WEBVTT
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It's the mid-1880s in Paris.
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For years Gustave Eiffel has built for function.
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His bridges stretched across valleys, his viaducts defied gravity, his structure stood not as monuments, but as solutions.
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He was an engineer, bound by the certainty of numbers, the unyielding laws of physics.
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His work was practical, his calculations precise.
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But then a man came to him with an idea.
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An idea that had nothing to do with utility, nothing to do with necessity.
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It was a monument, a statement, a symbol.
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Eiffel had always believed in structure, in weight and balance and stress and force.
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But this was something else.
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This was not about what could be built, but what should be built.
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And in that moment, something shifted in him.
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He had spent his life proving what was possible.
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Now, for the first time, he was being asked to imagine.
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Gustave Eiffel was no artist.
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Not yet.
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But soon, he would be able to stick with me.
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If you stepped off that train on a certain day, you probably would have found a coffee house somewhere with two men meeting.
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And what these two men were discussing would become an icon in the future.
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And this discussion would not only lead to the creation of an amazing piece of art, but it would change both of the men's lives.
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Now I'm gonna set a scene here doing a terrible set of accents between the two men conversing in a coffee house.
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Cafe noir, please.
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Two tablespoons of coffee, 180 milliliters of water.
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I'll have a cafe au lait.
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However the house chooses to express their preferences.
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Mr.
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Eiffel.
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I am an artist, I am a sculptor.
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And I am looking to create an art piece of exquisite beauty and of grand scale.
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It's called Liberty Enlightening the World.
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And it's going to be France's gift to America.
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Mr.
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Bartholdi.
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I am an engineer, not an artist.
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I deal in calculation and precision.
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Not in form.
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What is it that you're looking for from me?
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Well, Mr.
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Rifle.
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For my sculpture, it's going to be made out of pure copper.
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It's going to stand 93 meters tall.
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And it is going to need an internal structure that can support its weight.
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I've heard of your engineering prowess.
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And I believe you're the right person for this work.
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Do you believe you can provide the services that I'm looking for?
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Mr.
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Bartoldi.
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Well I believe we can engineer a structure, certainly.
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We'll need to look at a number of considerations for a structure that size.
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We need to think about the weight that it has to support, but also of the wind loads that could be significant at that height.
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What I'll need from you is some drawings of the outside and what you think the inside will look like.
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From there I'll work with my team, do some preliminary calculations and concept design, come back to you with a price and a timeline in three months.
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That sounds good, Mr.
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Eiffel.
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I'll tell you what.
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Three months from now I've been invited to a party.
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All of Paris' elite will be there.
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How about you meet me there?
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You give me your bid.
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We have a little fun for the evening.
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And then we figure out what the next steps are from there.
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That sounds great, Mr.
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Bartholdi.
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Before you go, I would like to ask you a question.
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You're a man of significant capabilities.
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What makes you want to pursue art?
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Mr.
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Eiffel.
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It is not art that I pursue.
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But societal change.
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Art is a means to ushering in a new era.
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Or to change values.
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Or we may use symbols, but the purpose isn't the symbol itself.
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It's the change.
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That's interesting.
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Mr.
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Bartoldi, I don't in particular I've never thought that way.
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See, when I build a bridge, a route that used to take two hours may now take 15 minutes.
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And all of the benefit from that can be quantified and calculated.
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So I'm always working on things that I know are useful.
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For me, Mr.
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Eiffel, it's not always so clear.
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How was your cafe ole?
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It was delightfully creamy today.
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How about your cafe noir?
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The same as always.
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Thank you for your time today.
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I look forward to meeting up again in a few months to discuss our work.
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Thank you, Mr.
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Eiffel.
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Now that we're through my dreadful acting, let me tell you a little bit about what I imagined took place.
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I imagine as Eiffel strolled down the street, leaving a conversation with Bartholdi, thinking on the purpose of what art is, he pondered.
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The purpose of art is to create societal change in values.
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As he continues down the street, looking around himself on the way to his office, he sees a society that values art.
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So a society that values a change in society.
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That didn't seem right.
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He sees painters, he sees sculptors, he sees actors, he sees writers.
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And he thinks to himself if art is societal change and I create a bridge that changes the way people move or exchange goods.
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Is that art?
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That's something I think he'd have to ponder more on and calculate the answer to.
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He arrives a few steps from his office and starts walking in.
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Maurice Kickla, an architect employed by Gustave Eiffel, starts bombarding him with the problems of the day.
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They start to talk through some of the challenges that their projects are facing.
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And Eiffel makes the big decisions on calls for things that have financial impacts.
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And he likes to know or look over the calculations that are taking place and do a spot check.
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All this takes Eiffel's mind off of the thoughts of art versus engineering and the purpose of art and focuses it squarely where it usually is.
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Of course, after an hour or two of this conversation, Maurice Kecklin shows him a sketch and says, Gustave, I've been thinking about a tower we could build for the upcoming World's Fair.
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And he shows him a sketch, and it's a very tall tower.
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It's not quite the image that you imagine in your mind today, and Eiffel falls back into his normal pattern of thinking about utility first, and says, No, we have enough going on, we do not need another project.
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And from there, the days roll on, just as they normally do, dealing with calculations and finances and problems and logistics.
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So Gegla and Eiffel are reviewing the Statue of Liberty project.
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Gegla goes through his concerns about the difficulty in the logistics of designing for something that's got such an irregular structure because it's actually a piece of art rather than a typical building or system that they work in.
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But nonetheless, Eiffel says, let's work up what we think it would cost, include a little bit more for the challenges that we're gonna have to face, and let's put a proposal in front of Bartoldi.
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And Kecla says, sure, we can do that, and goes about his way.
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As the three months have passed, it's time for Gustave to meet up with Bartoldi at a gambling party for the upper echelon of French society.
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So Gustave shows up at the party and runs into Bartholdi.
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As the two men talk their sounds of roulette and baccarat being played, and Bartoldi says, Why don't we pick a table and play?
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And Gustave responds, I am a calculated man, I am an engineer.
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There's not much that I don't do without calculation.
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These games of chance, their probabilities are set so that the house always wins.
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And Bartoldi looks at him and says you are right.
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I could be so calculated as you are.
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I could understand that the expected outcome of these games is a loss.
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But that's when you separate the games from the activity we're here for.
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The shared experience of French society.
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We're here to speak of projects, we're here to speak of business, we're here to make connection.
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All of these items hold tremendous value.
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And when you compare the value of what I've just mentioned against the possible loss at the tables, and the expected value can only be positive.
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And Bartholdi, who is a man of art, has once again pressed Gustave, a man of calculation, to question his values.
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So Gustave Eiffel continues to speak to Bartoldi all night about the business of the Eiffel Tower and the structure needed to be built, about the price and the timelines, and Bartoldi accepts the proposal.
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Bartholdi also likes to have fun, and he convinces Gustave Eiffel, man of business, man of calculation, to loosen up, to enjoy the evening, to get some pleasure out of what started as a work event.
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Because that's what artists seek.
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They seek pleasure in their work.
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So following this event, Eiffel puts his company on liberty enlightening the world, or the Statue of Liberty as we know it today.
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And they build a successful project, a project that does enlighten the world.
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A project that very few people in America would say they've never heard of even today.
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As Eiffel continues meeting with new people, picking up new projects, and meeting with his staff internally, one day Keikla comes back to him with a new picture of his proposed tower and says, Look at how beautiful this structure is.
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We should be proposing this for the World's Fair coming up in 1889.
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Gustave takes the tower picture and looks at it.
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He thinks to himself, this is quite a stunning tower.
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But what utility does it have?
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And he strokes his beard and he looks out the window and he thinks to himself Have we ever done a project like this?
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And then he realizes the closest project would be Liberty Enlightening the World.
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Oh, and that brings him back to all the thoughts about all the conversations he ever had with Bartoldi.
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What is the purpose of art to create societal change?
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What can you afford to lose?
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And as these thoughts race through his mind, it's like the picture changes.
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He remembers that stroll on the way back to the office from the first time that he met with Bartholdi.
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Art is a societal change.
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And he remembers walking down the street, seeing all of the artists at work, the painters on the street, the writers at the cafe, the sculptors sculpting out in the open, trying to capture the essence of nature.
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And he thinks to himself, this isn't the world that's coming.
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This world values something different than what the future should value.
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The future should value scientific discovery.
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It should value industrialization.
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It should value engineering and calculation abilities.
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And now the tower was no longer about utility.
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It was something Eiffel had to do to bring about the world that he thinks should exist.
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Of course, he thinks to himself on the financial side, being the man of calculation that it is.
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How will I afford to build this?
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How can I finance this?
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What will it cost?
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What will the value be?
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How will I recoup the money?
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And some of what goes through his head changes again.
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What can I afford to lose?
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If you spent every dime of the fortune that you've made in your first fifty-seven years of life on a tower that stood over Paris, you might not have any money left.
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But you might have reputation.
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Reputation and worldwide fame that can easily be produced to make more money.
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And Gustave was overwhelmed with envy for Bartholdi, thinking, That man makes this look so easy to be so carefree with huge sums of money that everything will work out.
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Not quite certain on how he's gonna proceed.
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He looks at Cakela and he says, Let's do it.
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Let's propose the tower.
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I'm not sure how I'm gonna raise the money.
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I'll have to work that out with the government.
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I'm not sure how I'm gonna get the land.
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I'll have to work that out as well.
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And just looking at your drawings, there's gonna be tons of challenges in building this thing.
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We got thousands of parts, we're gonna have tight deadlines to rebuild by the fair.
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It's so tall at 300 meters, we're going to have enormous wind loads.
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We're not even sure how to compute.
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And we're gonna have to worry about thermal expansion because of the enormity.
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And worker safety due to the extraordinary heights.
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You develop the concept further, and I'll start speaking with the right people.
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So everybody on the team went to work.
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Gustave met with a city and the government.
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They said, Well, there's no way that we're gonna fund this tower in its entirety.
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It might be a nice centerpiece for the World's Fair, but we have no idea how much value something like this has to the city of Paris.
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So Gustave, being the businessman that he is.
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Comes up with an idea.
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The city of Paris gives him the land and gives him some preliminary funding.
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And from there, Gustave will fund the tower the rest of the way with his own personal fortune.
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At the time, this is a significant amount of Gustave's fortune.
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He's in his 50s.
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It's not like he's going to recoup this if he loses it all, or at least it will take him some time to recoup it.
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He offers the city a proposal.
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Gustave will fund the remainder of the tower, and in return, he'll get the rights to the tower for 20 years.
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Gustave is making a lot of assumptions about the value of the tower, and how many people want to come see it, and how much they're willing to pay to go up it.
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And he thinks that 20 years is enough time to recoup his fortune, along with a small return representing the time value of money and other endeavors that he could have funded.
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The city eventually caves in and agrees to Gustave's demands.
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After all, they want an amazing centerpiece to the World's Fair.
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But they don't just give him free reign.
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They say, put a proposal together on what the tower will look like.
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You'll need to present this to a council that will decide on the feasibility.
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So Gustave's team is continually working on the design, tweaking the aesthetics, being worried about the aerodynamic loads while Gustave is herding everybody together that's responsible for this fair and aligning the business side up.
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And Gustave proposes the tower.
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And while it's amazing from an engineering perspective, France at the time is not filled with engineers.
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It's filled with artisans.
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They look at the tower, a bunch of straight steel beams all riveted together, and they don't see art.
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To them, art is details.
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It's the art they trend, it's sculpture, it's curves, its complexity, it's certainly not straight metal beams riveted together.
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But if you're measuring these artisans in the way Gustave is now seeing art, which art is making a societal change, then they are in fact not art people at all.
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They aren't making societal change.
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They're doing the arts and the crafts that their culture has valued for centuries.
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Instead, they should be thought of as tradespeople.
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And Gustave is coming in and he's disrupting their trade and saying that art is something else other than what they do.
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And that makes people angry.
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And they came at him hard.
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He's destroying France.
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This is not the aesthetic of the French people.
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This is not Paris.
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This will destroy our skyline and make it ugly.
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And they weren't happy.
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In hearing all that, Gustave has his entire personal fortune riding on the line.
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Can you imagine you've made millions of dollars over the last 30 years?
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And you're now pouring it all into this project.
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Taking a gamble to make art and having a bunch of artists tell you your idea is terrible.
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I don't think there's many people that could stand up to that level of scrutiny with that much on the line.
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We all like to think that we can, but why is there so few people in history with stories like this?
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Now there's not much written about Gustave in his day-to-day life.
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But I like to think about how did these people leave?
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What were the actual steps?
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What were the conversations they had?
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And how did they continue moving forward?
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And I can imagine after this, Gustave Eiffel is waking up every day.
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He's going to the mirror to get ready.
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Maybe brush his hair.
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And he asks himself, what am I doing this for?
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Why am I risking so much?
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Why am I taking a gamble that I can lose everything?
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He thinks of Bartholdi and he thinks of art.
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And he thinks of himself that art is societal change.
00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:25.519
And he takes out a piece of paper and he starts to think about what he can do to calculate whether this is going to be successful or not.
00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:30.480
Now normally a businessman starts and does a computation of value.
00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:33.279
What is the value of this thing I'm about to make?
00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:41.039
But art defies value, or at least it defies traditional value calculations from a utilitarian perspective.
00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:47.279
It could be worth nothing, or it could be worth a hundred million dollars when you think about paintings.
00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:53.279
And so he starts doing that value calculation, but he quickly realizes he can't.
00:25:53.599 --> 00:26:06.079
Every single thing he makes is massive assumptions with wide bands to where he's either going to be broke or super rich.
00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:08.160
And that's not really useful at all.
00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:19.200
So while he's racking his brain on how he can calculate something, how he can calculate his way out of this, since he's an engineer, he writes down the word art on the piece of paper.
00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:25.359
And then in a moment of brilliance, he makes it an equation.
00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:29.440
Art equals societal change.
00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:35.039
And seeing that on the paper, it all starts to come together.
00:26:35.519 --> 00:26:42.799
Art equals societal change, therefore art equals society after minus society before.
00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:51.519
If society after equals society before, then art equals zero.
00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:54.480
Eiffel realizes.
00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:09.759
So he has created art because art in this equation does not equal zero.
00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:13.039
And he decides he must continue.
00:27:13.279 --> 00:27:21.839
The team moves on, working on their 18,000 parts, working on their aerodynamics problems, working on the worker safety and thermal expansion problems.
00:27:22.160 --> 00:27:25.440
And all goes well, and we know the outcome.
00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:35.039
The Alpha Tower today is iconic, and it was considered a masterpiece of the time at the 1889s World Fair in Paris.
00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:47.839
And for a man like Gustave, who wasn't much of a gambler, who had to calculate his way into faith and staying on the path, the gamble paid off.
00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:55.599
In the first year alone during the World's Fair, Gustave recouped his entire investment.
00:27:56.720 --> 00:28:00.640
But he had negotiated the rights to the tower for twenty years.
00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:06.319
That means the remaining nineteen years were pure profit.
00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:12.880
Could you imagine owning something as iconic, something as amazing as the Eiffel Tower?
00:28:13.119 --> 00:28:16.240
Most people are happy to own their home.
00:28:16.799 --> 00:28:19.759
But Yustab owned an entire tower.
00:28:19.920 --> 00:28:24.480
Of course he had to gamble his entire fortune to do that.
00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:27.200
But that's not even quite fair.
00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:30.640
Because what can he afford to lose?
00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:37.599
If he had lost all the money in his bank account, he would still have his business, he would still have his reputation.
00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:45.519
The thirty years of work that he had done to build the skills that he had and the company that he had didn't disappear.
00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:51.440
Sure he'd be set back on money, but it's not like he wouldn't be able to eat ever again.
00:28:51.759 --> 00:28:54.559
It's not like he wouldn't have nice clothes.
00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:57.759
He just wouldn't have a fortune to fall back on.
00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:04.640
But what is the point of a fortune if you can't do the work that you're interested in?
00:29:05.279 --> 00:29:15.039
Now I can imagine at a future meeting in a coffee house, Bartoldi and Eiffel get together for a third time in their lives.
00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:19.119
The waitress comes over and asks them what they'll have.
00:29:19.759 --> 00:29:23.680
Bartholdi says Cafe Ola, please.
00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:25.920
However you like to make it.
00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:30.880
And Gustave looks at the waitress and says Cafe Olay.
00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:33.839
Two parts coffee, one part milk.
00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:37.839
And they discuss the Eiffel Tower and its success.
00:29:38.160 --> 00:29:54.799
Eiffel shares with Bartoldi the inspiration he got from their work on the Statue of Liberty, and how he never could have got through without understanding that art equals societal change, without the conversations that he had had with Bartoldi.
00:29:55.359 --> 00:30:06.160
And he shares his vision with Bartholdi that engineering and calculation in the future due to the Eiffel Tower is going to be elevated.
00:30:06.480 --> 00:30:13.599
And he shares how tourism in Paris has ignited from a number of people that want to see the tower.
00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:23.279
Talks a little bit about some projects that they would like to work together in the future.
00:30:24.240 --> 00:30:26.400
And then the two men part ways.
00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:31.359
Of course, engineering itself has changed after the Eiffel Tower is created.
00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:40.319
The tower applied classical beam theory at a scale never seen, which is commonplace today, but wasn't back then.
00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:56.720
Aerodynamics was studied in wind tunnels for one of the first times in recorded history, and many of the methods that we now use to design and shape modern scarscrapers were pioneered during the Eiffel Tower.
00:30:56.960 --> 00:31:14.319
Not to mention, not much later, it would change telecommunications and broadcasting, putting antennas at significantly higher elevations, and understanding that that would allow people to tune in via radio.
00:31:14.559 --> 00:31:16.960
And Eiffel was significantly changed himself.
00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:26.079
His reputation was elevated, his fortune increased, his name was memorialized, even today it's called the Eiffel Tower.
00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:36.960
And if we look at everything that Eiffel did, we can ask ourselves as engineers, am I being held back by a calculation?
00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:39.680
Just think about that.
00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:03.120
It's the mid-1880s in Paris.
00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:06.160
For years Gustave Eiffel has built for function.
00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:13.359
His bridges stretched across valleys, his viaducts defied gravity, his structure stood not as monuments, but as solutions.
00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:19.120
He was an engineer, bound by the certainty of numbers, the unyielding laws of physics.
00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:23.039
His work was practical, his calculations precise.
00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:25.679
But then a man came to him with an idea.
00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:30.079
An idea that had nothing to do with utility, nothing to do with necessity.
00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:33.679
It was a monument, a statement, a symbol.
00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:39.600
Eiffel had always believed in structure, in weight and balance and stress and force.
00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:42.960
But this was something else.
00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:46.799
This was not about what could be built, but what should be built.
00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:50.159
And in that moment, something shifted in him.
00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:53.119
He had spent his life proving what was possible.
00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:57.840
Now, for the first time, he was being asked to imagine.
00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:00.479
Gustave Eiffel was no artist.
00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:01.759
Not yet.
00:01:02.240 --> 00:02:49.520
But soon, he would be able to stick with me.
00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:13.120
If you stepped off that train on a certain day, you probably would have found a coffee house somewhere with two men meeting.
00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:21.039
And what these two men were discussing would become an icon in the future.
00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:32.000
And this discussion would not only lead to the creation of an amazing piece of art, but it would change both of the men's lives.
00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:43.360
Now I'm gonna set a scene here doing a terrible set of accents between the two men conversing in a coffee house.
00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:46.000
Cafe noir, please.
00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:51.680
Two tablespoons of coffee, 180 milliliters of water.
00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:56.800
I'll have a cafe au lait.
00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:00.159
However the house chooses to express their preferences.
00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:04.879
Mr.
00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:05.599
Eiffel.
00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:10.080
I am an artist, I am a sculptor.
00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:19.600
And I am looking to create an art piece of exquisite beauty and of grand scale.
00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:24.720
It's called Liberty Enlightening the World.
00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:30.160
And it's going to be France's gift to America.
00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:34.560
Mr.
00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:35.519
Bartholdi.
00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:41.680
I am an engineer, not an artist.
00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:44.800
I deal in calculation and precision.
00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:47.279
Not in form.
00:04:49.519 --> 00:04:52.240
What is it that you're looking for from me?
00:04:56.639 --> 00:04:57.279
Well, Mr.
00:04:57.439 --> 00:04:58.079
Rifle.
00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:03.519
For my sculpture, it's going to be made out of pure copper.
00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:08.879
It's going to stand 93 meters tall.
00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:15.680
And it is going to need an internal structure that can support its weight.
00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:18.560
I've heard of your engineering prowess.
00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:22.160
And I believe you're the right person for this work.
00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:27.439
Do you believe you can provide the services that I'm looking for?
00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:29.199
Mr.
00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:30.480
Bartoldi.
00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:34.800
Well I believe we can engineer a structure, certainly.
00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:39.759
We'll need to look at a number of considerations for a structure that size.
00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:48.319
We need to think about the weight that it has to support, but also of the wind loads that could be significant at that height.
00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:56.000
What I'll need from you is some drawings of the outside and what you think the inside will look like.
00:05:56.240 --> 00:06:07.920
From there I'll work with my team, do some preliminary calculations and concept design, come back to you with a price and a timeline in three months.
00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:10.160
That sounds good, Mr.
00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:10.959
Eiffel.
00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:14.240
I'll tell you what.
00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:20.800
Three months from now I've been invited to a party.
00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:25.040
All of Paris' elite will be there.
00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:27.839
How about you meet me there?
00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:29.920
You give me your bid.
00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:32.560
We have a little fun for the evening.
00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:36.480
And then we figure out what the next steps are from there.
00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:39.360
That sounds great, Mr.
00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:40.560
Bartholdi.
00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:44.480
Before you go, I would like to ask you a question.
00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:47.680
You're a man of significant capabilities.
00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:51.519
What makes you want to pursue art?
00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:54.240
Mr.
00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:54.959
Eiffel.
00:06:56.560 --> 00:06:58.639
It is not art that I pursue.
00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:01.600
But societal change.
00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:08.639
Art is a means to ushering in a new era.
00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:11.680
Or to change values.
00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:18.480
Or we may use symbols, but the purpose isn't the symbol itself.
00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:19.920
It's the change.
00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:23.920
That's interesting.
00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:25.120
Mr.
00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:29.199
Bartoldi, I don't in particular I've never thought that way.
00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:37.920
See, when I build a bridge, a route that used to take two hours may now take 15 minutes.
00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:43.839
And all of the benefit from that can be quantified and calculated.
00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:48.560
So I'm always working on things that I know are useful.
00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:51.519
For me, Mr.
00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:55.360
Eiffel, it's not always so clear.
00:07:56.800 --> 00:07:58.160
How was your cafe ole?
00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:02.879
It was delightfully creamy today.
00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:05.759
How about your cafe noir?
00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:08.639
The same as always.
00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:11.759
Thank you for your time today.
00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:16.639
I look forward to meeting up again in a few months to discuss our work.
00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:17.680
Thank you, Mr.
00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:18.319
Eiffel.
00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:28.319
Now that we're through my dreadful acting, let me tell you a little bit about what I imagined took place.
00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:39.840
I imagine as Eiffel strolled down the street, leaving a conversation with Bartholdi, thinking on the purpose of what art is, he pondered.
00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:47.360
The purpose of art is to create societal change in values.
00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:58.240
As he continues down the street, looking around himself on the way to his office, he sees a society that values art.
00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:05.279
So a society that values a change in society.
00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:08.720
That didn't seem right.
00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:17.200
He sees painters, he sees sculptors, he sees actors, he sees writers.
00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:35.039
And he thinks to himself if art is societal change and I create a bridge that changes the way people move or exchange goods.
00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:36.799
Is that art?
00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:43.919
That's something I think he'd have to ponder more on and calculate the answer to.
00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:48.159
He arrives a few steps from his office and starts walking in.
00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:56.480
Maurice Kickla, an architect employed by Gustave Eiffel, starts bombarding him with the problems of the day.
00:09:56.799 --> 00:10:00.720
They start to talk through some of the challenges that their projects are facing.
00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:07.120
And Eiffel makes the big decisions on calls for things that have financial impacts.
00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:14.159
And he likes to know or look over the calculations that are taking place and do a spot check.
00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:27.600
All this takes Eiffel's mind off of the thoughts of art versus engineering and the purpose of art and focuses it squarely where it usually is.
00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:43.600
Of course, after an hour or two of this conversation, Maurice Kecklin shows him a sketch and says, Gustave, I've been thinking about a tower we could build for the upcoming World's Fair.
00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:47.840
And he shows him a sketch, and it's a very tall tower.
00:10:48.159 --> 00:11:05.440
It's not quite the image that you imagine in your mind today, and Eiffel falls back into his normal pattern of thinking about utility first, and says, No, we have enough going on, we do not need another project.
00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:15.919
And from there, the days roll on, just as they normally do, dealing with calculations and finances and problems and logistics.
00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:22.320
So Gegla and Eiffel are reviewing the Statue of Liberty project.
00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:39.120
Gegla goes through his concerns about the difficulty in the logistics of designing for something that's got such an irregular structure because it's actually a piece of art rather than a typical building or system that they work in.
00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:52.240
But nonetheless, Eiffel says, let's work up what we think it would cost, include a little bit more for the challenges that we're gonna have to face, and let's put a proposal in front of Bartoldi.
00:11:53.360 --> 00:12:00.240
And Kecla says, sure, we can do that, and goes about his way.
00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:10.639
As the three months have passed, it's time for Gustave to meet up with Bartoldi at a gambling party for the upper echelon of French society.
00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:15.360
So Gustave shows up at the party and runs into Bartholdi.
00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:25.919
As the two men talk their sounds of roulette and baccarat being played, and Bartoldi says, Why don't we pick a table and play?
00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:32.000
And Gustave responds, I am a calculated man, I am an engineer.
00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:35.279
There's not much that I don't do without calculation.
00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:42.000
These games of chance, their probabilities are set so that the house always wins.
00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:48.639
And Bartoldi looks at him and says you are right.
00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:51.840
I could be so calculated as you are.
00:12:53.360 --> 00:13:00.960
I could understand that the expected outcome of these games is a loss.
00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:05.759
But that's when you separate the games from the activity we're here for.
00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:10.639
The shared experience of French society.
00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:17.759
We're here to speak of projects, we're here to speak of business, we're here to make connection.
00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:22.799
All of these items hold tremendous value.
00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:38.240
And when you compare the value of what I've just mentioned against the possible loss at the tables, and the expected value can only be positive.
00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:51.759
And Bartholdi, who is a man of art, has once again pressed Gustave, a man of calculation, to question his values.
00:13:52.240 --> 00:14:07.039
So Gustave Eiffel continues to speak to Bartoldi all night about the business of the Eiffel Tower and the structure needed to be built, about the price and the timelines, and Bartoldi accepts the proposal.
00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:24.159
Bartholdi also likes to have fun, and he convinces Gustave Eiffel, man of business, man of calculation, to loosen up, to enjoy the evening, to get some pleasure out of what started as a work event.
00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:28.000
Because that's what artists seek.
00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:30.320
They seek pleasure in their work.
00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:42.000
So following this event, Eiffel puts his company on liberty enlightening the world, or the Statue of Liberty as we know it today.
00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:48.480
And they build a successful project, a project that does enlighten the world.
00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:54.399
A project that very few people in America would say they've never heard of even today.
00:14:54.879 --> 00:15:14.879
As Eiffel continues meeting with new people, picking up new projects, and meeting with his staff internally, one day Keikla comes back to him with a new picture of his proposed tower and says, Look at how beautiful this structure is.
00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:20.480
We should be proposing this for the World's Fair coming up in 1889.
00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:24.879
Gustave takes the tower picture and looks at it.
00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:30.320
He thinks to himself, this is quite a stunning tower.
00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:33.440
But what utility does it have?
00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:46.799
And he strokes his beard and he looks out the window and he thinks to himself Have we ever done a project like this?
00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:59.919
And then he realizes the closest project would be Liberty Enlightening the World.
00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:07.759
Oh, and that brings him back to all the thoughts about all the conversations he ever had with Bartoldi.
00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:13.600
What is the purpose of art to create societal change?
00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:17.039
What can you afford to lose?
00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:22.399
And as these thoughts race through his mind, it's like the picture changes.
00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:29.759
He remembers that stroll on the way back to the office from the first time that he met with Bartholdi.
00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:33.840
Art is a societal change.
00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:51.600
And he remembers walking down the street, seeing all of the artists at work, the painters on the street, the writers at the cafe, the sculptors sculpting out in the open, trying to capture the essence of nature.
00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:58.960
And he thinks to himself, this isn't the world that's coming.
00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:05.920
This world values something different than what the future should value.
00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:10.720
The future should value scientific discovery.
00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:13.440
It should value industrialization.
00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:19.519
It should value engineering and calculation abilities.
00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:25.039
And now the tower was no longer about utility.
00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:33.440
It was something Eiffel had to do to bring about the world that he thinks should exist.
00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:41.359
Of course, he thinks to himself on the financial side, being the man of calculation that it is.
00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:43.200
How will I afford to build this?
00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:44.400
How can I finance this?
00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:45.440
What will it cost?
00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:47.119
What will the value be?
00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:49.279
How will I recoup the money?
00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:54.559
And some of what goes through his head changes again.
00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:57.279
What can I afford to lose?
00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:08.640
If you spent every dime of the fortune that you've made in your first fifty-seven years of life on a tower that stood over Paris, you might not have any money left.
00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:11.279
But you might have reputation.
00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:17.119
Reputation and worldwide fame that can easily be produced to make more money.
00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:32.559
And Gustave was overwhelmed with envy for Bartholdi, thinking, That man makes this look so easy to be so carefree with huge sums of money that everything will work out.
00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:38.079
Not quite certain on how he's gonna proceed.
00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:43.200
He looks at Cakela and he says, Let's do it.
00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:45.200
Let's propose the tower.
00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:47.440
I'm not sure how I'm gonna raise the money.
00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:50.000
I'll have to work that out with the government.
00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:53.200
I'm not sure how I'm gonna get the land.
00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:55.839
I'll have to work that out as well.
00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:04.319
And just looking at your drawings, there's gonna be tons of challenges in building this thing.
00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:09.279
We got thousands of parts, we're gonna have tight deadlines to rebuild by the fair.
00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:15.200
It's so tall at 300 meters, we're going to have enormous wind loads.
00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:17.839
We're not even sure how to compute.
00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:24.880
And we're gonna have to worry about thermal expansion because of the enormity.
00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:31.200
And worker safety due to the extraordinary heights.
00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:36.559
You develop the concept further, and I'll start speaking with the right people.
00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:39.599
So everybody on the team went to work.
00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:43.839
Gustave met with a city and the government.
00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:48.000
They said, Well, there's no way that we're gonna fund this tower in its entirety.
00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:57.519
It might be a nice centerpiece for the World's Fair, but we have no idea how much value something like this has to the city of Paris.
00:19:57.759 --> 00:19:59.759
So Gustave, being the businessman that he is.
00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:02.160
Comes up with an idea.
00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:08.319
The city of Paris gives him the land and gives him some preliminary funding.
00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:17.519
And from there, Gustave will fund the tower the rest of the way with his own personal fortune.
00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:22.880
At the time, this is a significant amount of Gustave's fortune.
00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:24.960
He's in his 50s.
00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:33.279
It's not like he's going to recoup this if he loses it all, or at least it will take him some time to recoup it.
00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:36.000
He offers the city a proposal.
00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:45.759
Gustave will fund the remainder of the tower, and in return, he'll get the rights to the tower for 20 years.
00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:58.799
Gustave is making a lot of assumptions about the value of the tower, and how many people want to come see it, and how much they're willing to pay to go up it.
00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:13.759
And he thinks that 20 years is enough time to recoup his fortune, along with a small return representing the time value of money and other endeavors that he could have funded.
00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:17.839
The city eventually caves in and agrees to Gustave's demands.
00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:22.319
After all, they want an amazing centerpiece to the World's Fair.
00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:26.559
But they don't just give him free reign.
00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:31.200
They say, put a proposal together on what the tower will look like.
00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:39.200
You'll need to present this to a council that will decide on the feasibility.
00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:57.119
So Gustave's team is continually working on the design, tweaking the aesthetics, being worried about the aerodynamic loads while Gustave is herding everybody together that's responsible for this fair and aligning the business side up.
00:21:57.519 --> 00:21:59.920
And Gustave proposes the tower.
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:08.400
And while it's amazing from an engineering perspective, France at the time is not filled with engineers.
00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:10.319
It's filled with artisans.
00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:21.920
They look at the tower, a bunch of straight steel beams all riveted together, and they don't see art.
00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:24.400
To them, art is details.
00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:39.440
It's the art they trend, it's sculpture, it's curves, its complexity, it's certainly not straight metal beams riveted together.
00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:55.680
But if you're measuring these artisans in the way Gustave is now seeing art, which art is making a societal change, then they are in fact not art people at all.
00:22:56.559 --> 00:22:58.559
They aren't making societal change.
00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:06.480
They're doing the arts and the crafts that their culture has valued for centuries.
00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:10.480
Instead, they should be thought of as tradespeople.
00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:20.079
And Gustave is coming in and he's disrupting their trade and saying that art is something else other than what they do.
00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:22.720
And that makes people angry.
00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:25.920
And they came at him hard.
00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:28.640
He's destroying France.
00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:31.599
This is not the aesthetic of the French people.
00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:33.839
This is not Paris.
00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:38.160
This will destroy our skyline and make it ugly.
00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:41.039
And they weren't happy.
00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:48.640
In hearing all that, Gustave has his entire personal fortune riding on the line.
00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:53.440
Can you imagine you've made millions of dollars over the last 30 years?
00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:56.880
And you're now pouring it all into this project.
00:23:57.200 --> 00:24:05.119
Taking a gamble to make art and having a bunch of artists tell you your idea is terrible.
00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:11.440
I don't think there's many people that could stand up to that level of scrutiny with that much on the line.
00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:19.279
We all like to think that we can, but why is there so few people in history with stories like this?
00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:26.160
Now there's not much written about Gustave in his day-to-day life.
00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:30.079
But I like to think about how did these people leave?
00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:32.319
What were the actual steps?
00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:35.519
What were the conversations they had?
00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:39.200
And how did they continue moving forward?
00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:47.200
And I can imagine after this, Gustave Eiffel is waking up every day.
00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:50.160
He's going to the mirror to get ready.
00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:52.319
Maybe brush his hair.
00:24:53.759 --> 00:24:56.880
And he asks himself, what am I doing this for?
00:24:57.200 --> 00:24:59.279
Why am I risking so much?
00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:03.599
Why am I taking a gamble that I can lose everything?
00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:06.799
He thinks of Bartholdi and he thinks of art.
00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:12.240
And he thinks of himself that art is societal change.
00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:25.519
And he takes out a piece of paper and he starts to think about what he can do to calculate whether this is going to be successful or not.
00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:30.480
Now normally a businessman starts and does a computation of value.
00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:33.279
What is the value of this thing I'm about to make?
00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:41.039
But art defies value, or at least it defies traditional value calculations from a utilitarian perspective.
00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:47.279
It could be worth nothing, or it could be worth a hundred million dollars when you think about paintings.
00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:53.279
And so he starts doing that value calculation, but he quickly realizes he can't.
00:25:53.599 --> 00:26:06.079
Every single thing he makes is massive assumptions with wide bands to where he's either going to be broke or super rich.
00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:08.160
And that's not really useful at all.
00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:19.200
So while he's racking his brain on how he can calculate something, how he can calculate his way out of this, since he's an engineer, he writes down the word art on the piece of paper.
00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:25.359
And then in a moment of brilliance, he makes it an equation.
00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:29.440
Art equals societal change.
00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:35.039
And seeing that on the paper, it all starts to come together.
00:26:35.519 --> 00:26:42.799
Art equals societal change, therefore art equals society after minus society before.
00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:51.519
If society after equals society before, then art equals zero.
00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:54.480
Eiffel realizes.
00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:09.759
So he has created art because art in this equation does not equal zero.
00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:13.039
And he decides he must continue.
00:27:13.279 --> 00:27:21.839
The team moves on, working on their 18,000 parts, working on their aerodynamics problems, working on the worker safety and thermal expansion problems.
00:27:22.160 --> 00:27:25.440
And all goes well, and we know the outcome.
00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:35.039
The Alpha Tower today is iconic, and it was considered a masterpiece of the time at the 1889s World Fair in Paris.
00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:47.839
And for a man like Gustave, who wasn't much of a gambler, who had to calculate his way into faith and staying on the path, the gamble paid off.
00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:55.599
In the first year alone during the World's Fair, Gustave recouped his entire investment.
00:27:56.720 --> 00:28:00.640
But he had negotiated the rights to the tower for twenty years.
00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:06.319
That means the remaining nineteen years were pure profit.
00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:12.880
Could you imagine owning something as iconic, something as amazing as the Eiffel Tower?
00:28:13.119 --> 00:28:16.240
Most people are happy to own their home.
00:28:16.799 --> 00:28:19.759
But Yustab owned an entire tower.
00:28:19.920 --> 00:28:24.480
Of course he had to gamble his entire fortune to do that.
00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:27.200
But that's not even quite fair.
00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:30.640
Because what can he afford to lose?
00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:37.599
If he had lost all the money in his bank account, he would still have his business, he would still have his reputation.
00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:45.519
The thirty years of work that he had done to build the skills that he had and the company that he had didn't disappear.
00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:51.440
Sure he'd be set back on money, but it's not like he wouldn't be able to eat ever again.
00:28:51.759 --> 00:28:54.559
It's not like he wouldn't have nice clothes.
00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:57.759
He just wouldn't have a fortune to fall back on.
00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:04.640
But what is the point of a fortune if you can't do the work that you're interested in?
00:29:05.279 --> 00:29:15.039
Now I can imagine at a future meeting in a coffee house, Bartoldi and Eiffel get together for a third time in their lives.
00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:19.119
The waitress comes over and asks them what they'll have.
00:29:19.759 --> 00:29:23.680
Bartholdi says Cafe Ola, please.
00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:25.920
However you like to make it.
00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:30.880
And Gustave looks at the waitress and says Cafe Olay.
00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:33.839
Two parts coffee, one part milk.
00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:37.839
And they discuss the Eiffel Tower and its success.
00:29:38.160 --> 00:29:54.799
Eiffel shares with Bartoldi the inspiration he got from their work on the Statue of Liberty, and how he never could have got through without understanding that art equals societal change, without the conversations that he had had with Bartoldi.
00:29:55.359 --> 00:30:06.160
And he shares his vision with Bartholdi that engineering and calculation in the future due to the Eiffel Tower is going to be elevated.
00:30:06.480 --> 00:30:13.599
And he shares how tourism in Paris has ignited from a number of people that want to see the tower.
00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:23.279
Talks a little bit about some projects that they would like to work together in the future.
00:30:24.240 --> 00:30:26.400
And then the two men part ways.
00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:31.359
Of course, engineering itself has changed after the Eiffel Tower is created.
00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:40.319
The tower applied classical beam theory at a scale never seen, which is commonplace today, but wasn't back then.
00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:56.720
Aerodynamics was studied in wind tunnels for one of the first times in recorded history, and many of the methods that we now use to design and shape modern scarscrapers were pioneered during the Eiffel Tower.
00:30:56.960 --> 00:31:14.319
Not to mention, not much later, it would change telecommunications and broadcasting, putting antennas at significantly higher elevations, and understanding that that would allow people to tune in via radio.
00:31:14.559 --> 00:31:16.960
And Eiffel was significantly changed himself.
00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:26.079
His reputation was elevated, his fortune increased, his name was memorialized, even today it's called the Eiffel Tower.
00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:36.960
And if we look at everything that Eiffel did, we can ask ourselves as engineers, am I being held back by a calculation?
00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:39.680
Just think about that.
