Talk:World Trade Center/old

This article is about the World Trade Center complex in New York City. For the many other buildings around the world similarly named, see world trade center.

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The World Trade Center in New York City (sometimes informally referred to as the WTC) was a complex of seven buildings designed by American architect Minoru Yamasaki and leased by Larry Silverstein from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey around a central plaza, near the south end of Manhattan in the downtown financial district. The complex contained 13.4 million square feet of office space, almost four percent of Manhattan's entire office inventory [1]. Best known for its iconic 110-story Twin Towers, after having survived a bombing on February 26, 1993, all of the original buildings in the complex were destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks; two collapsed (1 and 2) and the others (3, 4, 5, 6) were damaged beyond repair and demolished later. Building Seven collapsed in the late afternoon on the day of the attacks.

Overview

The complex towers were designed by Japanese American architect Minoru Yamasaki with Antonio Brittiochi, and was one of the most striking American implementations of the architectural ethic of Le Corbusier, as well as the seminal expression of Yamasaki's gothic modernist tendencies. Constructed in the early 1970s under the auspices of the semi-autonomous Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the WTC had its ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 4, 1973. Ultimately the complex came to consist of 7 buildings, but its most notable features were the main twin towers. On any given day, some 50,000 people worked in the towers with another 200,000 passing through as visitors. The complex was so large that it had its own ZIP Code: 10048.

Although the towers became an undeniable icon of New York City, they were not without their flaws and were troubled in many ways. Initially conceived (as the name suggests) as a complex dedicated to companies and organizations directly involved in "world trade," they at first failed to attract the anticipated clientele; during the WTC's early years various governmental organizations became key tenants. It was not until the 1980s that the city's perilous financial state eased, after which an increasing number of private companies - mostly financial firms tied to Wall Street - became tenants.

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An aerial view of the World Trade center complex, as seen from the west. The East River is visible in the background.

Moreover, the immense "superblock" plaza they sat upon, which replaced a more traditional, dense-packed neighborhood, was regarded by some critics as an inhospitable environment that disrupted the intricate flows of traffic typical of Manhattan. For example, in his book The Pentagon of Power, the technical historian Lewis Mumford denounced the center as an "example of the purposeless giantism and technological exhibitionism that are now eviscerating the living tissue of every great city." However, the spectacular views available from the WTC's observation deck (located on top of the South Tower) and the Windows on the World restaurant (located on top of the North Tower) made up for its flaws, by offering city-dwellers and tourists alike a perspective on the region that became central to the city's identity.

The Twin Towers

Each of the WTC towers had 110 stories. Tower One (the North Tower, which featured a massive antenna) stood 1,368 ft (417 m) high, and Tower Two (the South Tower, which contained the observation deck) was 1,362 ft (415 m) high. The length and breadth of the towers were 208 ft (63.4 m) x 208 ft (63.4 m). When the towers were completed in 1972 and 1973, respectively, they were the tallest buildings on Earth, 100 feet (30 m) taller than the Empire State Building. Their size was the subject of a joke during a press conference unveiling the landmarks. Minoru Yamasaki was asked: "Why two 110-story buildings? Why not one 220-story building?" His response was: "I didn't want to lose the human scale." Another joke was that the towers looked like the boxes that the Chrysler Building and Empire State Building came out of.

However, the WTC towers held the height record only briefly. As the building neared completion in 1973, work had already begun on Chicago's Sears Tower, which ultimately reached 1,450 ft (442 m). With the World Trade Center's destruction, the Empire State Building again became the tallest building in New York, after spending almost 30 years as the third-tallest.

To solve the problem of wind sway or vibration in the construction of the towers, chief engineer Leslie Robertson took a then unusual approach - instead of bracing the buildings corner-to-corner or using internal walls, the towers were essentially hollow steel tubes surrounding a strong central core. The 208-foot wide facade is, in effect, a prefabricated steel lattice, with columns on 39-inch centers acting as wind bracing to resist all overturning forces; the central core takes all the gravity loads of the building. A very light, economical structure results by keeping the wind bracing in the most efficient place, the outside surface of the building, thus not transferring the forces through the floor membrane to the core, as in most curtain-wall structures. The core supported the weight of the entire building and the outer shell containing 240 vertical steel columns called Vierendeel trusses around the outside of the building, which were bound to each other using ordinary steel trusses. In addition, 10,000 dampers were included in the structure. With a strong shell and core such as this, the exterior walls could be simply light steel and concrete. Together the massive core and lighweight shell for structural integrity, Robertson creating a tower that was extremely light for its size. This method of construction also meant that the twin towers had the world's highest load-bearing walls.

Of the 110 stories, eight were set aside for technical services (mechanical floors), in four two-floor areas evenly spread up the building. All the remaining floors were free for open-plan offices. Each tower had 350,000 m² (3.8 million ft²) of office space, ample room for companies to set up shop. Altogether the entire complex of seven buildings had 1.04 km² (11.2 million ft²) of space. During the 1990s some 500 companies, especially financial firms, had offices in the complex, including Morgan Stanley, Aon Corporation, Salomon Brothers, and the Port Authority itself.

The twin towers were also the first supertall buildings to use sky lobbies, spaces where commuters can switch from one local elevator to another. Located on the 44th and 78th floors of each tower, those sky lobbies enabled the elevators (each tower had 104) to be used efficiently while taking up a minimum of valuable office space.

Five smaller buildings stood around the 16 acre (65,000 m²) block. One was the 22-floor Vista Hotel, later a Marriott Hotel, that was squeezed between the two towers. Three low-rise buildings in the same hollow tube design as the towers also stood around the plaza; they housed the US Customs Service and the US Commodities Exchange. In 1987, a 46-floor office building called 7 WTC was built north of the block. Under the block was a highly profitable underground shopping mall, which in turn led to various mass transit facilities, particularly the New York City subway system and the Port Authority's own PATH trains connecting Manhattan to Jersey City.

The excavation of the foundations of the building, known as the Bathtub, located on the former Radio Row, was particularly complicated since there were two subway tubes close by needing protection without service interruption. A six-level basement was built in the foundations. The excavation of about 1 million cubic yards (760,000 m³) of earth and rock created a $90 million real estate asset for the project owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which helped offset the enormous loss in revenues which came from the tax breaks given to the Trade Center itself. The soil was used to create 23 acres (93,000 m²) of landfill in the Hudson river next to the World Trade Center site, which became the site of Battery Park City (still under development).

One of the world's largest gold depositories was stored underneath the World Trade Center, owned by a group of commercial banks. The 1993 bomb detonated close to the vault, but it withstood the explosion, as did the towers. One source estimates the 1993 value of the gold at one billion dollars, believed to be owned by Kuwaiti interests. That same source claims that when the World Trade Center was destroyed, the amount of gold "far exceed[ed] the 1993 levels." The gold was finally recovered in its entirety in late 2001.

See World Trade Center site for information on the reconstruction.

Observation Deck and Windows on the World

Although the majority of space in the WTC complex was off-limits to the general public, 1 WTC (north tower) had a restaurant on the 107th floor called "Windows on the World", and 2 WTC (south tower) featured a public observation area aptly named "Top Of The World."

When visiting the observation deck, visitors would first pass through security checks instated after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Next, visitors were whisked to the 107th floor indoor observatory and greeted with a 360 degree view of the New York City skyline. Weather-permitting, visitors could take two short escalator rides up from the 107th floor and visit the outdoor portion of the observation deck. At a height of 1,362 feet (415 m), visitors were able to take in a view of the North Tower and New York City unlike any other. On a clear day, it was claimed that visitors could see up to 45 miles (72 km) in any given direction.

Windows on the World, was an elegant restaurant known as a place for big celebrations, such as weddings. In its last full year of operation, the year 2000, Windows reported revenues of $37.5 million United States dollars, making it the highest-grossing restaurant in the United States.

1993 terrorist attack

Main article: 1993 World Trade Center bombing

On February 26, 1993 at 12:17 PM, a Ryder truck filled with 1,500 pounds (682 kilograms) of explosives was planted by terrorists and detonated in the underground garage of the north tower, opening a 30m hole through 4 sublevels of concrete. Six people were killed and over a thousand injured.

Six Islamist extremist conspirators were convicted of the crime in 1997 and 1998 and given prison sentences of 240 years each. According to a presiding judge, the conspirators chief aim at the time of the attack was to de-stabilize the north tower and send it crashing into the south tower, toppling both landmarks.

To commemorate the bombing of the tower, a reflecting pool was installed with the names of those who had been killed in the blast. Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, relief workers found a single fractured piece of this fountain; to date it is the only remaining part of the 1993 memorial that survived the collapse of the towers.

2001 terrorist attack

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United Flight 175 crashing into the World Trade Center

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The World Trade Center on fire

Main Article: September 11, 2001 attacks

The twin towers and 7 World Trade Center collapsed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, when two commercial jetliners were deliberately crashed into the twin towers. The four smaller buildings were also severely damaged in the debris and were later demolished.

For details on this terrorist attack, see September 11, 2001 attacks; for details of the towers' collapse, see Collapse of the World Trade Center. For details of the tenants at the time of the attack, see One World Trade Center tenants and Two World Trade Center tenants.

While the official explanation and findings as to the collapse are widely accepted by most, a small number of individuals and groups have presented alternate viewpoints and theories. These individual viewpoints and opinions are part of a larger belief in a 9/11 Conspiracy.

As of February 2005, a total of 2,749 death certificates related to the WTC attacks had been filed. All but 13 persons died on September 11; of the 13 persons who were injured on September 11 and died subsequently, three persons died in other states, one each in Massachusetts, Missouri, and New Jersey. Of these 2,749 people who died, 2,117 (77%) were males and 632 (23%) were females. Remains of 1,588 of the 2,749 people who died at the World Trade Center, or 58%, were identified on the basis of recovered physical remains. The median age for these victims was 39 years (range: 2--85 years); the median age was 38 years for females (range: 2--81 years) and 39 years for males (range: 3--85 years). Three people were aged <5 years, and three were aged >80 years.

"CNN". Identification of 9/11 remains comes to an end. February 23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)

"USA Today". NYC's work to ID 9/11 victims ends - for now. February 23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)

Rebuilding

The World Trade Center is slated to be rebuilt as a new mixed-use complex of buildings called Memory Foundations, including the 1776 ft (541 m) Freedom Tower. The height of 1776 ft (541 m) was chosen as a reference to the year of American independence. The new 7 World Trade Center is now under construction, and has recently been "topped-off" (meaning the structural steel has reached the full height of the building).

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the agency tasked with coordinating the reconstruction of the WTC site sponsored an international design competition for the World Trade Center Memorial in spring 2003. The winning design, Michael Arad and Peter Walker's Reflecting Absence, was chosen in January 2004.

The Norwegian architecture company Snøhetta was chosen for design of the Freedom Cultural Center on the northwest corner of the site. The Cultural Center will contain the Freedom Center which will attempt to trace the history of freedom and the Drawing Center.

While the master plan has been named Memory Foundations, the future site will continue to use the name of the World Trade Center, as will the New York City Subway and PATH train stations that serve the complex. A temporary PATH station, largely following the layout of the original, is the first part of the complex to have re-opened.

On November 22, 2004, New York Republican Governor George Pataki named the living former presidents as honorary members of the board rebuilding the World Trade Center.

On May 18, 2005 Donald Trump, long-time opponent of the Freedom Tower design, held a press conference where he endorsed the alternative "Twin Towers II" proposal for rebuilding the Twin Towers with a design closely resembling the originals, but with various safety, structural, and technological improvements, and one story taller. (New York Times).

On June 29, 2005, a redesigned Freedom Tower was unveiled which more closely resembled the character of the fallen towers. The new design also boasted several safety improvements over previous proposals. However, as of September 11, 2005, no progress has been made in building a new tower, and disagreement still exists over such features as what should appear there, for e.g., how relevant the Freedom Center's depictions is to it.

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World Trade Center Memorial Lights, 9-11-05

Bayonne TV Tower

When the World Trade Center collapsed, many of New York's radio and television broadcasting facilities were destroyed. As a permanent replacement for them, a 609.6 meter high TV tower at Bayonne, New Jersey was considered. A transmission site away from the coast would have allowed a much larger reception zone than the original WTC facilities. In spite of this advantage, the plans seem to have been cancelled.

World Trade Center pregnancy studies

There is scientific speculation that exposure to various toxic products and the pollutant air surrounding the Towers after the WTC collapse may have negative effects on fetal development. Due to this potential harm, a notable children's environmental health center is currently analyzing the children whose mothers were pregnant during the WTC collapse, and were living or working near the World Trade Center towers. The staff of this study assess the children using psychological testing every year and interviews the mothers every six months. The purpose of the study is to determine whether there is significant difference in development and health progression of children whose mothers were exposed versus those who were not exposed after the WTC collapse.

World Trade Center buildings

Manhattan and the Tribute in Light as viewed from Jersey City on the 2004 anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

1 World Trade Center (North Tower)
2 World Trade Center (South Tower)
3 World Trade Center (Marriott WTC Hotel)
4 World Trade Center
5 World Trade Center
6 World Trade Center (US Customs House)
7 World Trade Center

Media

Movies

(See also: Skyscrapers in film)

The 1970 film Loving includes a walk through of the World Trade Center construction site.
The 1971 film The French Connection shows the still under construction WTC in the background during the unloading of the "drug car" in Brooklyn Heights.
The 1972 film The Hot Rock includes footage taken from a helicopter flying toward the World Trade Center, still under construction.
The 1975 film Three Days of the Condor has CIA offices based in the World Trade Center.
The 1976 remake of King Kong has the giant ape climbing the World Trade Center, as opposed to the Empire State Building. See: King Kong (1976)
The 1978 blockbuster "Superman: The Movie" shows Superman and Lois Lane flying around Metropolis (which was filmed in New York) and passing by the twin towers numerous times. The towers would be seen as well in all Superman movie sequels.
The 1979 film Meteor shows the twin towers hit by a meteor fragment.
In the 1981 film Escape from New York, the lead character lands a glider on the roof of the World Trade Center.
The 1983 film Trading Places includes an exteral shot of the towers (at the plaza level) where, presumably, the commodities trading floor featured in the climax of the film is located.
The 1989 film Ghostbusters 2 features many New York cityscapes in which the WTC can be seen, including two very prominent shots. In one scene Dan Aykroyd's character Ray Stantz accidentally causes a blackout and the lights in all of New York City, including the WTC go out. Another notable shot is when Peter MacNicol's character Janosz Poha takes on the form of an old woman ghost and flies through the New York City skyline to steal a child as part of the chief villain's grand plan.
The 1989 film Back to the Future II features a view across New York harbour of the WTC towers in 2015 on the cable tv station "The Scenery Channel".
Macaulay Culkin visits the outdoor observation deck of the WTC and snaps a photograph of the view during a montage in the 1992 film Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
In the 1993 movie Super Mario Bros., the Twin Towers become the "Koopa Towers" in the film's parallel dimension, which is a dinosaur-laden Manhattan run by antagonist King Koopa (Dennis Hopper). One of the towers features a sharpened top and both are adorned with Koopa's signature "K" symbol.
The 1996 documentary Triumph of the Nerds features two shots of the World Trade Centers: one from the East River and one from a rooftop in Upper Manhattan
The 1997 made-for-television film Path to Paradise: The Untold Story of the World Trade Center Bombing chronicled the events leading up to and shortly after the 1993 attack.
The 1998 film Armageddon shows a scene where the twin towers are being hit by meteor fragments.
The 1998 disaster film Deep Impact shows the massive tidal wave that destroys Manhattan pushing the towers up against each other.
The 2000 film Little Nicky's poster and VHS/DVD covers show the World Trade Center in the background of Adam Sandler and Mr. Beefy (an English bulldog) sitting on a bench in Central Park.
The release of the movie Spider-Man was delayed until 2002 following the events of 9/11, so that shots of Spider-Man spinning a web between the two towers could be removed using computer-generated imagery.
The 2001 film American Pie 2 features Shannon Elizabeth's character, Nadia, calling Jason Biggs' character, Jim, from a pay phone in New York City, with the towers in the background. In reality, the scene was shot in Los Angeles and the towers were digitally inserted in post-production. The film was released in August of 2001.
In the 2001 Steven Spielberg film Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), the WTC towers are shown standing 2,000 years into the future after humanity has ceased to exist. This is noted to have been the last major film in which the towers were portrayed prior to their destruction on September 11, 2001.
The finale of the 2002 film Men in Black II was set to take place atop one of the WTC buildings. Due to the tragic fate of the towers, it was modified prior to release.
The end segments of the movie Vanilla Sky feature the Twin Towers still standing in the panoramic city background.
Martin Scorsese 2002 film about life in New York's Five Points featured a ending sequence showing the skyline slowly progress to the modern look of today. The last shot featured a cgi world trade center restored to the skyline.
In 2002 the first 9/11 dramatization Stairwell: Trapped In The World Trade Center showed a number of different shots of the towers. The footage was shot in 1999 and was originally going to be used in a movie about about the 1993 bombing of the world trade center. The movie which was entitled Hellevator was shelved after 9/11.
Action star Jackie Chan was scheduled to film a movie that featured him as a window-washer who worked on The Twin Towers, but was forced to delay the start of the picture due to the filming of Rush Hour 2. Had Rush Hour 2 not been delayed, many believe Mr. Chan would have been filming the action/comedy, entitled Nosebleed, during the time of the attacks.

Television

The opening credits of the first three seasons of the HBO mob drama The Sopranos featured a shot of the World Trade Center as seen from the rear view mirror of Tony Soprano's SUV, as he enters the New Jersey Turnpike. In later seasons, after 9/11, the sequence was replaced with a new view of the Manhattan skyline in which the WTC is absent. Among the things Tony later discloses to his psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi as contributing to his depression is "this whole 9/11 thing".

Sex and the City, another HBO original series, also showed a quick shot of the World Trade Center in its opening credits (with the name of its lead actress, Sarah Jessica Parker). For seasons 5 and 6, shown after 9/11, the visual was changed to a stylized shot of the Empire State Building.

The pilot of the TV series The Lone Gunmen, first aired March 4, 2001, had the gunmen thwarting a plot to fly a jet into the World Trade Center. In the episode, a faction of the U.S. government is behind the plot; they hope to blame the attack on another country's dictator and use it as an excuse to start a war with him. Transcript of pilot episode

Cartoons

In the 1997 episode of The Simpsons (season 9) entitled The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson, Homer is forced to deal with a mountain of parking tickets issued while his car sat illegally for months in the plaza of the WTC. Particular comic relief is provided when Homer, desperately needing to use the restroom, pushes people out of his way to get a ticket to the elevator into the towers and after pushing other people out of the elevator line to get to the elevator to ride to top of the North Tower only to discover the only working bathroom is in the South Tower, which he took the elevator for. You can see this because when Homer is going up the towers you can clearly hear the elevator rising and dinging at the top of both towers. Also in the episode, two men in opposite towers begin arguing with each other, which was tipped off after one proclaimed, "Sorry, they put all the jerks in Tower One." A man apparently residing a few floors above the brawling men (as evidenced by a clothesline strung across the towers) finally yells at them to shut up.
In the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon the WTC often is seen. One of the most famous incidents in the series is the episode Enter: The Fly, which begins with the TMNT flying in their blimp over New York City, searching for Shredder. April O'Neil said that Shredder was seen on the roof on one of the two WTC buildings, and the TMNT find Shredder and Baxter Stockman there. However, Shredder and Baxter Stockman manage to escape.

Comic books

In the 1989 Damage Control, the twin towers were damaged when a giant robot fell on them. Damage Control, a construction company that specialized in repairing superhero-related damage, had the towers repaired (although visibly crooked) by the end of the issue.
The 2004 comic Ex Machina detailed the life of Mitchell Hundred, formerly the world's first and only superhero, who was elected mayor of New York City in the wake of his saving hundreds of lives during the collapse of the north tower, and in preventing the collapse of the south tower.

Computer and video games

The 1999 city building simulation game SimCity 3000 features the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center as free landmarks which could be built in a city. However, both towers are apparently portrayed as the South Tower: Each of the towers featured a rooftop observation deck, but lacked the massive antenna. As the 2003 sequel SimCity 4 no longer features the World Trade Center in the game, third party modders recreated the entire complex, including 3, 4, 5 and 6 WTC, for the game and released the lot to the public on 11 September, 2004 in Simtropolis, a SimCity 4 fan site.

The first map of the 2000 game Deus Ex, set in 2052, encompasses Liberty Island and a bombed Statue of Liberty. The section of the New York City skyline containing the Twin Towers is absent, to reduce memory requirements for the map. The reason that the developers gave, if anyone asked, was that they had been destroyed by terrorists. "We just said that the towers had been destroyed too. And this was way before 9-11. Years. That's kind of freaky."[2]

Shortly after the attacks, the now defunct Westwood Studios pulled all remaining copies of the 2000 real-time strategy game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, whose box contained artwork of New York City under attack by invading Soviet forces; notable buildings depicted under attack included the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty. The single player campaign of the game also contains a pair of missions in which the player was instructed to destroy The Pentagon and capture the World Trade Center. Westwood retooled the box art before re-releasing the game.

In response to the tragic events of September 11th, Microsoft announced that future versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator would not include the Twin Towers in the game's New York City skyline. A patch was also made available to remove the WTC buildings from the existing versions of the simulator. More disturbing however was the speculation that the flight simulator found by the FBI on the laptop of the would-be 20th hijacker was indeed Microsoft's offering.

External links

Other

Webcams

World Trade Center Site / Ground Zero Webcams