Perhaps it would be pulled up to the top of the spire, so it didn't look quite so out of place? And then could be lowered when needed?
 
This image shows a clue that the birds nest isn't permanent. Part of the spire is not yet installed above the wheel, and if you follow the pattern of the parts, the wheel is in the way and won't be able to climb up and down once all the spire cladding is installed.

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Are we positive there will be more added on to the spire? From what I heard the wheel was going to be used for maintaining the spire, unless there are some ladders or hooks for climbing methods?
 
Contra said:
Are we positive there will be more added on to the spire? From what I heard the wheel was going to be used for maintaining the spire, unless there are some ladders or hooks for climbing methods?
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The spire itself has a ladder built-in.
 
Contra said:
Are we positive there will be more added on to the spire? From what I heard the wheel was going to be used for maintaining the spire, unless there are some ladders or hooks for climbing methods?
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The glass for the spire is still incomplete.

wow that wheel thing is permanent??... if wopchop truly did say it then i trust him, but a really wouldn't think so.. wouldn't it just be there to install the LED's on the spire???
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The crow's nest is needed to service that northwest corner, as the building maintenance unit (BMU) cannot reach that area.

It was erected with the use of the derrick crane. It's basically permanent. They might be able figure out a way to remove it, but it wouldn't be easy, and there isn't any space to store the crow's nest up there. And if they ever needed to do any maintenance or window cleaning in the future at that northwest corner, they'd need to re-erect another derrick crane to somehow re-attach the crow's nest to the cable system. It would be a bit of a nightmare, and I'm not even certain if it's possible. Once the curved glass is installed on the spire, it will make accessing the cable system much more difficult.

I would be shocked if they took it down.

This image shows a clue that the birds nest isn't permanent. Part of the spire is not yet installed above the wheel, and if you follow the pattern of the parts, the wheel is in the way and won't be able to climb up and down once all the spire cladding is installed.
Click to expand...
Actually, that's not true at all. The crow's nest will be used to install all of the glass on the spire. From bottom to top. Using it for the install has been part of the glass installation plan since late 2010, when the mock-up curved glass was installed near-ground level at the northwest corner.

Are we positive there will be more added on to the spire? From what I heard the wheel was going to be used for maintaining the spire, unless there are some ladders or hooks for climbing methods?
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There is a ship's ladder along the spine of the onion dome, which provides access from the damper tank roof to the crow's nest. The crow's nest itself is then used for access to the spire. The reflectors and curved glass units are nearly a couple metres long, so maintaining the spire with only "ladders or hooks" is not an option.
 
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It looks to be made up of many parts that can be disassembled and lowered down the ladders that lead up to it...no need for a crane. How often would you need it? If it were necessary for this element to be permanent, it would have been designed to fit into the design of the top.
 
freshcutgrass said:
It looks to be made up of many parts that can be disassembled and lowered down the ladders that lead up to it...no need for a crane. How often would you need it? If it were necessary for this element to be permanent, it would have been designed to fit into the design of the top.
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It arrived on site in two pieces, and was erected with the derrick crane. I'm telling you what happened and how it is fashioned. I'm not brainstorming theories.

Again, I could be wrong. I'm not omniscient, but I'm offering up real information here, and not supposition.
 
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I'm gonna stick my neck out and say the crow's nest is absolutely not a permanent feature. The reason being that it would interrupt the signature strip of LED lights on the NW corner at night... unless it were covered in LED lights too... or unless it were kept at the tip... Okay, I'm starting to doubt myself as I'm typing this now... I guess we'll find out soon enough.
 
I will give every member of UT one million dollars in cash if this ridiculous wart is designed to be a permanent fixture on the spire.
 
I'm not going to claim that I know whether or not it will be permanent, but I certainly hope that it won't be. I'm really liking the top portion of this building, and this thing being permanent would really ruin it for me.
 
You said it and now it's typed no offense but hope your wrong. Could use that's cash to help find a way to knock it off if it stays.
 
scrapergeek said:
I'm gonna stick my neck out and say the crow's nest is absolutely not a permanent feature. The reason being that it would interrupt the signature strip of LED lights on the NW corner at night... unless it were covered in LED lights too... or unless it were kept at the tip... Okay, I'm starting to doubt myself as I'm typing this now... I guess we'll find out soon enough.
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I remember a while back in this thread when people thought that the ships ladder on the spine of the onion dome was temporary and only to be used during the construction phase, because it interrupted the vision of the architects.

Funny how that worked out.
 
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