gm2263
September 10th, 2011, 07:05 PM
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC1-thethreadannouncement-banner-small1000x.jpg
In Memoriam...
This thread is dedicated to the thousands of the innocent lives lost during the 911 events. May their souls rest in peace and be remembered by us all in the years to come...
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I. Introduction
If anybody attempts to go through the section about the supertall skyscrapers (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=902) (i.e. above ~300m/ 1000ft) in this forum and is not familiar with the topic of skyscrapers and highrises, chances are that s/he will be stunned by the sheer numbers and heights of completed projects as well as the ones proposed or being under construction at the time of this writing.
A closer look will also reveal that very few of these new mega-scrapers are under construction within the USA. This contradicts with the fact that for many reasons, the 20th century could easily be called "the century of the American Skyscraper", given the fact that the US was the birthplace of the skyscraper as well as the holder of the tallest building's world record until very late in the 20th century, when the Petronas Towers (http://www.google.gr/search?q=Petronas+Towers&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1998), were completed.
It is a fact that for the time being, the only supertalls under construction in the US are being built in NY. Most of them on one location. The former WTC site. As a matter of fact, chances are that the US will first surpass the 400m/1300ft habitable floor height for the first time in the 21st century in New York, as it did with the WTC back in the 1960s. And chances are that this time the new WTC will be the tallest building in the US and the Americas for the a few good years.
Indeed, especially during the 20th century, America could be seen as the Mecca of highrise construction with two of its cities epitomizing the ideals of highrise architecture: New York and Chicago or Chicago and New York if you prefer. For it is these cities that have provided us with the foundations and -literally- built the initial paradigms about how tall buildings should be built and clustered together to form an urban fabric focusing on vertical rather than horizontal expansion.
So there it was... New York...
My relationship with New York started at a very early age when my parents talked to me about "my cousins in America", indeed referring to my relatives, at the time most of them living in Bayside, Long Island, NY. Over the years I started developing a sense of awe about NY and the "skyscrapers" which, looking photos of NY from the early 60's, looked like forming a forest of trees made of concrete and steel. For someone that was born in Athens Greece, New York looked like something between Gotham City and a vertical extension of Disneyland. The city of Big and Tall magic.
I first visited NY in 1978 with my father at the age of 15, while having already developed a love about architecture and especially tall buildings. This was a cataclysmic experience for me since it was the first time that I saw anything taller above 103m - the height of Athens Tower (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=10858315#post10858315), still the tallest in Greece. It was also then that I had visited the then "skylobby" on the top of the twin towers and the first time that I ever felt like literally flying while on the observatory roof of the 110storey- 420m (1350ft) tall "south tower" (the one that was hit second and collapsed first during the 911 events).
My next visit to NY was in Christmas 1996 but unfortunately the "windows of the world" were closed for restoration and I thus lost the opportunity to see the panorama that had been indelibly stamped into my mind during my first visit… However, I revisited NY in 1999 and this time didn't miss the opportunity to take the elevator for the then refurbished "top of the world", equipped with my camera and lots of rolls of film, and thus the pictures presented below.
I will not go into details about the WTC, as these can be found in many sites (including this section in Skyscrapers.com). I will let the pictures speak for themselves about one of the biggest engineering feats of the 20th century, whose excavation works alone provided enough soil to reclaim additional land to build the World Financial Center (by Cezar Palli, the one that designed the 237m/777ft-tall, Canada Square 1 in Canary Wharf, London), which alone is a complex that had it been built in any European city would duly draw lot of attention, even today where building tall in not a taboo for most of the European cities.
So here it is, one of my dream threads about the twin towers that I briefly visited a long time ago but still remember the feeling of being under their shadows. Before the Chinese and Middle East mega structures, before the Europeans flirting with the 1000ft mark (with the exception of Eiffel Tower), there was the grandiose Wold Trade Center. Even today, had these buildings been built for the first time, they would certainly have attracted worldwide attention despite their minimalistic design. Two Towers at 410m/1310ft height, one 20-floor hotel (the WTC Marriott) that was dwarfed by them, as well as a 5-acre plaza would make a difference ANYWHERE.
Anyways, I will let the images speak for themselves. ALL photos are mine (c) gm2263 except from a couple where due credits are given. Feel free to reproduce but please identify the source.
2. From the Ground
One of the most dramatic views of the WTC would be from the ground level, usually from New Jersey and across the Hudson River. I haven't been that lucky as I never went across the Hudson river. However, I was lucky enough to take a couple of shots from across the East river, from the side of Brooklyn.
The first batch of pictures comes as early as... 1978. It was then during my first visit to NY that I had the opportunity to take my first pictures with my then toy camera. At 15 years of age, I managed to take some good pictures of the beasts AND to go to the top of both the WTC as well as the Empire State Building. The pictures I present here are from the Circle Line (http://www.citysightsny.com/tourpage.php?ref=cj&item=CL3HRC&gclid=CPjAzNGejqsCFcjwzAod9Sovww) touring boat that goes on a three-hour tour around the Manhattan Island and offers THE BEST views of NY from the sea.
In these early pictures one may observe that there was nothing in front of the WTC since the reclaimed land on the Hudson river's side that was created as a result of the gigantic excavation works as part of the WTC construction works. No Battery park, no World Financial Center, or other structures. The towers almost bluntly exposing their size and making their mark in the cityscape seen from the Hudson and New Jercey.
Apologies for the weird orientation of some of the pictures frames as these were part of my early artistic experimentations...
The WTC from the Circle Line Boat Ride, 1978:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC1978-4-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC1978-4-small800xb.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC1978-3-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC1978-3-small1000xb-1.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC1978-2-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC1978-1b-small1000x.jpg
And now back to my Christmas of 1996 and summer of 1999 visits. These were taken with my roll film camera that was later replaced by a digital one.
- From Brooklyn. The bridge is the famous Brooklyn Bridge, one of the first of their league, ever. Unfortunately, the images are blurry, suffer from bad lighting, BUT, even with my apologies I offer them to you since they offer a good view of what these towers meant for the skyline and the overall NY's cityscape. These shots have a poetic imperfection as almost everything in them except from the framing of subjects is wrong.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC4-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC5-small1000x.jpg
-The following two were taken from the SUV of one of my uncles as we were running on the Brooklyn - Queens Expressway, some time in December 1996 - January 1997.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC10-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC18-small1000x.jpg
-On Brooklyn Bridge, crossing the East river to the city. The WTC is visible to the left. This photo must be from 1996.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC6-small1000x.jpg
The following pictures depict various dramatic aspects of the World Trade Center as well as the neighboring World Financial Center as seen from street level. Although I did my best back then to depict the feeling that these gigantic structures created to anybody sitting next to them looking up, the truth is that you do NOT understand the their size and immensity unless you've been there (something which is true for ANY big and tall building). A careful observer also might point the difference in the design between the towers of the WTC compared with those of the World Financial Center. The WTC's design emphasizes the vertical dimensions of the twin towers in contrast to the much more massive, yet modest in height, towers of the WFC.
Then we come closer and I continue with the towers of the World Financial Center and the Battery Park City and Marina, and then we move into the World Trade Center Plaza and towers.
All images are mine and were taken taken on August 1999.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC14-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC13-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC12-small1000x.jpg
...if you thought that that the previous ones were tall, this image sets the record straight:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC3-small1000x.jpg
And This is where we begin... The World Trade Center - Second Tallest in the world at the time of shooting (August 1999).
Images from the famous 5-acre plaza and the sphere. The must have been taken on a windy afternoon some time on December 1996 - January 1997. I remember it was chilly and windy (the term "urban canyon" being fully applicable here) and thus the absence of people at the plaza. Normally during the warm seasons of the year, the plaza used to be crowded during lunch breaks...
-This is the plaza between the two towers. In order to understand the size and scale of what you are looking at, see how the 20-floor WTC Marriott hotel at the back is literally dwarfed by the two giants...
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC9-small1000x.jpg
-The Sphere at the WTC plaza
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC11-small1000x.jpg
- And here's a summer picture: A band plays at the plaza (Aug 1999)
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC19-small1000x.jpg
-And now let us enjoy the towers from their base looking up. As I previously said, no image can capture the feeling!!!
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC2-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC1b-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC1-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC8-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC7-small1000x.jpg
3. The Views From the Top of the WTC
For most of the WTC visitors the view from the top of the WTC was really breathtaking. First of all, one could use an express elevator to the 107th floor where the WTC memorabilia store was located along with a food court which included the "Top of the World" restaurant, one of the places to be in the city and probably, the highest restaurant in the world at the time of completion. Then, one could take the escalators to the roof (must have been the 111th level) where the view was much better since one could walk on a walkway along the perimeter of the terrace of the building and thus, have a better all-round view of New York skyline and probably one of the best observation views in the world since due to the flatness of NY's ground terrain, on a cleat day the view could extend over hundreds of miles in each direction on the horizon.
I didn't take many interior views of the building (after all, how could I know?) as I was never the interior pictures guy anyway. Later I regretted this but obviously, it was too late to make up for it...
Anyway, Enjoy!!!
-The North Tower seen from the observation deck of the South tower. The Midtown Manhattan Skyline is visible in the background including the Empire Stare Building in the middle.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC20-small1000x.jpg
-This is what you got when you saw Manhattan from the top of WTC...
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC24-small1000x.jpg
-This is a dream picture for any skyscrapers fan: Midtown Manhattan Skyline with the Empire State Building in the middle. Good old ESB standing among its children... Still, some later additions are notably absent in this picture, including the Bank of America Building and the New York Times Building (designed by Renzo Piano). Visible landmarks include the Rockefeller Center, the former Citicorp Tower with its famous inclined roof, the MetLife (former Pan AM) building and the Chrysler Building among others.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC21-small1000x.jpg
-Turning the camera a bit to the right you can see the UN building, the 59th street bridge and the Roosevelt Island on the East river. Again, the new Trump World Tower (designed by Costas Condylis) in the neighborhood of the UN building is notably absent too as it was not built at the time.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC25-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC22-small1000x.jpg
-The New York City hall among other buildings...
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC23-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC45-small1000x.jpg
-Looking towards Queens and Long Island. The green tower visible to the right is the new Citibank head offices, the first real skyscraper built on Long Island and Queens...
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC42-small1000x.jpg
-Looking towards Brooklyn. Although not impressive as an isolated skyline, it would surely have made an impact in most European cities...
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC31-small1000x.jpg
-Looking towards the Uptown Manhattan Skyscrapers and Governor's island
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC28-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC27-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC26-small1000x.jpg
-Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC37-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC35-small1000x.jpg
-New Jersey
Although according to the sayings of the people back then New Jersey had a relatively lowrise seaside until the late 1980s, it was in the 1990s that a construction boom started, something which is in development at the time these pictures were taken. Today, especially after the completion of the Goldman Sachs skyscraper, the whole region that looks under development here, presents a much denser view which, again, would fit a northern European port like Hamburg or the Hague quite nicely.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC40-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC39-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC38-smalll1000x.jpg
Another big and tall construction theme which is very popular in itself and has admirers and fans as fervent as the ones of tall buildings, are the bridges. Indeed, especially in New York, before the skyscrapers were the bridges. Huge, even by today's standards, they add a lot to the picture and they definitely deserve a closer look. Lots of bridges efficiently connecting the island of Manhattan with the rest of NY's boroughs (many of them located on islands too).
-Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC33-smalll1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC32-smalll1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC30-smalll1000x.jpg
-This must be the Williamsburgh bridge
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC29-small1000x.jpg
-...and next to last but not least, looking to the south we see the king of NY bridges, the Verazzano Bridge. Still making it within the top 10 of the world's longest suspension bridges' spans, the slim line of this engineering feat welcomes all NY visitors since 1964...
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC34-small1000x.jpg
-Finally, here are a few photos depicting how the immediate neighborhood of the WTC looked through the "windows of the world" on the 107th floor. What you see as simcity legoland pictures here would dramatically change the skyline of the majority of the world's cities back then.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC17-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC16-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC15-small1000x.jpg
-The brown building here is the old WTC 7 which was also was destroyed on 911 - 2001...
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC44-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC43-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC41-small1000x.jpg
4. Epilogue: Trial By Fire...
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTCAttack1BW-small.jpghttp://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTCAttack2-small.jpg
(c) Wallace M, Skinner P (2002), World Trade Center: The Giants That Defied the Sky, White Star Publishers, Italy
It must have been past 4:00PM when the phone rang disturbing my complete relaxation while lying on a couch on that sunny Tuesday afternoon. In the past few days we had been lucky to have as visitors a couple of my mother’s cousins from New York whom we have visited a couple of years before that in NY and who happened to be on vacation to the Greek islands the day the phone rang. As for me, I was lucky enough to enjoy a few days off from work and I remember it took me several seconds to reach for the phone while in a half-sleep state of mind and body. However, it only took moments to wake up completely to the most rude awakening in my life, as at the other end of the line was my friend Harry, who in a rather relaxed style asked me the following question:
“Say Greg, there’s some news on TV about a plane that reportedly crashed on one of the twin towers in New York. That’s the building you took your pictures from a couple years ago right?”
Before even thinking about it, I turned on the TV set and saw the North Tower’s top floors in a cloud of smoke while the south Tower looked in tact. The first thought that has crossed my mind is that something similar to the airplane crash on the Empire State Building (http://http://history1900s.about.com/od/1940s/a/empirecrash.htm) some 60 years ago may have happened and that in this case it may have been a twin propelled private plane that lost control while on approach to an airport or something. However, when I turned on the TV I immediately realized that amount of damage to the North Tower did NOT look like it came from a small airplane crash. At that time, my impressions from my visit to New York were still vivid, including the visit to the Twin Towers. Having a fairly good idea about the size of the building, I could understand that it has been hit from something much bigger than a Beechcraft King Air on a stall spin or whatever.
…and it was then, as I was talking to Harry on the phone, that the second explosion took place on the other tower.
I realized then that this was history in the making.
It took me a few minutes to arrive to Harry’s place only to watch the rest of the drama unfold before both our very eyes, the hijacked jet airliners, the strike on the Pentagon, the flight that crashed in Shanksville Pennsylvania, probably after an heroic attempt of the plane’s passengers to regain (?) control of the aircraft from the hijackers as they said…
The days passed, flights with the US resumed and my uncles got back to the US after a dozen days. Still, a bitter taste remained in my mouth about what happened. Having been to NY and the twin towers and having had some of the best times of my life there, Tuesday 9-11 – 2001 was one of the saddest days of my life.
What was also sad, besides the political implications of this story that are out of the scope of this thread, were the various reports about the future of skyscrapers and supertall structures as a result of the 911 events where many nasty authors prophesied that the building type of skyscrapers was reaching an end after 911 as no more tenants would risk their lives being exposed so much to the perils of another terrorist attack worldwide…
In reality it was them that they were forced to swallow the poison they were spitting in these premature writings . Besides its tragic dimensions, the post-911 disaster marked a new era of skyscraper construction where in China alone, the volume of all skyscrapers and highrises built from 1990 onwards equals to the one built in North America from the inception of skyscrapers to the time of this writing!!! Not to mention the fact that highrise and skyscraper construction became a trend that even now that we are in the middle of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s does not seems to slow down. Instead of a symbol of arrogance and vanity as some wanted to present them and against all odds, following 911, a new generation of skyscrapers and supertalls was born where this building typology further established its position as a symbol of progress, urban visualization and creativity as well as continuing the legacy in being an icon of the 21st century civilization, by reaching new heights both structurally as well as aesthetically. Now, there are more than a dozen buildings surpassing the height of the WTC, including today's world’s tallest, the famous Burj Khalifa (Burj Dubai) that reaches the unprecedented height of 823m / 2717ft, that is, exactly twice the height of the World Trade Center twins!!!
And as previously mentioned, although for various reasons most of them are now built in the Far or the Middle East (http://buildingdb.ctbuh.org/), the only exception in the Americas for the time being is in… you guessed right… New York. Indeed, slowly but surely, the site of the World Trade Center is under construction… again. Four giants with the tallest (known as One World Trade center (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=419362)) reaching the symbolic height of 1776 feet / 541,3m (with 1776 being the year of Declaration of the US independence) are now reaching slowly for the skies with the #1 to be expected to top out in 2012. I will say no more, I will simply let the following pictures give us an idea of how the WTC site will look after a few years from now:
All images © Silverstein Properties - http://www.wtc.com/media/images/wtc-renderings
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/NewWTCskylineHudsonRiverviewnight-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/NewWTCskyline-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/NewWTCskyline-Detail-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/NewWTCskyline-DayView-small1000x.jpg
…however, one needs not to go earlier than a decade ago from the time of this writing to discover that back then there were only a handful of buildings above 400m / 1300ft, three of them located in North America, i.e. the WTC and the Sears Tower (now Willis Tower).
...and is to a great extent the work of these early 1960s and 1970s pioneers (including the architect Minoru Yamasaki and the civil/ construction engineer Leslie Robertson) that also paved the way for the contemporary supertalls to be built, either though inspiration or though controversy and disagreement on the part of their followers who chose to push the envelope further as far as the characteristics of supertall buildings are concerned, even during the adverse times that followed the 911 events.
We will never forget...
In Memoriam...
This thread is dedicated to the thousands of the innocent lives lost during the 911 events. May their souls rest in peace and be remembered by us all in the years to come...
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I. Introduction
If anybody attempts to go through the section about the supertall skyscrapers (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=902) (i.e. above ~300m/ 1000ft) in this forum and is not familiar with the topic of skyscrapers and highrises, chances are that s/he will be stunned by the sheer numbers and heights of completed projects as well as the ones proposed or being under construction at the time of this writing.
A closer look will also reveal that very few of these new mega-scrapers are under construction within the USA. This contradicts with the fact that for many reasons, the 20th century could easily be called "the century of the American Skyscraper", given the fact that the US was the birthplace of the skyscraper as well as the holder of the tallest building's world record until very late in the 20th century, when the Petronas Towers (http://www.google.gr/search?q=Petronas+Towers&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1998), were completed.
It is a fact that for the time being, the only supertalls under construction in the US are being built in NY. Most of them on one location. The former WTC site. As a matter of fact, chances are that the US will first surpass the 400m/1300ft habitable floor height for the first time in the 21st century in New York, as it did with the WTC back in the 1960s. And chances are that this time the new WTC will be the tallest building in the US and the Americas for the a few good years.
Indeed, especially during the 20th century, America could be seen as the Mecca of highrise construction with two of its cities epitomizing the ideals of highrise architecture: New York and Chicago or Chicago and New York if you prefer. For it is these cities that have provided us with the foundations and -literally- built the initial paradigms about how tall buildings should be built and clustered together to form an urban fabric focusing on vertical rather than horizontal expansion.
So there it was... New York...
My relationship with New York started at a very early age when my parents talked to me about "my cousins in America", indeed referring to my relatives, at the time most of them living in Bayside, Long Island, NY. Over the years I started developing a sense of awe about NY and the "skyscrapers" which, looking photos of NY from the early 60's, looked like forming a forest of trees made of concrete and steel. For someone that was born in Athens Greece, New York looked like something between Gotham City and a vertical extension of Disneyland. The city of Big and Tall magic.
I first visited NY in 1978 with my father at the age of 15, while having already developed a love about architecture and especially tall buildings. This was a cataclysmic experience for me since it was the first time that I saw anything taller above 103m - the height of Athens Tower (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=10858315#post10858315), still the tallest in Greece. It was also then that I had visited the then "skylobby" on the top of the twin towers and the first time that I ever felt like literally flying while on the observatory roof of the 110storey- 420m (1350ft) tall "south tower" (the one that was hit second and collapsed first during the 911 events).
My next visit to NY was in Christmas 1996 but unfortunately the "windows of the world" were closed for restoration and I thus lost the opportunity to see the panorama that had been indelibly stamped into my mind during my first visit… However, I revisited NY in 1999 and this time didn't miss the opportunity to take the elevator for the then refurbished "top of the world", equipped with my camera and lots of rolls of film, and thus the pictures presented below.
I will not go into details about the WTC, as these can be found in many sites (including this section in Skyscrapers.com). I will let the pictures speak for themselves about one of the biggest engineering feats of the 20th century, whose excavation works alone provided enough soil to reclaim additional land to build the World Financial Center (by Cezar Palli, the one that designed the 237m/777ft-tall, Canada Square 1 in Canary Wharf, London), which alone is a complex that had it been built in any European city would duly draw lot of attention, even today where building tall in not a taboo for most of the European cities.
So here it is, one of my dream threads about the twin towers that I briefly visited a long time ago but still remember the feeling of being under their shadows. Before the Chinese and Middle East mega structures, before the Europeans flirting with the 1000ft mark (with the exception of Eiffel Tower), there was the grandiose Wold Trade Center. Even today, had these buildings been built for the first time, they would certainly have attracted worldwide attention despite their minimalistic design. Two Towers at 410m/1310ft height, one 20-floor hotel (the WTC Marriott) that was dwarfed by them, as well as a 5-acre plaza would make a difference ANYWHERE.
Anyways, I will let the images speak for themselves. ALL photos are mine (c) gm2263 except from a couple where due credits are given. Feel free to reproduce but please identify the source.
2. From the Ground
One of the most dramatic views of the WTC would be from the ground level, usually from New Jersey and across the Hudson River. I haven't been that lucky as I never went across the Hudson river. However, I was lucky enough to take a couple of shots from across the East river, from the side of Brooklyn.
The first batch of pictures comes as early as... 1978. It was then during my first visit to NY that I had the opportunity to take my first pictures with my then toy camera. At 15 years of age, I managed to take some good pictures of the beasts AND to go to the top of both the WTC as well as the Empire State Building. The pictures I present here are from the Circle Line (http://www.citysightsny.com/tourpage.php?ref=cj&item=CL3HRC&gclid=CPjAzNGejqsCFcjwzAod9Sovww) touring boat that goes on a three-hour tour around the Manhattan Island and offers THE BEST views of NY from the sea.
In these early pictures one may observe that there was nothing in front of the WTC since the reclaimed land on the Hudson river's side that was created as a result of the gigantic excavation works as part of the WTC construction works. No Battery park, no World Financial Center, or other structures. The towers almost bluntly exposing their size and making their mark in the cityscape seen from the Hudson and New Jercey.
Apologies for the weird orientation of some of the pictures frames as these were part of my early artistic experimentations...
The WTC from the Circle Line Boat Ride, 1978:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC1978-4-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC1978-4-small800xb.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC1978-3-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC1978-3-small1000xb-1.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC1978-2-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC1978-1b-small1000x.jpg
And now back to my Christmas of 1996 and summer of 1999 visits. These were taken with my roll film camera that was later replaced by a digital one.
- From Brooklyn. The bridge is the famous Brooklyn Bridge, one of the first of their league, ever. Unfortunately, the images are blurry, suffer from bad lighting, BUT, even with my apologies I offer them to you since they offer a good view of what these towers meant for the skyline and the overall NY's cityscape. These shots have a poetic imperfection as almost everything in them except from the framing of subjects is wrong.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC4-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC5-small1000x.jpg
-The following two were taken from the SUV of one of my uncles as we were running on the Brooklyn - Queens Expressway, some time in December 1996 - January 1997.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC10-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC18-small1000x.jpg
-On Brooklyn Bridge, crossing the East river to the city. The WTC is visible to the left. This photo must be from 1996.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC6-small1000x.jpg
The following pictures depict various dramatic aspects of the World Trade Center as well as the neighboring World Financial Center as seen from street level. Although I did my best back then to depict the feeling that these gigantic structures created to anybody sitting next to them looking up, the truth is that you do NOT understand the their size and immensity unless you've been there (something which is true for ANY big and tall building). A careful observer also might point the difference in the design between the towers of the WTC compared with those of the World Financial Center. The WTC's design emphasizes the vertical dimensions of the twin towers in contrast to the much more massive, yet modest in height, towers of the WFC.
Then we come closer and I continue with the towers of the World Financial Center and the Battery Park City and Marina, and then we move into the World Trade Center Plaza and towers.
All images are mine and were taken taken on August 1999.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC14-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC13-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC12-small1000x.jpg
...if you thought that that the previous ones were tall, this image sets the record straight:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC3-small1000x.jpg
And This is where we begin... The World Trade Center - Second Tallest in the world at the time of shooting (August 1999).
Images from the famous 5-acre plaza and the sphere. The must have been taken on a windy afternoon some time on December 1996 - January 1997. I remember it was chilly and windy (the term "urban canyon" being fully applicable here) and thus the absence of people at the plaza. Normally during the warm seasons of the year, the plaza used to be crowded during lunch breaks...
-This is the plaza between the two towers. In order to understand the size and scale of what you are looking at, see how the 20-floor WTC Marriott hotel at the back is literally dwarfed by the two giants...
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC9-small1000x.jpg
-The Sphere at the WTC plaza
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC11-small1000x.jpg
- And here's a summer picture: A band plays at the plaza (Aug 1999)
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC19-small1000x.jpg
-And now let us enjoy the towers from their base looking up. As I previously said, no image can capture the feeling!!!
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC2-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC1b-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC1-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC8-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC7-small1000x.jpg
3. The Views From the Top of the WTC
For most of the WTC visitors the view from the top of the WTC was really breathtaking. First of all, one could use an express elevator to the 107th floor where the WTC memorabilia store was located along with a food court which included the "Top of the World" restaurant, one of the places to be in the city and probably, the highest restaurant in the world at the time of completion. Then, one could take the escalators to the roof (must have been the 111th level) where the view was much better since one could walk on a walkway along the perimeter of the terrace of the building and thus, have a better all-round view of New York skyline and probably one of the best observation views in the world since due to the flatness of NY's ground terrain, on a cleat day the view could extend over hundreds of miles in each direction on the horizon.
I didn't take many interior views of the building (after all, how could I know?) as I was never the interior pictures guy anyway. Later I regretted this but obviously, it was too late to make up for it...
Anyway, Enjoy!!!
-The North Tower seen from the observation deck of the South tower. The Midtown Manhattan Skyline is visible in the background including the Empire Stare Building in the middle.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC20-small1000x.jpg
-This is what you got when you saw Manhattan from the top of WTC...
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC24-small1000x.jpg
-This is a dream picture for any skyscrapers fan: Midtown Manhattan Skyline with the Empire State Building in the middle. Good old ESB standing among its children... Still, some later additions are notably absent in this picture, including the Bank of America Building and the New York Times Building (designed by Renzo Piano). Visible landmarks include the Rockefeller Center, the former Citicorp Tower with its famous inclined roof, the MetLife (former Pan AM) building and the Chrysler Building among others.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC21-small1000x.jpg
-Turning the camera a bit to the right you can see the UN building, the 59th street bridge and the Roosevelt Island on the East river. Again, the new Trump World Tower (designed by Costas Condylis) in the neighborhood of the UN building is notably absent too as it was not built at the time.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC25-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC22-small1000x.jpg
-The New York City hall among other buildings...
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC23-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC45-small1000x.jpg
-Looking towards Queens and Long Island. The green tower visible to the right is the new Citibank head offices, the first real skyscraper built on Long Island and Queens...
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC42-small1000x.jpg
-Looking towards Brooklyn. Although not impressive as an isolated skyline, it would surely have made an impact in most European cities...
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC31-small1000x.jpg
-Looking towards the Uptown Manhattan Skyscrapers and Governor's island
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC28-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC27-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC26-small1000x.jpg
-Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC37-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC35-small1000x.jpg
-New Jersey
Although according to the sayings of the people back then New Jersey had a relatively lowrise seaside until the late 1980s, it was in the 1990s that a construction boom started, something which is in development at the time these pictures were taken. Today, especially after the completion of the Goldman Sachs skyscraper, the whole region that looks under development here, presents a much denser view which, again, would fit a northern European port like Hamburg or the Hague quite nicely.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC40-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC39-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC38-smalll1000x.jpg
Another big and tall construction theme which is very popular in itself and has admirers and fans as fervent as the ones of tall buildings, are the bridges. Indeed, especially in New York, before the skyscrapers were the bridges. Huge, even by today's standards, they add a lot to the picture and they definitely deserve a closer look. Lots of bridges efficiently connecting the island of Manhattan with the rest of NY's boroughs (many of them located on islands too).
-Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC33-smalll1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC32-smalll1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC30-smalll1000x.jpg
-This must be the Williamsburgh bridge
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC29-small1000x.jpg
-...and next to last but not least, looking to the south we see the king of NY bridges, the Verazzano Bridge. Still making it within the top 10 of the world's longest suspension bridges' spans, the slim line of this engineering feat welcomes all NY visitors since 1964...
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC34-small1000x.jpg
-Finally, here are a few photos depicting how the immediate neighborhood of the WTC looked through the "windows of the world" on the 107th floor. What you see as simcity legoland pictures here would dramatically change the skyline of the majority of the world's cities back then.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC17-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC16-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC15-small1000x.jpg
-The brown building here is the old WTC 7 which was also was destroyed on 911 - 2001...
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC44-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC43-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTC41-small1000x.jpg
4. Epilogue: Trial By Fire...
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTCAttack1BW-small.jpghttp://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/WTCAttack2-small.jpg
(c) Wallace M, Skinner P (2002), World Trade Center: The Giants That Defied the Sky, White Star Publishers, Italy
It must have been past 4:00PM when the phone rang disturbing my complete relaxation while lying on a couch on that sunny Tuesday afternoon. In the past few days we had been lucky to have as visitors a couple of my mother’s cousins from New York whom we have visited a couple of years before that in NY and who happened to be on vacation to the Greek islands the day the phone rang. As for me, I was lucky enough to enjoy a few days off from work and I remember it took me several seconds to reach for the phone while in a half-sleep state of mind and body. However, it only took moments to wake up completely to the most rude awakening in my life, as at the other end of the line was my friend Harry, who in a rather relaxed style asked me the following question:
“Say Greg, there’s some news on TV about a plane that reportedly crashed on one of the twin towers in New York. That’s the building you took your pictures from a couple years ago right?”
Before even thinking about it, I turned on the TV set and saw the North Tower’s top floors in a cloud of smoke while the south Tower looked in tact. The first thought that has crossed my mind is that something similar to the airplane crash on the Empire State Building (http://http://history1900s.about.com/od/1940s/a/empirecrash.htm) some 60 years ago may have happened and that in this case it may have been a twin propelled private plane that lost control while on approach to an airport or something. However, when I turned on the TV I immediately realized that amount of damage to the North Tower did NOT look like it came from a small airplane crash. At that time, my impressions from my visit to New York were still vivid, including the visit to the Twin Towers. Having a fairly good idea about the size of the building, I could understand that it has been hit from something much bigger than a Beechcraft King Air on a stall spin or whatever.
…and it was then, as I was talking to Harry on the phone, that the second explosion took place on the other tower.
I realized then that this was history in the making.
It took me a few minutes to arrive to Harry’s place only to watch the rest of the drama unfold before both our very eyes, the hijacked jet airliners, the strike on the Pentagon, the flight that crashed in Shanksville Pennsylvania, probably after an heroic attempt of the plane’s passengers to regain (?) control of the aircraft from the hijackers as they said…
The days passed, flights with the US resumed and my uncles got back to the US after a dozen days. Still, a bitter taste remained in my mouth about what happened. Having been to NY and the twin towers and having had some of the best times of my life there, Tuesday 9-11 – 2001 was one of the saddest days of my life.
What was also sad, besides the political implications of this story that are out of the scope of this thread, were the various reports about the future of skyscrapers and supertall structures as a result of the 911 events where many nasty authors prophesied that the building type of skyscrapers was reaching an end after 911 as no more tenants would risk their lives being exposed so much to the perils of another terrorist attack worldwide…
In reality it was them that they were forced to swallow the poison they were spitting in these premature writings . Besides its tragic dimensions, the post-911 disaster marked a new era of skyscraper construction where in China alone, the volume of all skyscrapers and highrises built from 1990 onwards equals to the one built in North America from the inception of skyscrapers to the time of this writing!!! Not to mention the fact that highrise and skyscraper construction became a trend that even now that we are in the middle of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s does not seems to slow down. Instead of a symbol of arrogance and vanity as some wanted to present them and against all odds, following 911, a new generation of skyscrapers and supertalls was born where this building typology further established its position as a symbol of progress, urban visualization and creativity as well as continuing the legacy in being an icon of the 21st century civilization, by reaching new heights both structurally as well as aesthetically. Now, there are more than a dozen buildings surpassing the height of the WTC, including today's world’s tallest, the famous Burj Khalifa (Burj Dubai) that reaches the unprecedented height of 823m / 2717ft, that is, exactly twice the height of the World Trade Center twins!!!
And as previously mentioned, although for various reasons most of them are now built in the Far or the Middle East (http://buildingdb.ctbuh.org/), the only exception in the Americas for the time being is in… you guessed right… New York. Indeed, slowly but surely, the site of the World Trade Center is under construction… again. Four giants with the tallest (known as One World Trade center (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=419362)) reaching the symbolic height of 1776 feet / 541,3m (with 1776 being the year of Declaration of the US independence) are now reaching slowly for the skies with the #1 to be expected to top out in 2012. I will say no more, I will simply let the following pictures give us an idea of how the WTC site will look after a few years from now:
All images © Silverstein Properties - http://www.wtc.com/media/images/wtc-renderings
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/NewWTCskylineHudsonRiverviewnight-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/NewWTCskyline-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/NewWTCskyline-Detail-small1000x.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/World%20Trade%20Center/NewWTCskyline-DayView-small1000x.jpg
…however, one needs not to go earlier than a decade ago from the time of this writing to discover that back then there were only a handful of buildings above 400m / 1300ft, three of them located in North America, i.e. the WTC and the Sears Tower (now Willis Tower).
...and is to a great extent the work of these early 1960s and 1970s pioneers (including the architect Minoru Yamasaki and the civil/ construction engineer Leslie Robertson) that also paved the way for the contemporary supertalls to be built, either though inspiration or though controversy and disagreement on the part of their followers who chose to push the envelope further as far as the characteristics of supertall buildings are concerned, even during the adverse times that followed the 911 events.
We will never forget...