Let Your Ideas Flow

You never know what you can accomplish.

The Eiffel Tower was designed at home on the kitchen table
By someone who didn’t get their name on it
It had never been done before, not guaranteed to get built or to work
It was criticized by hundreds of leading intellectuals and cultural experts
It wasn’t supposed to last very long
It’s designed to be an icon, it’s not an accident
People flock to it because it’s famous

In May of 1884, working at his kitchen table, Maurice Koechlin made an outline drawing of the scheme he and Emile Nouguier, both engineers with the Eiffel firm, had conceived of as the centerpiece for the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris.  Initially the owner of the company, Mr Eiffel himself, was not enthusiastic about the concept. A competition for other tower designs was created but the Eiffel design won the competition. A contract was finally signed on January 8, 1887 to build the tower. Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years; it was to be dismantled in 1909. The original contest rules for designing a tower included that it should be easy to demolish.  It’s now the most visited paid monument in the world and the tallest structure in Paris, France.