In 1969, Sears, Roebuck & Co. was the largest retailer in the world, with about 350,000 employees [REF].
Sears, which needed 3000000sqft of office space for its planned consolidation and predicted that growth would require yet more, commissioned architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) to produce a structure to be one of the largest office buildings in the world.