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What it's Like To Work in the Biggest Building in the World (bbc.com)
To build a fleet of giant airliners requires a building just as big. Boeing's Everett Factory, built to construct the famous 747, is the biggest enclosed structure in the world. BBC Future: When you're building some of the world's biggest airliners, you need an equally outsized building. When Boeing decided to build the 747 -- a plane so big it would become known around the world as the jumbo jet -- they had to build a factory large enough to build several of them at the same time. If you've ever seen a 747 from close quarters you'll know just how giant Boeing's jumbo is. So it's no surprise the factory which ended up building has to be very big indeed. How big? Try the biggest enclosed building in the world.
Boeing started work on the Everett factory in 1967, just as the Boeing 747 project was starting to gather pace. Bill Allen, Boeing's charismatic chief, had realised the company would need a huge amount of space if they were going to build an airliner big enough to carry 400 passengers. They chose an area of woodland some 22 miles (35km) north of Seattle, near an airport that had served as a fighter base during World War Two. [...] Today, the Everett factory easily dwarfs any other building in the world by volume, with the Guinness Book of Records reporting that it occupies 72 million cubic feet (13.3 million cubic metres).
[...] Each shift has as many as 10,000 workers, and there are three shifts each day. Over the course of 24 hours, the factory has a population only a little less than the Australian city of Alice Springs. Reese has worked for Boeing for 38 years -- 11 of them running the factory tours -- but says he can still remember his first impression of the factory. "It was very awe-inspiring the first time -- and I would have to say every day since, too. It changes constantly. Each day there's something new." The Everett factory is so big that there's a fleet of some 1,300 bicycles on hand to help cut travel time. It has its own fire station and medical services on station, and an array of cafes and restaurants to feed the thousands of workers.
Boeing started work on the Everett factory in 1967, just as the Boeing 747 project was starting to gather pace. Bill Allen, Boeing's charismatic chief, had realised the company would need a huge amount of space if they were going to build an airliner big enough to carry 400 passengers. They chose an area of woodland some 22 miles (35km) north of Seattle, near an airport that had served as a fighter base during World War Two. [...] Today, the Everett factory easily dwarfs any other building in the world by volume, with the Guinness Book of Records reporting that it occupies 72 million cubic feet (13.3 million cubic metres).
[...] Each shift has as many as 10,000 workers, and there are three shifts each day. Over the course of 24 hours, the factory has a population only a little less than the Australian city of Alice Springs. Reese has worked for Boeing for 38 years -- 11 of them running the factory tours -- but says he can still remember his first impression of the factory. "It was very awe-inspiring the first time -- and I would have to say every day since, too. It changes constantly. Each day there's something new." The Everett factory is so big that there's a fleet of some 1,300 bicycles on hand to help cut travel time. It has its own fire station and medical services on station, and an array of cafes and restaurants to feed the thousands of workers.
An summary pointing to an article about the biggest building in the world, that doesn't contain any information about how large the building actually is. Nice job, Slashdot.
Spoiler from TFA: it occupies 72 million cubic feet (13.3 million cubic metres).
The scale of the manufacturing is indeed awesome, and the boldness of the 747 program is likewise good to remember.
However,...
How is a description of a 50-year old factory, which doesn't actually make the 747 anymore, qualify as news?
Bridge?
Sig?
Uses metrics the layman can easily relate to.
Listing 72 million cubic feet without some other big famous building to compare it to - I can't visualize 72 million cubic feet...
Also it looks like the author just googled city populations around 25000 and picked the nearest one, I had never heard of April Springs...
Ok, maybe I am just dumb - but good journalism uses comparisons even us dummies can understand. The art of good journalism writing is dead.
By footprint, the flower auction in Aalsmeer is quite a bit larger (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aalsmeer_Flower_Auction)
I worked there for a while, many years ago. We got around on bicycles; customers on the far end of the building were half an hour from our office (which lay on one of the corners). There were very few signs around the building, so you had to know where you were going. Having said that, various areas had a different feel to them - in that sense it was like a city. Travelling by bike was fairly dangerous, as you shared the 'roads' with the electrical 'trains' that carry the flowers to and from.
Work starts at six in the morning, and finishes at around two in the afternoon. There is a visitor gallery, running above the floor where the actual work happens. It's worth a visit - but do come in the morning, as it is mostly deserted in the afternoon.
Answering my own question.
https://new.abb.com/low-voltage/products/building-automation/service-and-tools/references/airbus-a380-final-assembly-hall
says 31,000m^2 floor space with a ceiling height of 24m; 744,000m^3
It can't be both 72 million cu.ft and 13.3 million cu.m. A foot is 0.3048 meters so a cubic meter is over 31.3 cubic feet. No idea how someone would come up with a cubic meter being 5.4 cubic feet.
13.3 million cubic meters is correct; that's 470 million cubic feet.
Lots of nice hiding places.
I actually worked in a nearby engineering building, but our techs had shop space in the main factory building. So I'd walk through the plant and watch the planes being built. A lot more interesting than the public tour.
When I visited our shop, I'd take one of a few shortcuts through what is a rabbit warren of passages, offices, store rooms, etc. One area consisted of a bunch of lunch tables with people sitting around, reading the paper or playing cards. When I'd walk through, most of the time, I'd dress casually. So I blended in with the factory work force. But occasionally, I'd wear a suit. And I'd go walking through this area. Immediately, a guy that (I assume) was the group supervisor ran out and asked if he could help me. With a pretty frightened look on his face. So I asked our techs what was up with these people. It seems that their boss had managed to carve himself out a 'do nothing' task and assemble a group of his buddies. Who spent their day just reading the paper and playing cards. But they are buried so deeply in the factory building that nobody would find them. Except for some guy who looked like he was from corporate, wandering around asking questions.
Have gnu, will travel.
Just went on a tour there and enjoyed it, liked the cafe inside and the nearby shop display building, saw quite a few of the new planes being built, including those not yet assembled. Nicer than the place we used to design drones in.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
The Space Shuttle assembly building is the world's tallest enclosed space. It rains inside the building. Boeing Everette also rains inside I heard. not sure if its true.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Zuckerberg stores the building neatly back in his poop shoot. Nice and tidy.