was illuminated to represent a huge jack-o-lantern.
In March 1991 officials from the Pensacola Tornados of the CBA were looking at Knoxville for possible location and said of the Sunsphere as potential office space, "What better place for basketball offices than a giant gold basketball in the sky."
Between 1993 and 1999, the Sunsphere was featured in part on the logo for the Knoxville Smokies minor league baseball club.
During construction of the neighboring Knoxville Convention Center, this served as the contractors office for parties involved in the construction of the center.
On Sunday, May 15, 2000, nuclear weapons protesters scaled the tower and hung a large banner that said "Stop the Bombs." They remained on the tower for three days before surrendering to police on Tuesday, May 17, 2000.
The 2002 AAU Junior Olympics mascot Spherit took its inspiration from the landmark and it featured red hair and a body shaped like the Sunsphere.
As a result of migrating American starlings leaving too much guano on the towers frame, in 2003, the Knoxville PBA purchased from Avian Systems Corporation a device that emits various noises to scare the birds away from the tower.
The local musician Todd Steed's band plays homage to the tower in its name, Todd Steed and the Suns of Phere.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

Hullander, Douglas. (March 6, 2006) "Monumental stats; Ever Wonder?; From the Sunsphere to Sharps Ridge, some facts and figures about our local landmarks." Knoxville News-Sentinel.
Hayes, Hickman. (January 26, 2005) "Park Pitches; Four finalists present plans to renovate World's Fair properties." Knoxville News-Sentinel.
Higgins, M. Trevor. (December 30, 2003) "Hootin', honkin' Sunsphere." Knoxville News-Sentinel.
News Briefs. (May 17, 2000) "Bomb protesters surrender." Knoxville News-Sentinel.
Balloch, Jim.(January 21, 1999) "Future of Sunsphere is up in air; Empty now, it may become function of convention center." Knoxville News-Sentinel.
Dean, Jacquelyn B. (April 1, 1994) "Restaurant groups envision Sunsphere for 'high dining'." Knoxville News-Sentinel.
Hyams, Jimmy. (March 17, 1991) "CBA team executives to pay visit." Knoxville News-Sentinel.
Staff writers. (November 1, 1984) "World's Fair designers cleared of copying plans." Engineering News-Record.
Staff reports. (May 13, 1982) "Fair Structure Damaged." The Washington Post.