World Trade Center
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For other World Trade Centers, see List of World Trade Centers. For other uses, see World Trade Center (disambiguation) and WTC.
 | It has been suggested that this article be split into articles titled World Trade Center (1973–2001) and World Trade Center (2001–present), accessible from a disambiguation page. Please discuss this on the article's talk page. (March 2015) |
| World Trade Center | |||
|---|---|---|---|
.jpg)
The original World Trade Center in March 2001. The North Tower (left), with antenna spire, is 1 WTC. The South Tower (right) is 2 WTC. All seven buildings of the WTC complex are partially visible; refer to map below. The red granite-clad building left of the Twin Towers is the original 7 World Trade Center. In the background is the East River.
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| Record height | |||
| Tallest in the world from 1971 to 1973[I] | |||
| Preceded by | Empire State Building | ||
| Surpassed by | Willis Tower | ||
| General information | |||
| Status | First WTC: Destroyed Second WTC: Partially complete; under construction[note 1] | ||
| Location | New York City | ||
| Coordinates | 40°42′42″N 74°00′45″WCoordinates: 40°42′42″N 74°00′45″W | ||
| Groundbreaking | First WTC: August 25, 1966 Second WTC: 2002 | ||
| Construction started | First WTC:
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| Completed | First WTC:
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| Opening | First WTC: April 4, 1973 Second WTC: 1 WTC: November 3, 2014 | ||
| Destroyed |
First WTC: September 11, 2001
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The World Trade Center is a partially completed complex of buildings, under construction, in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States, replacing an earlier complex of seven buildings with the same name on the same site. The original World Trade Center featured landmark twin towers, which opened on April 4, 1973, and were destroyed in the September 11 attacks of 2001, along with 7 World Trade Center. The other buildings in the complex were severely damaged by the collapse of the twin towers, and their ruins were eventually demolished. The site is being rebuilt with six new skyscrapers, a memorial to those killed in the attacks, and a transportation hub. One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the United States, is the lead building for the new complex, reaching more than 100 stories[16] upon its completion in November 2014.[17]
At the time of their completion, the "Twin Towers" — the original 1 World Trade Center, at 1,368 feet (417 m); and 2 World Trade Center — were the tallest buildings in the world. The other buildings in the complex included the Marriott World Trade Center (3 WTC), 4 WTC, 5 WTC, 6 WTC, and 7 WTC. All these buildings were built between 1975 and 1985, with a construction cost of $400 million ($2,300,000,000 in 2014 dollars).[18] The complex was located in New York City's Financial Districtand contained 13,400,000 square feet (1,240,000 m2) of office space.[19][20]
The World Trade Center experienced a fire on February 13, 1975,[21] a bombing on February 26, 1993,[22] and a robbery on January 14, 1998.[23] In 1998, the Port Authority decided to privatize the World Trade Center, leasing the buildings to a private company to manage, and awarded the lease to Silverstein Properties in July 2001.[24]
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda-affiliated hijackers flew two Boeing 767 jets into the complex, beginning with the North Tower at 8:46 AM then the South Tower at 9:03 AM, in a coordinated act of terrorism. After burning for 56 minutes, the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 AM. 29 minutes later, the North Tower collapsed. The attacks on the World Trade Center killed 2,753 people.[25] Falling debris from the towers, combined with fires that the debris initiated in several surrounding buildings, led to the partial or complete collapse of all the other buildings in the complex and caused catastrophic damage to ten other large structures in the surrounding area (including the World Financial Center); three buildings in the World Trade Center complex collapsed due to fire-induced structural failure,[26] and when the North Tower collapsed, debris fell on the nearby 7 WTC, damaging it and starting fires so that it eventually collapsed.[27][28] The process of cleaning up and recovery at the World Trade Center site took eight months.[29][30]
Over the following years, plans were created for the reconstruction of the World Trade Center. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), established in November 2001 to oversee the rebuilding process,[31] organized competitions to select a site plan and memorial design.[32] Memory Foundations, designed by Daniel Libeskind, was selected as the master plan;[33] however, substantial changes were made to the design.[34]
The first new building at the site was 7 WTC, which opened in May 2006.[5] The memorial section of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum opened on September 11, 2011[35] and the museum opened in May 2014.[36] 1 WTC opened on November 3, 2014;[17] 4 WTC opened on November 13, 2013;[4] and 3 WTC is under construction and expected to open in 2017.[37][38] As of November 2013, according to an agreement made with Silverstein Properties Inc., the new 2 WTC will not be built to its full height until sufficient leasing is established to make the building financially viable;[39] and 5 WTC will be developed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, but, as of February 2014, a schedule was not confirmed.[40]
Contents
[hide]Original buildings
Before the World Trade Center
The western portion of the World Trade Center site was originally under the Hudson River, with the shoreline in the vicinity of Greenwich Street. It was on this shoreline close to the intersection of Greenwich and the former Dey Street that Dutch explorer Adriaen Block's ship, the Tyger, burned to the waterline in November 1613, stranding Block and his crew and forcing them to overwinter on the island. They built the first European settlement in Manhattan. The remains of the ship were buried under landfill when the shoreline was extended starting in 1797, and were discovered during excavation work in 1916. The remains of a second ship from the eighteenth century were discovered in 2010 during excavation work at the site. The ship, believed to be a Hudson River sloop, was found just south of where the Twin Towers used to stand, about 20 feet below the surface.[41]
Later, the area became Radio Row. New York City's Radio Row, which existed from 1921 to 1966, was a warehouse district on the Lower West Side in the Financial District. Harry Schneck opened City Radio on Cortlandt Street in 1921, and eventually the area held several blocks of electronics stores, with Cortlandt Street as its central axis. The used radios, war surplus electronics (e.g., ARC-5 radios), junk, and parts often piled so high they would spill out onto the street, attracting collectors and scroungers. According to a business writer, it also was the origin of the electronic component distribution business.[42]
The idea of establishing a World Trade Center in New York City was first proposed in 1943. The New York State Legislature passed a bill authorizing New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey to begin developing plans for the project[43] but the plans were put on hold in 1949.[44] During the late 1940s and 1950s, economic growth in New York City was concentrated in Midtown Manhattan. To help stimulate urban renewal in Lower Manhattan, David Rockefeller suggested that the Port Authority build a World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.[45]
Plans for the use of eminent domain to remove the shops in Radio Row bounded by Vesey, Church, Liberty, and West Streets began in 1961 when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was deciding to build the world's first world trade center. They had two choices: the east side of Lower Manhattan, near the South Street Seaport; and the west side, near the H&M station, Hudson Terminal.[46](p56) Initial plans, made public in 1961, identified a site along the East River for the World Trade Center.[47] As a bi-state agency, the Port Authority required approval for new projects from the governors of both New York and New Jersey. New Jersey Governor Robert B. Meyner objected to New York getting a $335 million project.[48] Toward the end of 1961, negotiations with outgoing New Jersey Governor Meyner reached a stalemate.[49]
At the time, ridership on New Jersey's Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (H&M) had declined substantially from a high of 113 million riders in 1927 to 26 million in 1958 after new automobile tunnels and bridges had opened across the Hudson River.[50] In a December 1961 meeting between Port Authority director Austin J. Tobin and newly elected New Jersey Governor Richard J. Hughes, the Port Authority offered to take over the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad to have it become the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH). The Port Authority also decided to move the World Trade Center project to the Hudson Terminal building site on the west side of Lower Manhattan, a more convenient location for New Jersey commuters arriving via PATH.[49] With the new location and Port Authority acquisition of the H&M Railroad, New Jersey agreed to support the World Trade Center project.[51] In compensation for Radio Row business owners' displacement, the PANYNJ gave each business $3,000 each, without regard to how long the business had been there or how prosperous the business was.[46](p68) After the area had been purchased for the World Trade Center in March 1964,[52] Radio Row was demolished starting in March 1965.[53] It was completely demolished by 1966.[54]
Approval was also needed from New York City Mayor John Lindsay and the New York City Council. Disagreements with the city centered on tax issues. On August 3, 1966, an agreement was reached that the Port Authority would make annual payments to the City in lieu of taxes for the portion of the World Trade Center leased to private tenants.[55] In subsequent years, the payments would rise as the real estate tax rate increased.[56]
Design and construction
Main article: Construction of the World Trade Center
Architectural design
On September 20, 1962, the Port Authority announced the selection of Minoru Yamasaki as lead architect and Emery Roth & Sons as associate architects.[57] Yamasaki devised the plan to incorporate twin towers; Yamasaki's original plan called for the towers to be 80 stories tall,[58] but to meet the Port Authority's requirement for 10,000,000 square feet (930,000 m2) of office space, the buildings would each have to be 110 stories tall.[59]
A major limiting factor in building height is the issue of elevators; the taller the building, the more elevators are needed to service the building, requiring more space-consuming elevator banks.[59] Yamasaki and the engineers decided to use a new system with two "sky lobbies"—floors where people could switch from a large-capacity express elevator to a local elevator that goes to each floor in a section. This system, inspired by the local-express train operation that the New York City Subway system used,[60] allowed the design to stack local elevators within the same elevator shaft. Located on the 44th and 78th floors of each tower, the sky lobbies enabled the elevators to be used efficiently, increasing the amount of usable space on each floor from 62 to 75 percent by reducing the number of elevator shafts.[61][62] Altogether, the World Trade Center had 95 express and local elevators.[63]
Yamasaki's design for the World Trade Center, unveiled to the public on January 18, 1964, called for a square plan approximately 208 feet (63 m) in dimension on each side.[58][64]The buildings were designed with narrow office windows 18 inches (46 cm) wide, which reflected Yamasaki's fear of heights as well as his desire to make building occupants feel secure.[65] Yamasaki's design included building facades sheathed in aluminum-alloy.[66] The World Trade Center was one of the most-striking American implementations of the architectural ethic of Le Corbusier, and it was the seminal expression of Yamasaki's gothic modernist tendencies.[67]
In addition to the twin towers, the plan for the World Trade Center complex included four other low-rise buildings, which were built in the early 1970s. The 47-story 7 World Trade Center building was added in the 1980s, to the north of the main complex. Altogether, the main World Trade Center complex occupied a 16-acre (65,000 m2) superblock.[68]
Structural design
The structural engineering firm Worthington, Skilling, Helle & Jackson worked to implement Yamasaki's design, developing the tube-frame structural system used in the twin towers. The Port Authority's Engineering Department served as foundation engineers, Joseph R. Loring & Associates as electrical engineers, and Jaros, Baum & Bolles as mechanical engineers. Tishman Realty & Construction Company was the general contractor on the World Trade Center project. Guy F. Tozzoli, director of the World Trade Department at the Port Authority, and Rino M. Monti, the Port Authority's Chief Engineer, oversaw the project.[69] As an interstate agency, the Port Authority was not subject to local laws and regulations of the City of New York, including building codes. Nonetheless, the structural engineers of the World Trade Center ended up following draft versions of the new 1968 building codes.[70]
The tube-frame design, earlier introduced by Fazlur Khan, was a new approach that allowed more open floor plans than the traditional design that distributed columns throughout the interior to support building loads. The World Trade Center towers used high-strength, load-bearing perimeter steel columns called Vierendeel trusses that were spaced closely together to form a strong, rigid wall structure, supporting virtually all lateral loads such as wind loads, and sharing the gravity load with the core columns. The perimeter structure containing 59 columns per side was constructed with extensive use of prefabricated modular pieces, each consisting of three columns, three stories tall, connected by spandrelplates.[70] The spandrel plates were welded to the columns to create the modular pieces off-site at the fabrication shop.[71] Adjacent modules were bolted together with the splices occurring at mid-span of the columns and spandrels. The spandrel plates were located at each floor, transmitting shear stress between columns, allowing them to work together in resisting lateral loads. The joints between modules were staggered vertically, so that the column splices between adjacent modules were not at the same floor.[70]
The core of the towers housed the elevator and utility shafts, restrooms, three stairwells, and other support spaces. The core of each tower was a rectangular area 87 by 135 feet (27 by 41 m) and contained 47 steel columns running from the bedrock to the top of the tower. The large, column-free space between the perimeter and core was bridged by prefabricated floor trusses. The floors supported their own weight as well as live loads, providing lateral stability to the exterior walls and distributing wind loads among the exterior walls.[72] The floors consisted of 4 inches (10 cm) thick lightweight concrete slabs laid on a fluted steel deck. A grid of lightweight bridging trusses and main trusses supported the floors.[73] The trusses connected to the perimeter at alternate columns and were on 6 foot 8 inch (2.03 m) centers. The top chords of the trusses were bolted to seats welded to the spandrels on the exterior side and a channel welded to the core columns on the interior side. The floors were connected to the perimeter spandrel plates with viscoelasticdampers that helped reduce the amount of sway felt by building occupants.
Hat trusses (or "outrigger truss") located from the 107th floor to the top of the buildings were designed to support a tall communication antenna on top of each building.[73] Only 1 WTC (north tower) actually had an antenna fitted; it was added in 1978.[74] The truss system consisted of six trusses along the long axis of the core and four along the short axis. This truss system allowed some load redistribution between the perimeter and core columns and supported the transmission tower.[73]
The tube frame design, using steel core and perimeter columns protected with sprayed-on fire resistant material, created a relatively lightweight structure that would sway more in response to the wind compared to traditional structures, such as the Empire State Building that have thick, heavy masonry for fireproofing of steel structural elements.[46](p138)During the design process, wind tunnel tests were done to establish design wind pressures that the World Trade Center towers could be subjected to and structural response to those forces.[75] Experiments also were done to evaluate how much sway occupants could comfortably tolerate; however, many subjects experienced dizziness and other ill effects.[46](p139–144) One of the chief engineers Leslie Robertson worked with Canadian engineer Alan G. Davenport to develop viscoelastic dampers to absorb some of the sway. These viscoelastic dampers, used throughout the structures at the joints between floor trusses and perimeter columns along with some other structural modifications, reduced the building sway to an acceptable level.[46](p160–167)
Construction
In March 1965, the Port Authority began acquiring property at the World Trade Center site.[52] Demolition work began on March 21, 1966, to clear thirteen square blocks of low rise buildings in Radio Row for construction of the World Trade Center.[53] Groundbreaking for the construction of the World Trade Center took place on August 5, 1966.[76]
The site of the World Trade Center was located on landfill with the bedrock located 65 feet (20 m) below.[77] To construct the World Trade Center, it was necessary to build a "bathtub" with a slurry wall around the West Street side of the site, to keep water from the Hudson River out.[78] The slurry method selected by Port Authority's chief engineer, John M. Kyle, Jr., involved digging a trench, and as excavation proceeded, filling the space with a "slurry" mixture composed of bentonite and water, which plugged holes and kept groundwater out. When the trench was dug out, a steel cage was inserted and concrete was poured in, forcing the "slurry" out. It took fourteen months for the slurry wall to be completed. It was necessary before excavation of material from the interior of the site could begin.[79] The 1,200,000 cubic yards (920,000 m3) of material excavated were used (along with other fill and dredge material) to expand the Manhattan shoreline across West Street to form Battery Park City.[80][81]
In January 1967, the Port Authority awarded $74 million in contracts to various steel suppliers, and Karl Koch was hired to erect the steel.[82] Tishman Realty & Construction was hired in February 1967 to oversee construction of the project.[83] Construction work began on the North Tower in August 1968; construction on the South Tower was underway by January 1969.[84] The original Hudson Tubes, carrying PATH trains into Hudson Terminal, remained in service as elevated tunnels during the construction process until 1971 when a new PATH station opened.[85]
The topping out ceremony of 1 WTC (North Tower) took place on December 23, 1970, while 2 WTC's ceremony (South Tower) occurred later on July 19, 1971.[84] The first tenants moved into the North Tower in December 1970; the South Tower accepted tenants in January 1972.[86] When the World Trade Center twin towers were completed, the total costs to the Port Authority had reached $900 million.[87] The ribbon cutting ceremony was on April 4, 1973.[88]
Criticism
Plans to build the World Trade Center were controversial. The site for the World Trade Center was the location of Radio Row, home to hundreds of commercial and industrial tenants, property owners, small businesses, and approximately 100 residents, many of whom fiercely resisted forced relocation.[89] A group of small businesses affected filed an injunction challenging the Port Authority's power of eminent domain.[90] The case made its way through the court system to the United States Supreme Court; the Court refused to accept the case.[91]
Private real estate developers and members of the Real Estate Board of New York, led by Empire State Building owner Lawrence A. Wien, expressed concerns about this much "subsidized" office space going on the open market, competing with the private sector when there was already a glut of vacancies.[92][93] The World Trade Center itself was not rented out completely until after 1979 and then only due to the fact that the complex's subsidy by the Port Authority made rents charged for its office space relatively cheaper than that of comparable office space in other buildings.[94] Others questioned whether the Port Authority should have taken on a project described by some as a "mistaken social priority".[95]
The World Trade Center design brought criticism of its aesthetics from the American Institute of Architects and other groups.[66][96] Lewis Mumford, author of The City in Historyand other works on urban planning, criticized the project and described it and other new skyscrapers as "just glass-and-metal filing cabinets".[97] The Twin Towers were described as looking similar to "the boxes that the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building came in".[98] The twin towers' narrow office windows, only 18 inches (46 cm) wide and framed by pillars that restricted views on each side to narrow slots, were disliked by many.[65] Activist and sociologist Jane Jacobs also criticized plans for the WTC's construction, arguing that the waterfront should be kept open for New Yorkers to enjoy.[99]
The trade center's "superblock", replacing a more traditional, dense neighborhood, was regarded by some critics as an inhospitable environment that disrupted the complicated traffic network typical of Manhattan. For example, in his book The Pentagon of Power, 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".[100]
For many years, the immense Austin J. Tobin Plaza was often beset by brisk winds at ground level owing to the venturi effect between the two towers.[101] In fact, some gusts were so high that pedestrian travel had to be aided by ropes.[102] In 1999, the outdoor plaza reopened after undergoing $12 million renovations, which involved replacing marble pavers with gray and pink granite stones, adding new benches, planters, new restaurants, food kiosks and outdoor dining areas.[103]
Complex
North and South Towers
Main articles: One World Trade Center and Two World Trade Center
One World Trade Center and Two World Trade Center, commonly the Twin Towers, the idea of which was brought up by Minoru Yamasaki, were designed as framed tube structures, which provided tenants with open floor plans, uninterrupted by columns or walls.[104][105] They were the main buildings of the World Trade Center.[106] The North Tower (One World Trade Center), the tallest building in the world at 1,368 feet (417 m) by the time of its completion, began construction in 1966 with the South Tower (2 World Trade Center);[107] extensive use of prefabricated components helped to speed up the construction process, and the first tenants moved into the North Tower in December 1970, while it was still under construction.[108][109] When completed in 1973, the South Tower, Two World Trade Center (the South Tower) became the second tallest building in the world at 1,362 feet (415 m); the South Tower's rooftop observation deck was 1,362 ft (415 m) high and its indoor observation deck was 1,310 ft (400 m) high.[110] Both towers stood over 1,350 feet (410 m) high, and occupied about 1 acre (4,000 m2) of the total 16 acres (65,000 m2) of the site's land. During a press conference in 1973, 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."[111]
When completed in 1972, 1 World Trade Center became the tallest building in the world for two years, surpassing the Empire State Building after a 40-year reign. The North Tower stood 1,368 feet (417 m) tall and featured a telecommunications antenna or mast that was added at the top of the roof in 1978 and stood 360 feet (110 m) tall. With the 360-foot (110 m)-tall antenna/mast, the highest point of the North Tower reached 1,728 ft (527 m).[112] The World Trade Center towers held the height record only briefly, as Chicago's Sears Tower, finished in May 1973, reached 1,450 feet (440 m) at the rooftop.[113] Throughout their existence, the WTC towers had more floors (at 110) than any other building.[112] This number was not surpassed until the advent of the Burj Khalifa, which opened in 2010.[114][115]
Top of the World observation deck
Although most of the space in the World Trade Center complex was off-limits to the public, the South Tower featured an indoor and outdoor public observation area called Top of the World Trade Center Observatories on its 107th and 110th floors. Visitors would pass through security checks added after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing,[117] then were whisked to the 107th floor indoor observatory at a height of 1,310 feet (400 m). The columns on each face of the building were narrowed on this level to allow 28 inches of glass between them. The Port Authority renovated the observatory in 1995, then leased it to Ogden Entertainment to operate. Attractions added to the observation deck included a simulated helicopter ride around the city. The 107th floor food court was designed with a subway car theme and featured Sbarro and Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs.[118][119] Weather permitting, visitors could take two short escalator rides up from the 107th floor viewing area to an outdoor viewing platform on the 110th floor at a height of 1,377 ft (420 m).[120] On a clear day, visitors could see up to 50 miles (80 km).[118] An anti-suicide fence was placed on the roof itself, with the viewing platform set back and elevated above it, requiring only an ordinary railing and leaving the view unobstructed, unlike the observation deck of the Empire State Building.[119]
Windows on the World restaurant
Main article: Windows on the World
The North Tower had a restaurant on its 106th and 107th floors called Windows on the World, which opened in April 1976. The restaurant was developed by Joe Baum at a cost of more than $17 million.[121] Aside from the main restaurant, two offshoots were located at the top of the North Tower: "Hors d'Oeuvrerie" (offered a Danish smorgasbord during the day and sushi in the evening) and "Cellar in the Sky" (a small wine bar).[122] Windows on the World also had a wine school program run by Kevin Zraly. Windows on the World was closed following the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.[121] Upon reopening in 1996, Hors d'Oeuvrerie and Cellar in the Sky were replaced with the "Greatest Bar on Earth" and "Wild Blue".[122] In 2000, its last full year of operation, Windows on the World reported revenues of $37 million, making it the highest-grossing restaurant in the United States.[123] The Skydive Restaurant, opened in 1976 on the 44th floor of the North Tower, was also operated by Windows on the World restaurant, but served only lunch.
Other buildings
Five smaller buildings stood around the 16 acres (65,000 m2) block. One was the 22-floor hotel, which opened in 1981 as the Vista Hotel, and in 1995 became the Marriott World Trade Center (3 WTC) at the southwest corner of the site. Three low-rise buildings (4 WTC, 5 WTC, and 6 WTC) in the same hollow tube design as the towers also stood around the plaza. 6 World Trade Center, at the northwest corner, housed the United States Customs Service and the U.S. Commodities Exchange. 5 World Trade Center was located at the northeast corner above the PATH station and 4 World Trade Center was at the southeast corner. In 1987, a 47-floor office building called 7 World Trade Center was built north of the block. Beneath the World Trade Center complex was an underground shopping mall, which in turn had connections to various mass transit facilities including the New York City Subway system and the Port Authority's own PATH trains connecting Manhattan to New Jersey.[124]
One of the world's largest gold depositories was stored underneath the World Trade Center, owned by a group of commercial banks. The 1993 bombing detonated close to the vault.[125] Seven weeks after the September 11 attacks, $230 million in precious metals was removed from basement vaults of 4 WTC, which included 3,800 100-Troy-ounce 24 carat gold bars and 30,000 1,000-ounce silver bars.[126]
Existence
On a typical weekday 50,000 people worked in the towers[127] with another 200,000 passing through as visitors.[128] The complex was so large that it had its own zip code: 10048.[129] The towers offered expansive views from the observation deck atop the South Tower and the Windows on the World restaurant on top of the North Tower. The Twin Towers became known worldwide, appearing in numerous movies and television shows as well as on postcards and other merchandise, and became seen as a New York icon, in the same league as the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building and the Statue of Liberty.[130]
French high wire acrobatic performer Philippe Petit walked between the towers on a tightrope in 1974, as shown in the documentary film Man on Wire.[46](p219) Petit walked between the towers eight times on a steel cable that was laid out using a bow and arrow.[131]
Brooklyn toymaker George Willig scaled the exterior of the south tower in 1977.[132] In 1983, on Memorial Day, high-rise firefighting and rescue advocate Dan Goodwinsuccessfully climbed the outside of the WTC's North Tower. His stunt was meant to call attention to the inability to rescue people potentially trapped in the upper floors of skyscrapers.[133][134]
The 1995 PCA world chess championship was played on the 107th floor of the South Tower.[135]
February 13, 1975 fire
On February 13, 1975, a three-alarm fire broke out on the 11th floor of the North Tower. Fire spread through the tower to the 9th and 14th floors by igniting the insulation of telephone cables in a utility shaft that ran vertically between floors. Areas at the furthest extent of the fire were extinguished almost immediately and the original fire was put out in a few hours. Most of the damage was concentrated on the 11th floor, fueled by cabinets filled with paper, alcohol-based fluid for office machines, and other office equipment. Fireproofing protected the steel and there was no structural damage to the tower. In addition to damage caused by the fire on the 9th - 14th floors, water from the extinguishing of the fires damaged a few floors below. At that time, the World Trade Center had no fire sprinkler systems.[21]
February 26, 1993 bombing
Main article: 1993 World Trade Center bombing
The first Islamist terrorist attack on the World Trade Center occurred on February 26, 1993, at 12:17 p.m. A Ryder truck filled with 1,500 pounds (680 kg) of explosives, planted by Ramzi Yousef, detonated in the underground garage of the North Tower.[22] The blast opened a 100 foot (30 m) hole through five sublevels with the greatest damage occurring on levels B1 and B2 and significant structural damage on level B3.[136] Six people were killed and 50,000 other workers and visitors were left gasping for air within the 110 story towers. Many people inside the North Tower were forced to walk down darkened stairwells that contained no emergency lighting, some taking two hours or more to reach safety.[137][138]
Yousef fled to Pakistan after the bombing but was arrested in Islamabad in February 1995, and was extradited back to the United States to face trial.[139] Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman was convicted in 1996 for involvement in the bombing and other plots.[140] Yousef and Eyad Ismoil were convicted in November 1997 for their carrying out the bombing.[141] Four others had been convicted in May 1994 for their involvement in the 1993 bombing.[142] According to a presiding judge, the conspirators' chief aim at the time of the attack was to destabilize the north tower and send it crashing into the south tower, toppling both landmarks.[143]
Following the bombing, floors that were blown out needed to be repaired to restore the structural support they provided to columns.[144] The slurry wall was in peril following the bombing and loss of the floor slabs that provided lateral support against pressure from Hudson River water on the other side. The refrigeration plant on sublevel B5, which provided air conditioning to the entire World Trade Center complex, was heavily damaged.[145] After the bombing, the Port Authority installed photoluminescent markings in the stairwells.[146] The fire alarm system for the entire complex needed to be replaced because critical wiring and signaling in the original system was destroyed.[147] As a memorial to the victims of the bombing of the tower, a reflecting pool was installed with the names of those who had been killed in the blast.[148] However, the memorial was destroyed following the September 11 attacks. Names of the victims of the 1993 bombing are included in the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
January 14, 1998 robbery
Main article: 1998 Bank of America robbery
In January 1998, Mafia member Ralph Guarino, who had gained maintenance access to the World Trade Center, arranged a three-man crew for a heist that netted over $2 million from a Brinks delivery to the eleventh floor of the World Trade Center.[23]
Lease
In 1998, the Port Authority approved plans to privatize the World Trade Center.[149] In 2001, the Port Authority sought to lease the World Trade Center to a private entity. Bids for the lease came from Vornado Realty Trust, a joint bid between Brookfield Properties Corporation and Boston Properties,[150] and a joint bid by Silverstein Properties and The Westfield Group.[24] By privatizing the World Trade Center, it would be added to the city's tax rolls[24] and provide funds for other Port Authority projects.[151] On February 15, 2001, the Port Authority announced that Vornado Realty Trust had won the lease for the World Trade Center, paying $3.25 billion for the 99-year lease.[152] Vornado outbid Silverstein by $600 million though Silverstein upped his offer to $3.22 billion. However, Vornado insisted on last minute changes to the deal, including a shorter 39-year lease, which the Port Authority considered nonnegotiable.[153] Vornado later withdrew and Silverstein's bid for the lease to the World Trade Center was accepted on April 26, 2001,[154] and closed on July 24, 2001.[155]
Destruction
Main article: Collapse of the World Trade Center
On September 11, 2001, Islamist terrorists hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 and crashed it into the northern façade of the North Tower at 8:46:40 a.m., the aircraft striking between the 93rd and 99th floors. Seventeen minutes later, at 9:03:11 a.m., a second team of terrorists crashed the similarly hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 into the southern facade of the South Tower, striking it between the 77th and 85th floors.[156] The damage caused to the North Tower by Flight 11 destroyed any means of escape from above the impact zone, trapping 1,344 people.[157] Flight 175 had a much more off-centered impact compared to Flight 11, and a single stairwell was left intact; however, only a few people managed to pass through it successfully before the tower collapsed. Although the South Tower was struck lower than the North Tower, thus affecting more floors, a smaller number, fewer than 700, were killed instantly or trapped.[158]
At 9:59 a.m., the South Tower collapsed after burning for approximately 56 minutes. The fire caused steel structural elements, already weakened from the plane impact, to fail. The North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m., after burning for approximately 102 minutes.[159] At 5:20 p.m.[160] on September 11, 2001, 7 World Trade Center started to collapse with the crumble of the east penthouse, and it collapsed completely at 5:21 p.m.[160] owing to uncontrolled fires causing structural failure.[161]
The 3 World Trade Center, a Marriott hotel, was destroyed during the collapse of the two towers. The three remaining buildings in the WTC plaza were extensively damaged by debris and later were demolished.[162] The Deutsche Bank Building across Liberty Street from the World Trade Center complex was later condemned owing to the uninhabitable toxic conditions inside; it was deconstructed, with work completed in early 2011.[163][164] The Borough of Manhattan Community College's Fiterman Hall at 30 West Broadway was also condemned owing to extensive damage in the attacks and is slated for deconstruction.[165]
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, media reports suggested that tens of thousands might have been killed in the attacks, as over 50,000 people could be inside the towers. Ultimately, 2,753 death certificates (excluding those for hijackers) were filed relating to the 9/11 attacks in New York, including one filed for Felicia Dunn-Jones, who was added to the official death toll in May 2007; Dunn-Jones died five months later from a lung condition linked to exposure to dust during the collapse of the World Trade Center.[166] Three other victims were then added to the official death toll by the city medical examiner's office: Dr. Sneha Anne Philip, who was last seen the day before the attacks; Leon Heyward, a man who developed lymphoma and subsequently died in 2008 as a result of dust ingestion during the events following the attacks to the Twin Towers;[167][168] and Jerry Borg, who died in December 2010 of pulmonary sarcoidosis determined in June 2011 to be the result of dust from the attacks.[25] Cantor Fitzgerald L.P., an investment bank on the 101st–105th floors of One World Trade Center, lost 658 employees, considerably more than any other employer,[169] while Marsh & McLennan Companies, located immediately below Cantor Fitzgerald on floors 93–101 (the location of Flight 11's impact), lost 295 employees, and 175 employees of Aon Corporationwere killed.[170] In addition, 343 of the dead were New York City firefighters, 84 were Port Authority employees, of whom 37 were members of the Port Authority Police Department, and another 23 were New York City Police Department officers.[171][172][173] Ten years after the attacks, only 1,629 victims have been identified.[174] Of all the people who were still in the towers when they collapsed, only 20 were pulled out alive.[175]
New buildings
Main articles: One World Trade Center § New building and World Trade Center site
After years of delay and controversy, reconstruction at the World Trade Center site is now underway. The new complex includes One World Trade Center (formerly known as the Freedom Tower), 7 World Trade Center, three other high-rise office buildings, a museum and memorial, and a transportation hub similar in size to Grand Central Terminal. The One World Trade Center was completed on August 30, 2012, and the final component of its spire installed on May 10, 2013. The Four World Trade Center is on track for completion and occupancy by 2014.[176][177] The 9/11 memorial is complete, and the museum opened on May 21, 2014.[178] Three World Trade Center and the Transportation Hub are also making progress, and are set to be finished by around late 2017[179] and late 2015,[180] respectively. Two World Trade Center's full construction was placed on hold in the early 2010s, until tenants are found.[181]
Cleanup
| Rebuilding of the World Trade Center |
|---|
| 1 WTC |
| 2 – 7 WTC |
| Other elements |
The process of cleanup and recovery continued 24 hours a day over a period of eight months. Debris was transported from the World Trade Center site to Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island, where it was further sifted.[182] On May 30, 2002, a ceremony was held to officially mark the end of the cleanup efforts.[183] In 2002, ground was broken on construction of a new 7 WTC building located just to the north of the main World Trade Center site. Since it was not part of the site master plan, Larry Silverstein was able to proceed without delay on the rebuilding of 7 World Trade Center, which was completed and officially opened in May 2006; this had been considered a priority since restoring Consolidated Edison Co.'s electrical substation in the building's lower floors was necessary to meet power demands of Lower Manhattan.[184][185][186] While 7 World Trade Center was not part of the master plan for the Twin Towers site, Silverstein and Con Edison recognized that the rebuilding of 7 World Trade Center would have to be consistent with the master plan which was expected to re-open the street grid which had been blocked by the original World Trade Center super-block. As a result, the design for the new 7 World Trade Center allowed for the re-opening of Greenwich Street, which had been blocked by the original 7 World Trade Center.[187] A temporary PATH station at the World Trade Center opened in November 2003; it will be replaced by a permanent station designed by Santiago Calatrava.[188]
With the main World Trade Center site, numerous stakeholders were involved including Silverstein and the Port Authority, which in turn meant that George Pataki, the then-Governor of New York, had some authority. In addition, the victims' families, people in the surrounding neighborhoods, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and others wanted input. Governor Pataki established the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) in November 2001 as an official commission to oversee the rebuilding process.[189] The LMDC held a competition to solicit possible designs for the site. The Memory Foundations design by Daniel Libeskind was chosen as the master plan for the World Trade Center site.[190] The plan included the 1,776 feet (541 m) Freedom Tower (now known as One World Trade Center) as well as a memorial and a number of other office towers. Out of the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition, a design by Michael Arad and Peter Walker titled Reflecting Absence was selected in January 2004.[191]
Planning
Governor Pataki established the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) in November 2001, as an official commission to oversee the rebuilding process.[192] The LMDC coordinates federal assistance in the rebuilding process, and works with the Port Authority, Larry Silverstein, and Studio Daniel Libeskind, the master plan architect for the site's redesign. The corporation also handles communication with the local community, businesses, the city of New York, and relatives of victims of the September 11 attacks.[193] A 16-member board of directors, half appointed by the governor and half by the mayor of New York, governs the LMDC.[194] The LMDC had questionable legal status regarding the restoration of the World Trade Center site, because the Port Authority owns most of the property and Larry Silverstein leased the World Trade Center's office space in July 2001. But the LMDC, in an April 2002 articulation of its principles for action, asserted its role in revitalizing lower Manhattan.[195]
In the months following the attacks, architects and urban planning experts held meetings and forums to discuss ideas for rebuilding the site.[196] In January 2002, New York City art dealer Max Protetch solicited 50 concepts and renderings from artists and architects, which were put on exhibit in his Chelsea art gallery.[197]
In April 2002, the LMDC sent out requests for proposals to redesign the World Trade Center site to 24 Manhattan architecture firms, but then soon withdrew them. The following month, the LMDC selected Beyer Blinder Belle as planner for the redesign of the World Trade Center site.[198] On July 16, 2002, Beyer Blinder Belle unveiled six concepts for redesigning the World Trade Center site.[199] All six designs were voted "poor" by the roughly 5,000 New Yorkers that submitted feedback, so the LDMC announced a new, international, open-design study.[200]
In an August 2002 press release, the LMDC announced a design study for the World Trade Center site.[201] The following month, the LMDC, along with New York New Visions – a coalition of 21 architecture, engineering, planning, landscape architecture and design organizations – announced seven semifinalists. The following seven architecture firms were then invited to compete to be the master plan architect for the World Trade Center:
- Foster and Partners (Norman Foster)
- Studio Daniel Libeskind (Daniel Libeskind)
- Meier Eisenman Gwathmey Holl (Peter Eisenman, Richard Meier, Charles Gwathmey and Steven Holl), sometimes known as "The Dream Team"[202]
- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
- THINK Team (Shigeru Ban, Frederic Schwartz, Ken Smith, Rafael Vinoly)
- United Architects
Peterson Littenberg, a small New York architecture firm, had been enlisted by the LMDC earlier that summer as a consultant, and was invited to participate as the seventh semifinalist.[203]
The seven semifinalists presented their entries to the public on December 18, 2002, at the Winter Garden of the World Financial Center. In the following weeks, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill withdrew its entry from the competition.[204]
Days before the announcement of the two finalists in February 2003, Larry Silverstein wrote to LMDC Chair John Whitehead to express his disapproval of all of the semifinalists' designs. As the Twin Towers' insurance money recipient, Silverstein claimed that he had the sole right to decide what would be built. He announced that he had already picked Skidmore, Owings & Merrill as his master planner for the site.[205] On February 1, 2003, the LMDC selected two finalists, the THINK Team and Studio Daniel Libeskind, and planned on picking a single winner by the end of the month. Rafael Viñoly of the THINK Team and Studio Daniel Libeskind presented their designs to the LMDC, which selected the THINK design. Earlier the same day, however, Roland Betts, a member of the LMDC, had called a meeting and the corporation had agreed to vote for the THINK design before hearing the final presentations. Governor Pataki, who had originally commissioned the LMDC, intervened and overruled the LMDC's decision.[205] On February 27, 2003, Studio Daniel Libeskind officially won the competition to be the master planner for the World Trade Center redesign.
Libeskind's original proposal, which is titled Memory Foundations, underwent extensive revisions during collaboration with Larry Silverstein, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, whom Silverstein hired.[206] Though Libeskind designed the site, the individual buildings have been designed by different architects. While not all of Liebeskind's ideas were incorporated into the final design, his design and the public support it garnered did solidify the principle that the original footprints of the Twin Towers should be turned into a memorial and not be used for commercial purposes. As a result, Liebeskind's lawyers at the New York firm of Wachtell Lipton embarked on the multi-year negotiation process to frame a master plan for the rebuilding.[207] The first step in this process, completed in 2003, was the "swap" in which Silverstein gave up his rights to the footprints of the Twin Towers so that they could become a memorial, and in exchange received the right to build five new office towers around the memorial.[208] The "swap" and the ensuing negotiations, which lasted for many years, have been referred to as the most complex real estate transaction in human history because of the complexity of the issues involved, the many stakeholders, and the difficulty of reaching consensus.[209]
Rebuilding
On March 13, 2006, workers arrived at the World Trade Center site to remove remaining debris and start surveying work. This marked the official start of construction of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, though not without controversy and concerns from some family members.[210] In April 2006, the Port Authority and Larry Silverstein reached an agreement in which Silverstein ceded rights to develop the Freedom Tower and Tower Five in exchange for financing with Liberty Bonds for Towers Two, Three, and Four.[211][212] On April 27, 2006, a ground-breaking ceremony was held for the Freedom Tower.[213]
In May 2006, architects Richard Rogers and Fumihiko Maki were announced as the architects for Towers Three and Four, respectively.[214] The final designs for Towers Two, Three and Four were unveiled on September 7, 2006. Tower Two, or 200 Greenwich Street, will have a roof height of 1,254 feet (382 m) and a 96 feet (29 m) tripod spire for a total of 1,350 feet (410 m). Tower Three, or 175 Greenwich Street will have a roof height of 1,155 feet (352 m) and an antenna height reaching 1,255 feet (383 m). Tower Four, or 150 Greenwich Street, will have an overall height of 946 feet (288 m).[215] On June 22, 2007, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced that JP Morgan Chase will build Tower 5, a 42-story building on Site 5 occupied by the Deutsche Bank Building,[216] and Kohn Pedersen Fox was selected as the architect for the building.[217]Four renowned architects, including Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, who designed the transit hub, One WTC designer David Childs of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, and the famed British architect Norman Foster of Foster and Partners designed Tower Two and masterminded the iconic diamond design, will greatly enhance the street-level atmosphere of the rebuilt site. The projects will be complete between early 2013 to mid-2015 respectively.[218]
Publisher Condé Nast agreed to move its headquarters to One World Trade Center in 2010, and with this shift, many more tenants were expected to move to the building.[219] As of August 2011, One World Trade Center was at 80 stories with glass up to the 54th floor, Tower Four was up around 38 stories with glass up to the 15th floor, and the former Deutsche Bank Building had been completely dismantled, and the Port Authority was working on their Vehicle Security Center.[220] The World Trade Center Transportation Hub's PATH hall is nearly complete. The memorial officially opened to relatives of the deceased on September 11, 2011, and to the general public on September 12. World Trade Center Tower Three's foundations are becoming visible, and will be completed in mid-2014 if Silverstein Properties can meet requirements set by the Port Authority, as they very likely will.[221][222] By December 2011, Tower Two's foundations were finished and assembly of the frame was started.[223] Because numerous American and Chinese companies were "very interested" in leasing space at the WTC, Two World Trade Center was likely to be finished earlier than expected.[224]
A report in September 2013 revealed that, at the time of the report, the World Trade Center Association (WTCA) continues to negotiate with the One World Trade Center in regard to the title "World Trade Center", as the WTCA purchased the rights to the name in 1986. The WTCA is seeking free office space in the tower worth US$500,000 in exchange for the use of "World Trade Center" on the One World Trade Center tower and associated souvenirs.[225]
In early December 2013, Australian retail corporation Westfield announced that it will invest US$800 million for complete control of the retail space at the rebuilt center. Westfield, Australia's largest shopping mall operator, will purchase the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s 50 percent stake in the retail part of the World Trade Center site, increasing its total investment to more than US$1.4 billion.[226]
In April 2014, with the opening of the 9/11 Museum, the first fencing was removed since the opening of 7 World Trade Center in 2006. At the same time, the 9/11 Memorial discontinued the requirement for tickets in order to enter the memorial, not only providing pedestrian access to the future towers, but also a path through the site to the Memorial Plaza and surrounding streets.[227] All construction fencing is expected to be removed with the opening of the final tower sometime in 2015–2018.[228]
2014 logo
The World Trade Center's new logo, revealed in August 2014, was designed by the firm Landor Associates and shaped like a "W". All the black bars, the empty spaces, and the "W" itself symbolizes something, giving the logo at least six meanings:[229]
- Each of the five bars in the logo represents the five towers that will be the World Trade Center when it is complete.[230][231]
- The top half of the logo features bars cut off at a 17.76-degree angle, evoking One World Trade Center's 1,776-foot height.[230][231]
- There are two white columns at the top symbolizing the Tribute in Light memorial.[230][231]
- The three black bars at the top also symbolize the Twin Towers' trident-shaped columns.[230][231]
- The two black bars at the bottom also stand for the twin pools of the 9/11 Memorial.[230][231]
- The logo, as a whole, is in the shape of a "W", which stands for "World Trade Center" and "Westfield World Trade Center".[230][231]
Landor Associates was awarded a $3.57 million contract in 2013 to design the logo. Douglas Riccardi, the principal in the design firm Memo, stated, "Its strength is its ability to be seen in many ways. You could never get more meaning in five little bars. The problem is that people may not bother to find out what the meanings are."[231]
Early controversy and criticism
There was much debate regarding the future of Ground Zero following the destruction of the World Trade Center. Disagreement and controversy regarding who owned the property and what would be built there hindered construction at the site for several years. Many wanted the Twin Towers to be rebuilt, but stronger and taller. This movement was led by an informal organization called the Twin Towers Alliance.[232] Others did not want anything built there at all or wanted the entire site to become a memorial. Finally, a master plan was agreed upon, which would feature a memorial and museum where the original Twin Towers stood and six new skyscrapers surrounding it.[233]
The social center of the old World Trade Center included a spectacular restaurant on the 107th floor, called Windows on the World, and its Greatest Bar in the World; these were tourist attractions in their own right, and a social gathering spot for people who worked in the towers.[234][235] This restaurant also housed one of the most prestigious wine schools in the United States, called "Windows on the World Wine School", run by wine personality Kevin Zraly.[236] Despite numerous assurances that these local landmarks and global attractions would be rebuilt,[237] the Port Authority scrapped plans to rebuild these WTC attractions, which has outraged some observers.[238]
An episode of CBS's 60 Minutes in 2010 focused on the lack of progress at Ground Zero, particularly on the lack of completion dates for a majority of the buildings, the main tower, One World Trade Center's having undergone three different designs, and the delays and monetary expense involved. Investor Larry Silverstein said the Port Authority's estimated completion date for the entire site was 2037, and billions of dollars had already been spent on the project, even though Ground Zero "is still a hole in the ground". During an interview for the episode, Larry Silverstein said: "I am the most frustrated person in the world.…I'm seventy-eight years of age; I want to see this thing done in my lifetime".[239]
One World Trade Center itself was met with criticism early in its planning and construction stages.[240] The original design, which was asymmetrical, significantly shorter, and called for an off-center spire, was met with much disapproval, causing a new one to be devised. A key feature of the final design, the fortified, windowless base, was also denounced as looking dreary and unwelcoming.[241] To alleviate this problem, the designers decided to clad it with prismatic glass panels. Since the failure of that plan, it is now unclear what the base will be covered with. The name change from Freedom Tower to One World Trade Center was met with some criticism.[242] The then-Governor of New York, George Pataki, stated in 2003 that "[t]he Freedom Tower isn't going to be One World Trade Center, it's going to be the Freedom Tower."[243]
See also
- One World Trade Center and its construction
- The Philippe Petit High Wire Walk Between the Towers
- Project Rebirth
- The Sphere
- World Trade Center in popular culture
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