Why Do New Buildings Have Trees On Top?

[Zippy]

Perhaps I am just a newbie, but for the most part there are trees on top of new "higher" buildings around here which are under construction. Anyone know an explaination? This seems a rather odd phenomon, and was wondering if this was supersition, a union thing or what.

I tried to google an answer but couldn't find any info.

Just curious.

[ssullivan]

It's not just a local thing. There's a tradition when building tall buildings of placing a tree on top when the building is "topped out," that is, the structural support framework has reached its highest level. I don't know the origin of this tradition but it's been done for a long time.

[snickers]

That is done a lot up here - roof top gardens. I have read articles that it is in an attempt to help improve air quality to it being an attempt to beautify the city - for those looking down from higher buildings.

[pineda]

"Topping Out" Ceremony Held at UC Merced Campus

November 6, 2003

Celebration of Current Highest Point Reached in Construction

MERCED, CA - A year after the historic groundbreaking of the first University of California campus in the San Joaquin Valley, a topping out ceremony will be held at the UC Merced campus job site for the central plant on Thursday, November 6, 2003. The event will begin at 7:45 a.m. and last approximately 90 minutes.

To mark the occasion of building construction reaching its current highest pinnacle at 60 feet, UC Merced leaders and supporters will sign the uppermost steel beam of the structure. Afterward the beam will be raised and bolted onto the structure with the American flag and a potted tree placed on top. The live tree will later be planted during the landscaping phase of the project.

"Today we recognize the tremendous progress made by our construction teams in building the campus utility infrastructure," said Vice Chancellor of Administration and Physical Planning Lindsay Desrochers. "The central plant is the core of that infrastructure, and we are celebrating rapid progress to its completion."

The "topping out" of a building during the construction process celebrates a milestone in the construction of the building and celebrates the accomplishment of the construction teams. European and Asian in origin, the practice of topping out was brought to America by immigrants who became the country's contractors and steelworkers. Today, workers and their guests hold the celebration to mark the placement of the topmost member of a structure.

[jmancuso]

the tree (typically a spruce) symbolizes good luck.