50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 614 Forget about the money, just focus on how good it looks.
Actually, installing glass on the outside of buildings is nothing new.

In 1952, the Lever Building at 390 Park Avenue in New York City adopted a glass curtain wall design.

However, it simply adds a layer of heat-insulating glass directly to the outside of the building, while the inside remains a concrete building; it's essentially just putting on a glass cover.

In contrast, this young designer's design is closer to the glass facade decorations of later generations.

There are actually two main reasons why glass exterior wall decoration has not become popular over the years.

One issue is the cleaning of the exterior glass. There are no Spider-Men these days specifically responsible for cleaning glass facades.

Over the years, the Lihua Building has put in a lot of effort to clean its exterior walls, spending a lot of money on exterior maintenance every year.

Another issue is the quality of the glass. Tempered glass appeared in the 1950s, but the technology for mass production of truly high-quality tempered glass has only matured in recent years, and the price has gradually decreased.

Soon, this type of glass-walled building will become popular.

But now it seems that this design is quite novel, and more importantly, it looks good.

"That's it. Based on this glass facade design, everyone should complete the first phase of the project drawings."

Sun Zhiwei made the final decision; as the boss, his words carried weight, which saved a lot of wrangling, and all the designers sprang into action.

As time went on, the design drawings for the first phase of the LaGuardia Airport renovation project were drawn up one by one.

Sun Zhiwei was also busy. He called over the young artist Paul Taylor and asked him to create the color renderings for the first phase of the project again.

This time it's still $1 per image; he's willing to invest heavily in this aspect.

He hasn't even started making money yet, and he's already spent hundreds of thousands on design and drawing fees alone, plus so much time.

If he doesn't recoup a hundredfold of his investment, he'll be considered to have lost money.

Time passed quickly, and in three days, the design of the first phase of the project was completed. After Sun Zhiwei reviewed the drawings, he instructed them to continue with the design of the second phase of the project.

The colorful renderings drawn by artist Paul Taylor last time were for the second phase of the project planned by Sun Zhiwei.

Sun Zhiwei took out the previous renderings and took photos of them for reference, then asked them to create basic engineering drawings based on the renderings.

Let's wait a little longer. Once Paul draws out the renderings for the first phase of the project, and we have the design drawings for both phases, the project will officially start.

He plans to raise his first sum of money next month, with New York City Hall as his target.

Ed Kirk, the newly re-elected mayor of New York City, is a very special person and a very popular mayor.

During his tenure, he spearheaded numerous reforms in New York City, including modeling a bike lane network after those established in other parts of the country and strengthening security to address social problems.

Although the effectiveness of many of his policies is questionable, his willingness to spend money on municipal construction was one of his strengths during his tenure.

In other words, he would support Sun Zhiwei's plan as long as it was beneficial to the New York City government.

That would certainly be beneficial; Sun Zhiwei has something to say about that.

LaGuardia Airport is the closest airport to Manhattan, only 5 kilometers away.

However, JFK Airport is 15 kilometers away from Manhattan, and requires crossing the crowded Queens.
There's also Newark Liberty International Airport, which is a bit closer, but it's an airport in New Jersey, separated by two rivers and requiring you to go through two tunnels. In a bustling metropolis like New York, time is money.

If you can catch a flight at a nearby airport, nobody wants to travel an extra 10 kilometers, especially in New York where traffic jams are a regular occurrence.

This is why, even though LaGuardia Airport was in such a dilapidated state, it still handled nearly 2000 million passengers every year.

With the color renderings of Paul's first phase of the project nearing completion, Sun Zhiwei decided to make an early contact with Mayor Ed Kirk.

However, he didn't plan to go directly to Ed Kirk's door. He didn't know how long the waiting list would be, and although he was a celebrity now, it was not certain whether Ed Kirk would even want to see him.

This reason is a bit far-fetched, because in the 82 gubernatorial election, Mario Cuomo utterly defeated Ed Kirk, who was also running for governor at the time.

Therefore, it is a common understanding in the New York workplace that the mayor of New York City and the governor of New York State have a bad relationship, while Sun Zhiwei is now the governor's aide.

Haha, you can imagine that Mayor Ed doesn't really like people who are associated with Governor Cuomo right now.

Therefore, he planned to meet with Mayor Ed privately first.

This was easy, because Ed often walked around downtown New York City and would ask passersby in his distinctive New York accent, "How am I doing?"

This is one way he gets feedback from New York City residents about his city management.

These outings are actually scheduled. As mayor, he can't have time to go out all the time, so if he wants to make a show of it, he has to make a plan.

For example, his secretary would help him plan his time, deciding when he could go out to listen to the voices of the citizens, and even which district and street to go to.

As far as he knew, Ed hadn't come out this month, because it wasn't reported in the newspapers.

Yes, every time he makes a public appearance, the newspapers report on it, without fail. Being approachable is Mayor Ed's public persona.

October is almost over, so he'll definitely be going to the city for a stroll in the next few days.

After lunch that day, Sun Zhiwei drove an inconspicuous little car to the municipal government in the lower district.

The New York City government consists of three parts: City Hall, City Council, and the courts. Mayor Ed usually works in the City Hall building.

After Sun Zhiwei arrived, he did not get out of the car and go inside. Instead, he parked the car in a parking lot near the municipal building and then closed his eyes to rest in the car.

In fact, he had already begun searching the city hall for the documents he needed: Mayor Ed's itinerary for the coming week.

These things are usually handled by secretaries. He quickly found Mayor Ed's office on the third floor of the building. Usually, a secretary's desk is not far from the outside of the office.

Sun Zhiwei noticed a small room next to the mayor's office, where a middle-aged woman was working. She was Louise Kent, the mayor's first secretary.

On Ms. Kent's desk, he saw a black notebook containing the mayor's schedule for the week.

In order not to disturb Ms. Kent next to him, he carefully adjusted the perspective of the space and flipped through the contents of the black notebook layer by layer.

After a while, he finally found the message he needed at the back of the notebook.

(End of this chapter)