A building frame including a load-bearing portion which is defined by a pattern of interconnected, elongate, upright columns and laterally extending beams, with each column taking the form of an assembly of hollow, tubular column components, at least some of which each possesses a nominally open, upper-end utility region, or port, extending upwardly beyond the top of the frame's load-bearing portion. Each such port, which is useable in different ways during and after initial building construction, accommodates, under different circumstances, the selective reception of a construction-extension instrumentality drawn from the list consisting of (a) an installable/removable crane structure, (b) a column-like element provided for the addition of selected building superstructure, and (c) additional building infrastructure which is feedable downwardly through the port toward a selected elevation in a "completed" building.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority to two prior-filed, currently pending U.S. Provisional Patent Applications whose contents are hereby incorporated herein by reference. These two applications are Ser. No. 60/438,882, filed Jan. 8, 2003, for "Hollow-Tube Column-Top Davit Structure", and Ser. No. 60/460,623, filed Apr. 3, 2003, for "Column Penetration of Building Roof Structure and Method". The inventorship in those two prior cases is the same as in the present case.
