SYNOPSIS It is a construction project full of superlatives: the world’s largest tower clock in Mecca, the Holy City of Islam. The building at the center of the sacred site breaks over 30 world records; its giant clock face is 43 meters in size, the minute hand measures 23 meters in length and the clock drives weigh 21 tons a piece. Put together it is an engineering masterpiece, 35 times larger than Big Ben and adorned in over 98 million glass mosaic tiles with 24-carat gold leaf. By night over two million LEDs illuminate the tower clock making it legible from distances of over eight kilometers. The documentary THE MECCA CLOCK TOWER explores the engineering breakthroughs behind the development, fabrication and installation of this unique timepiece. Together with its partners, the architecture firm SL Rasch in Germany faces some unusual challenges. The team enters the project with a high-rise building already under construction, a tower not designed to support a 150-meter-high clock tower and a strict weight limit of 82,000 tons. As the pressure mounts, the team battle to construct the world’s largest clock at dizzying heights and in racing winds. How do you keep the structure as light as possible? And how do you deal with the toughest logistical challenge of all: a construction site out of bounds to everyone but Muslims. Time is short and the schedule is fixed. It promises to be a very, very close finish…
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 17:33:20 +0000