World Trade Center

This article treats only World Trade Center of New York. For the Attacks of September 11th, 2001 to consult the article in question. For the film adaptation, to see World Trade Center (film)

The World Trade Center was a complex of seven buildings of businesses located at Lower Manhattan, with New York, the the United States. It was conceived by the architect Minoru Yamasaki and was developed by the Port Authority off New York and New Jersey. Inaugurated the April 4th 1973, the complex was marked by a fire the February 13rd 1975 and an bomb attack the February 26th 1993. In spite of these two disasters, it was, through its two most famous buildings, the Twin Towers , a symbol of the American power to the eyes of the whole world and an icon of New York as well as the Empire State Building and that the Statue of freedom.

The complex was completely destroyed the September 11th 2001 by attack-suicides which caused: 2750 deaths. Called since Ground Zero , the site, currently in work, will accommodate soon a memorial and a new complex whose Freedom Tower will be the central tower.

History

After the Second world war the United States entered during one fast economic period of growth and of increase in the international business. At that time, CBD of Midtown Manhattan started to concentrate all the activities whereas Lower Manhattan decreased in importance. To help to stimulate the district David Rockefeller, with the support of his/her brother, the Governor of New York Nelson Rockefeller, proposed with the Port Authority to build a “world trade center there”. This idea was concretized by a law voted in 1946 by the Legislature of the New York.

Initial plans

In 1958 Rockefeller establishes Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association (DLMA) which entrusted to the cabinet of architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill the execution of plans having to revitalize Lower Manhattan. The initial plans were made public in 1960. They located the World Trade Center along the East River. They envisaged a hall of 275 meters length exposure and a skyscraper from 50 to 70 floors, of which the upper part would have been a hotel. The other buildings included a theater, stores and restaurants, as well as a new center of exchange of Transferable security, where Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association wished to place the New York Stock Exchange. One year later, the March 11th 1961, the Authority Port accepted the project suggested.

Controversies and agreements

However the project was to obtain the support of the States of New York and the New Jersey to be officially launched, being given their role in the Authority Port. The Governor of the New Jersey Robert B. Meyner criticized this project of 335 million dollar S insofar as it should increase the power of New York to the detriment of the New Jersey. By acquiring Hudson & Manhattan Railroad, the Authority Port would also obtain the Terminal and the obsolete buildings located around. The January 22nd 1962 the two States concluded an agreement: they authorized the Authority Port to manage the railway line and to build the World Trade Center with the site of Hudson Terminal, site more favorable for the New Jersey.

However this site was occupied by Radio Row , a district including/understanding of many trade and roughly 100 inhabitants. The November 20th 1963 the Supreme court of the United States refused to accept the lawsuit. The Authority Port was obliged by the law of the State to assist the owners to find new buildings, but the latter considered for the majority that the places suggested by the Authority Port were inadequate.

Other voices rose to criticize the project, in particular in the sector of the real estate; of which that of Lawrence A. Wien, the owner of the Empire State Building, building which would once lose its title of higher skyscraper of the world the completed WTC. It organized a group named “Committee for has Reasonable World Trade Center” whose principal request, consisting in decreasing the size of the project, was without continuation. In January 1964 the State of New York signed an agreement and reserved a space for administrative offices in the World Trade Center. It was followed by several banks and companies during the spring and the autumn of this same year, then by the United States Customs Service in 1965.

The last support to be obtained was that of the Maire of New York, John Lindsay, and of the New York City Council. They criticized the fact that the City had been heard little during the negotiations and of the deliberations. The negotiations between the Port Authority and New York were centered on the question of the taxes, then a final agreement took place the August 3rd 1966.

Final plans

The September 20th 1962 the Authority Port announced the selection of Minoru Yamasaki as principal architect and with Antonio Brittiochi and Emery Roth & Sons as associated architects. Yamasaki proposed as of the beginning the concept of twin towers, nevertheless it considered two buildings first of all including/understanding only 80 stages. He noticed that “the obvious alternative, a group of several large buildings, would have resembled a real estate project”. Yamasaki had to change the number of stages to grant the project at the request of the Authority Port. Since she wished: 930000 m ² of space of offices, it were necessary that each turn includes/understands 110 stages.

However the major factor limiting size of a skyscraper was the problem of the ascenceurs. Indeed more one building is high, more it needs elevators, and more it loses of space because of the latter. Yamasaki and its team of engineers decided to use a new system, that of the sky lobbies . They are stages where people can pass from an elevator express train to great capacity, which serves only the sky lobbies , to a local elevator which serves each stage of a section. The local elevators used all the same lift shaft, which made it possible to increase the rate of space usable on each floor from 62 to 75%, because of the least number of lift shafts. The sky lobbies , which were located at the 44e and 78e stages of each turn, made the management of the elevators more effective. The twin towers were the second skyscrapers to use this system, after the John Hancock Center of Chicago. The system was inspired by the network of the Métro of New York, whose lines include local stations where stop the local oars, and of the stations express train where all the trains stop.

The final plans of Yamasaki were revealed with the public the January 18th 1964 in the shape of a model of approximately 2,5 meters in height. The turns were squares of roughly 63 meters on side. The buildings were designed with narrow, broad windows of only 45 centimetres, which reflected the Acrophobie of the architect and his desire to make so that the occupants of the turns feel safe. The plans gave for material to the frontages of the buildings an alloy of Aluminum.

The plans off accepted several critics on the level of the esthetics on behalf of the American Institute Architects and other groups. The broadcasters and the television channels worried about a possible interference in the reception of television in New York which would be caused by the new complex. In answer, the Authority Port promised to provide new equipment of transmission in the WTC. The Company linnéenne of the American Museum off Natural History also opposed the project, noting that the buildings could appear dangerous for the migratory birds.

Construction

The work of demolition started the March 21st 1966 and was ensured by the Ajax Wrecking and Lumber Corporation .

The first stone was posed on August 5th, 1966. Thirteen blocks of Radio operator Row, of which some went back to before the American Civil War, were shaven to allow construction. The excavation of the foundations of the complex, called The Bathtub , was made particularly difficult by the presence of two ways of the subway of New York in the vicinity, which were to be protected and not to undergo an interruption of service. A basement of six levels was built. The excavation of: 760000 m of ground and rock allowed the construction of Battery Park City, an extension of Manhattan on Hudson of: 93000 m ² located close to the WTC. Otis Elevator Company was the company which installed the elevators. Construction was completed in 1970 for the One World Trade Center which accommodated its first occupants in December 1970. Two World Trade Center was open in January 1972. When the two turns were completed, the total costs of construction had reached 900 million dollars for the Authority Port. The inaugural ceremony took place the April 4th 1973.

From 1970 to September 11th, 2001

The two turns did not succeed in attracting the awaited customers. They were occupied during their first years by varied governmental organizations, of which the State of New York. This situation was due to the financial crisis which shook New York in the years 1970. It was only in years 1980 that privately held companies settled in the complex, of which many financial firms related to Wall Street.

In parallel, the turns reached quickly the statute of symbols of New York. August 7th, 1974 the funambulist Philippe Petit used a wire tended to cross the vacuum located between the two tops of the two turns. George Willig, a mountaineer of the Queens, climbed in three hours and half the Southern tower on May 26th, 1977. These events, which accepted an important press coverage, contributed to the international repute of the World Trade Center.

The February 13rd 1975, a Incendie started on the eleventh floor of the Northern tower. It was spread in half of this stage, then reached other levels while passing by the openings of the floor used by the telephone cables. Fire was extinct almost immediately for these stages, but it took several hours to come to end from principal fire. The structure of the tower was not touched and the damage was relatively limited. Water used to stop the fire damaged nevertheless several stages. This event led to the installation of a system of extinguishers in the two turns.

The February 26th 1993 a truck in charge of 680 kg of explosives exploded in an underground car park of the Northern tower, making 6 died and 1 042 wounded. The extension of the damage, a crater of 30 meters through 4 levels of basement, and uncertainties as for the damage undergone by the central carrying columns (but only one was slightly affected) made that the two turns remained closed during several months. According to the architect of the World Trade Center, the tower would have crumbled if the truck had been placed more close to the foundations. Six islamist extremists , whose Ramzi Yousef, was condemned to perpetuity for their role in the attack. A memorial with the victims was installed, it nevertheless was destroyed at the time of on September 11th, 2001.

In 1998 the Authority Port approved a project aiming at privatiser the complex. At the end of July 2001, the lease of the World Trade Center was bought for 99 years by Larry Silverstein, already owner of the building of 47 floors located just at the north of the complex, named by extension WTC7. The new owner ensured immediately the aforementioned buildings for several billion dollars. The fact that the conditions of the contract were not finalized yet at the time of the attacks from September led to rough negotiations with the insurers and to legal actions until 2007.

The September 11th 2001, to 8:46, the Vol 11 American Airlines entered in collision with the northern frontage of the Northern tower. Seventeen minutes later, with 9:03, the Vol 175 United Airlines was crushed in the Southern tower, which crumbled with 9:59. These two planes had passed under the control of hijackers of Al-Qaida. The Northern tower crumbled with 10:28, and was followed at 17:20 by the 7 World Trade Center. The four remaining buildings suffered important damage and were demolished thereafter. The attacks of the September 11th, 2001 caused: 2750 victims. The 1,8 million tons of remains of the World Trade Center smoked during 99 days, and more than 8 months were necessary to ensure the cleaning of the site, operation which was carried out by thousands of people.

The firm responsible for the safety of the World Trade Center, including turns 1,2 and 7, just as the Dulles airport of Washington was Stratesec (renamed Securacom), directed indirectly by Marvin Bush (shareholder and administrator, brother of George W.) and directly by their cousin E. Walker III (chairman and managing director), of 1993 to 2002.

After the attacks

The Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani and President George W. Bush decide quickly in favor of a rebuilding of the site. The very same day Giuliani attacks declares: “We will rebuild: we will leave ourselves there stronger than before, more forts at the political level, more forts at the economic level. The skyline will be complete again”. Bush declares during a meeting of the Congress that its administration will work in.liaison.with the Congress “to show in the world that New York will be rebuilt”. Larry Silverstein the holder of the rights to build site, answers immediately that “it would be the tragedy of the tragedies not to rebuild this part of New York. It would be to give to the terrorists the victory that they seek. ”

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation ( LMDC ) is established in November 2001 by the Gouverneur of New York George E. Pataki. The role of this official commission is to supervise the process of rebuilding by managing the federal assistance rising to 10 billion dollars and while working with the Port Authority, Larry Silverstein, the local community and the companies. During the months following the attacks of the architects and the town planners several meetings and forums about the rebuilding of the site hold. They lead to the publication of a report/ratio, New York, New Visions , result of the collaboration of many organizations. Another initiative is that of max Protetch which exposes 50 concepts and returned projects in its art gallery of Chelsea.

In July 2003, Fumihiko Maki, associated with Jean Nouvel, and Norman Foster is chosen by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to build three of the five turns reconstruction project of the site Ground Zero of the World Trade Center, with New York. The project was entrusted for its unit, as well as the highest tower, the Freedom Tower , with American Daniel Libeskind. Its project wants at the same time to point out the tragedy of September 11th but to also give hope. The memory and the duty to remember will be symbolized by the safeguarding of Ground Zero in basement (the Memory Foundations ) while the hope in the future will be represented by a tower out of arrow ( Freedom Tower ) which should reach more than 541 meters height (it would be then the highest tower inhabited in the world).

Another remarkable point and highly symbolic system of the project: every year, on September 11th, the site will be lit by the Sun without any shade of 8:46 (first crash landing) to 10:28 (collapse of the second round). Another project was born one year ago already. Donald Trump had proposed World Trade Center 2: these turns would be built in the place of Freedom Tower. There would be two circles surrounded by all the flags of the world, the frontage of tower 1 then collapsed would be rebuilt to recall that the two turns already existed, a staircase will bring to the basement where the memorial will be found. The news towers will be accompanied by three other buildings much smaller. The news tower 1 will make 449 meters (566 with the antenna) and tower 2 will make 449 meters too.

The 7 World Trade Center was the first building with being rebuilt near the site: work began in 2002 and was completed in 2006. Critics were formulated concerning the duration of the work, in particular in the media, for example by the journalists Keith Olbermann and Rush Limbaugh. An episode of the series of Showtime PEN & Teller: Bullshit! diffused on May 1st 2006 was centered on the controversity surrounding the deadlines of rebuilding of Ground Zero. The August 25th 2006 the mayor of the Orleans News, Ray Nagin, also criticized the times during the emission 60 minutes.

The complex and its design

WTC1 and WTC2

The two emblematic towers of World Trade Center (WTC1 and WTC2 called also Twin Towers ) had both 110 stages. 1 WTC, the Northern tower, rose with 417 meters and had an aerial of approximately 110 meters in height which was added in 1978. 2 WTC, the Southern tower, rose with 415 meters. The turns 63,4 meters were long and broad. Although only tower 1 had an antenna, the structure of tower 2 also made it possible to carry one of them. The antennas of the Northern tower were used by almost the whole of the television channels based downtown: WCBS-TV 2, WNBC-TV 4, WNYW 5, WABC-TV 7, WWOR-TV 9 Secaucus, WPIX 11, WNET 13 Newark, WPXN-TV 31 and WNJU 47. They were also used to transmit the waves of the radios FM WPAT - FM 93.1, WNYC 93.9, WKCR 89.9, and WKTU 103.5. The principal antenna was improved in 1999 by Dielectric Inc to allow the Digital terrestrial television. The access to the roof was controlled by WTC Operations Control Center (OCC) located at the B1 level of the Southern Tower. The basement of the unit was occupied by a Shopping mall, The Mall at the World Trade Center , largest of Manhattan until September 11th, 2001.

The livable space of the turns was of 800 000 m ², while their respective weight reached approximately 4.5 million tons. On the 110 stages, 8 were reserved for the technical premises (levels B6/B5, stages 7/8, 41/42, 75/76 and 108/109), the others were used in majority by offices. The Southern Tower also included/understood an observatory open to the public called Top Off The World , which offered a sight to 360 degrees on New York since the 107e stage, with 420 meters in height. Per good weather, it was possible to observe with 72 kilometers with the round. The Northern tower had a restaurant, Windows one the World , which was located at the 107e stage.

1 WTC became in 1972 the most skyscraper in the world, exceeding the Empire State Building which had held this title for 40 years. 2 WTC became the second higher skyscraper in 1973. However the two turns preserved this statute only one short moment, since the Sears Tower of Chicago, completed in 1974, culminated with 442 meters. Following 11-September, the Empire State Building took again its place of larger skyscraper of New York.

The structure of the turns

The carrying Structure was divided between a central beam of 47 posts in Acier, profiled rectangular section with thickness according to the height in the building, connected the ones to the others by sections of cross-piece, and a “tube” made up of 240 posts of steel, profiled with square section solidarized by bolted plates. The central structure took some 60 % of the static head, the “tube” supporting the 40 % remaining. Each central section was to thus carry on average 7,5 times the load of an external post. Taken on the same level, it was 7,5 times more resistant on average because the central carrying elements were presented under two dimensions, 16 of them, forming the external rows, being with can close to the double of the others. The specific function of the “tube” was to offer an excellent wind resistance and to the possible earth tremors. These two units were rigidified by a summit structure, a kind of hat makes metal beams, whose role was to limit the deformation of the tube when this one was subjected to lateral confining pressures, reducing thus at least the constraints undergone by the floors. Those, very light (50 kg/m ²), were consisted a lic lattice of Poutre S Métal fixed at the carrying structures. They were able to support ten times their clean poids.
The central core enclosed by the 47 carrying posts sheltered the elevators and staircases. It occupied approximately 1 200 m ².

This design, which dates from the Années 1960, was well adapted for turns very high. The twin towers had also been carried out with safety coefficients such as they made it possible, according to the originators, to resist the impact of a Boeing 707 or C8 in full load, launched to 950 km/h: “… such a collision would result only in local damage not being able to cause collapse or of the consequent damage at the building and neither the life nor the safety of the occupants out of the immediate proximity of the impact would endanger”. Frank Demartini, which directed the building site of the WTC had added that: “… the building could probably support multiple impacts of planes ” although experts^{too vague} at the time of the lawsuit of the attack of February 26th, 1993 declared that against of Boeing 767 that would be inefficace^{to clarify}.

In July 1971, the American company of the Civil engineers (ASCE) had allotted his national price to the originators of the turns, there grateful " the project of engineering showing know-how more completed and representing the greatest contribution to progress of engineering and humanity ". The technical publications also greeted the quality of the project in its capacity to resist unforeseen events " coming from the use of high-strength special steels; in particular, external columns designed with an enormous margin allowing to multiply by 20 the payload without putting in danger construction ".

Other buildings

Five smaller buildings composed the remainder of the complex. 3 WTC were a Vista Hotel (then a hotel Marriott International) of 22 stages, located at the south-western corner of the site. Three buildings (4 WTC, 5 WTC and 6 WTC) also rose around the place. 6 WTC, with the north-western corner, accommodated the buildings of the federal agencies U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Commodities Exchange . 5 WTC, with the north-eastern corner, the station of PATH and 4 WTC with the south-eastern corner supplemented the site, for which it is necessary to add skyscraper WTC7. High of 173,7 meters and including/understanding 47 stages, it was conceived by Emery Roth & Sons and was built between 1984 and March 1987. Of trapezoidal form, its carrying structure interns made up of 24 enormous columns of steel, laid out in rectangle in dissymmetry in the trapezoid. The periphery consisted of 57 columns brought closer as regards on the sides the trapezoid and more distant from/to each other for the two others faces (parallel).

Building WTC7 had several fuel tanks:

5 Generating S of help, including one reserved with the Secret Service, on the 9th floor. Not other installations with the top of this level;
several tanks of 1 041 liters (275 gallons) d´ gasoline on levels 5,7 and 8, near the generators;
a tank d´essence of more than 200 liters to the 9° stage, near the generators;
a tank of 22 700 liters d´essence on levels 2 and 3 near the bank of elevators;
at the ground floor, of storage and the d alimentation tanks of the secondary tanks in stage: one of 22 700 liters and two others of 45 425 liters d´essence.

The principal occupant was the company Solomon Smith Barney, subsidiary of the Citigroup, with 64 % of the surface of the offices. Other companies like American Express, Standard Chartered occupied of the buildings. It sheltered also official services with an office of the CIA, Department off Defense and the Internal Revenue Service which occupied all the 25e stage, an office of the US, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where were the files of financial businesses such as the files concerning the frauds of Enron and WorldCom, as well as the headquarters of the emergencies of the town hall of New York (a whole stage reinforced against the terrorist attacks).

Some figures

The building work begins on August 5th, 1966 and is officially completed six years, seven months and thirty days later, on April 4th, 1973.

to allow their construction, 164 buildings (16 blocks of the city) were shaven.
1.200.000 m ³ of ground were extracted from the ground.
200.000 tons of steel and 425.000 m ³ of concrete were used.
10.000 people worked on the building site, 60 found death there.
Each turn included/understood 110 stages of 3.600 m ².
: 50000 people worked in the turns and: 200000 visitors passed there.
the complex was so large that it had its clean Code ZIP (zip code); 10048.

The complex in the popular culture

The World Trade Center appears in many films, television programs, cartoons and plays video. It was the framework of the turning and the action of several films of the Années 1970. In Godspell (1973), a final scene shows the actors of this musical comedy dancing on the roof of the Northern tower the song All For the Best . In the Three Days of the condor , the buildings of the CIA are based in the WTC. In the remake of King Kong going back to 1976, the large monkey climbs not the Empire State Building but one of the two turns of the World Trade Center, change justified by the fact that they were now the highest skyscrapers of the world. The complex also appears in Working Girl . American Pie 2 was the last great production showing the two turns, although they were added numerically to a turned scene with Los Angeles. In several films having been turned before the attacks and being in post-production after September 11th, 2001, the two turns were removed numerically. The Trailer of Spider-Man included a scene in which the superman drew up a large fabric between the two turns. The scene was removed after the attacks but the turns appear furtively at some places of film.

The collective project 11 ' 09" 01 presents events related to the attacks against the turns. The film World Trade Center of Oliver Stone tells the history of John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno, two police officers of the Port Authority Police Department who were blocked under the debris of the turns during the evacuation, then saved, just as eighteen other people.

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