100 E. Pratt

I'm always looking for interesting patterns as I walk to and from work. A few days ago on a sunny morning, the waffle-like pattern of 100 E. Pratt Street jumped out at me. I had walked by there literally over a hundred times, but just didn't "see" this image.

100 E. Pratt is an odd building. This heavy masonry facade is only a few stories tall, but stretches for the entire block along Pratt Street. Behind and attached to this blocky structure is a 28-story steel-frame tower. On top of the tower is a "hat truss" from which - get this - hangs another structure, a 1991 addition to the original (1973-1975) building. The addition is almost as tall as the tower and the same width, but it looks to be only 1 office deep. You can get a better look at this whole affair An Engineer's Guide to Baltimore. This website notes that the whole weight of the addition is suspended entirely from the "birdcage" truss at the top of the tower; that is, there's no foundation holding it up.

Those are brave people sitting in those offices!