The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York divided the history of the United States of America into before and after. The three thousand people killed in the explosion of the Twin Towers is an irreparable loss for the American people. Question: “Who blew up the towers?” For many it remains open to this day. There are too many logical inconsistencies in the official version of the investigation.
Mission Possible?
According to the official version, the twin towers were destroyed due to the explosions of planes that rammed the buildings. The fire that broke out during the attack weakened the metal structures and the building collapsed. Then the same thing happened to another skyscraper.
Ordinary people are still perplexed: how could people from Arab countries, whose names were previously known to the intelligence services, come to the United States, undergo training to pilot passenger Boeings, carry dummy firearms on board aircraft, seize several aircraft at the same time and with an enviable ram several buildings with precision?
This whole operation looks incredible in appearance, but, nevertheless, theoretically it is feasible. Much more complex questions to the commission involved in the investigation are asked by experts who have received the results of analyzes obtained after examining the wreckage of the twin towers. At the scene of the tragedy, traces of explosives and thermite were found - a substance that reaches a temperature of 1500 degrees when burning. But let's talk about everything in order. Let's consider the main conspiracy theories of explosions.
Analysis of building debris taken to landfill Less than a month after the terrorist attack, the US Army invaded Afghanistan, destroying the hotbeds of terrorism, and at the same time writing off its debts, destabilizing the situation in the region and laundering multi-billion dollar investments in the military industry, in which, as it became known during the election campaign Hillary Clinton, Washington “hawks” have not only state, but also personal interests.
The terrorist attack freed the hands of US intelligence services, which received the right to listen to other people's conversations and read other people's letters, not only on their own territory, but in any corner of the world. Even the leaders of the G7 countries have no right to their little secrets from Washington. This was clearly demonstrated by the scandal surrounding phone tapping. Angela Merkel.
There are many supporters of the idea that American intelligence services at least knew about the preparation of terrorist attacks, and most likely played a key role in the preparation. Only with the support of "Big Brother" could Islamic radicals with ties to al-Qaeda find themselves on US soil, receive top-notch flight training, end up on board planes with gun-like items, hijack planes and fly them into the wrong direction. predetermined goals.
Like a house of cards
Looking at the collapse of the Twin Towers, experts agree that it looks a lot like a controlled explosion. Such explosions are used when it is necessary to demolish a large building in a densely populated area of the city. Explosive engineers, having studied the design of the structure, calculate the power of each charge placed at the base of the supporting structures. As a result, the demolished object should fold like a house of cards, so that each wall rushes inward.
When carrying out such events, residents of nearby houses are evacuated just in case. If there is an error in the calculations or some charges do not work, the building, instead of folding inward, may fall on its side, and then the destruction will be much greater than planned. Looking at the video, it’s hard not to be amazed at how neatly and how quickly the towers fold. It looks like real professional explosives experts worked on this.
Well, what about airplanes? After all, thousands of people saw them, and they were captured on film. Proponents of the controlled explosion theory are confident that the planes were needed for a beautiful picture and so that ordinary people would not have questions: how could a bunch of terrorists deliver tons of explosives into two carefully guarded buildings in the center of New York and set the charges in such a way that they would collapse fully?
As for the plane that hit the Pentagon, it may not have been there at all. Images taken immediately after the attack show destruction, but do not show any details of the Boeing. The plane could explode, but it could not dissolve. Large pieces of the fuselage and engines should be visible. In addition, the damage to the building is too minor for a large passenger airliner to invade. They are more reminiscent of the consequences of being hit by a cruise missile, and terrorists simply could not have such missiles.
Who shot down the fourth plane?
There was also a fourth hijacked airliner, which the terrorists planned to aim either at the White House or at the Capitol. But he did not reach his goal. According to the official version, the passengers began to fight the terrorists and, as a result of a fight that broke out on board the plane, the plane crashed to the ground. Some conspiracy theorists are confident that the plane was shot down by the American military. This theory is confirmed by the fact that the debris was scattered at a great distance from each other. But several passengers managed to call their loved ones before the crash; even recordings of these conversations were preserved, confirming the official version.
Small atomic bomb
There are so many different opinions about the September 11 tragedy that some of them are even completely fantastic and incredible. For example, they say in all seriousness that a small bomb was blown up under each building. atomic bomb. Allegedly, the developers who planned to build the Trade Center were given a condition by the New York authorities - to provide for the possibility of dismantling the building. After all, it is clear that sooner or later it will fall into disrepair, and demolishing such a huge structure at that time, as it seemed then, would be much more difficult than building it. And for subsequent dismantling, the builders allegedly placed a nuclear charge under each building. But this theory is easily refuted by critics. On the spot nuclear explosion, even if small, must be observed increased level radiation. But he was not observed.
She's also a victim
According to the official version of the American government, the most painful issue is the third tower that collapsed during the terrorist attack. This skyscraper was called the Seventh Tower of the World Trade Center. This building was not hit by a plane, however, it collapsed overnight, like the two twin towers.
According to the official theory, the cause of the collapse was a fire that spread from neighboring towers. Allegedly, the communications through which water was supplied to the building to automatically extinguish the fire were destroyed, the fire engulfed the building, the structures could not stand it and collapsed.
Half of Americans surveyed a few years ago were unaware that three buildings were destroyed in New York City during the 2001 events. Many of those who know do not believe that the 47-story structure could instantly collapse as a result of a fire. In the United States, activists have repeatedly demanded a new investigation into the case and the publication of the results of the investigation, but the authorities did not hear them or simply did not want to hear them.
16 years have passed since the terrible fall of the Twin Towers in America on September 11, 2001. But the memories of that day still haunt millions of Americans. The destinies of many people were changed forever.
How many people died?
In addition to American citizens, representatives of other countries were also among the dead. Among the dead were 96 citizens from the former Soviet Union. At the end of the search and rescue operations, experts stated that approximately 10,000 fragments of human bones and tissues were found at the site of the fall of the buildings, which significantly increases the initial statistics of the incident. Fragments were found much later, in 2006, when Deutsche Bank was being reconstructed. The average age of the dead was 40 years.
Course of events
On September 9, terrorists hijacked four planes and were able to fly two of them to the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, and one to the Pentagon. The remaining plane crashed in Pennsylvania after the passengers were able to overpower the hijackers.
The day that started out bright blue sky, ended in a twisting mass of smoldering smoke from twisted metal where the huge structures of the shopping center once stood. As a result of this incident, 2977 people died.
People's memory
The tragedy of September 11 happened almost two decades ago. A quarter of Americans are too young to remember this disturbing event. “I have three children who do not remember the incident at all, since they were not born yet. But we, of course, do not want to forget, even as we live and face new challenges,” says one of the Americans.
So, in remembrance of that day, 23 images hang here, serving as reminders of what no American should forget. The tragedy has acquired enormous proportions. Witnesses to what happened can tell a lot.
The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were symbols for New Yorkers. For decades, people looked up to them, and the structures stood firm. It was an encouraging sight. According to the American’s recollections, he visited the towers many times and looked at them many times. On the morning of September 11, he had just finished voting in Brooklyn when he looked up and saw one of the towers on fire. Just minutes later, a second plane crashed into another tower. Something was wrong.
When President George W. Bush was informed of the tragic incident, he was at a school event. The expression on his face, captured in the photograph, expresses almost every emotion. At that time, none of the government members knew what serious consequences this terrorist attack had for the country.
Major fire
The impact of the two fire jets was devastating. It broke the steel structure of the towers and contributed to fires that ultimately led to the destruction of the buildings. Warplanes took to the skies. Every non-military flight in US airspace was ordered to land.
Thousands of people were truly trapped on the upper floors of the towers. Many died instantly when the planes crashed into the buildings, and many more died when fires broke out and towers began to collapse. Some citizens jumped out of windows to escape the fire and smoke. A total of 2,606 people died in the towers.
The weather was wonderful, the sky was bright blue. The wind carried a massive plume of smoke over the city and New York Harbor. “Manhattan looked as if 10 megatons had exploded in it,” British writer Martin Amis later wrote.
Terrible outcome
The structure of the towers was so damaged that their collapse was an inevitable consequence of the impact. At the time, however, no one expected such a terrible outcome. People in the streets around the World Trade Center fled in panic. Buildings began to collapse one by one and fill the streets with rubble and dust.
The fires burned for hours and smoldered for days in a mass of twisting steel and rubble. Lower Manhattan, below 14th Street, will later be closed to non-rescue traffic.
The area around the World Trade Center was a scene of complete devastation. Smoke and dust hung in the air. Countless cars, trucks and rescue vehicles were destroyed.
Destroyed tower structure
The feeling of tragedy was everywhere. The New York City Fire Department lost its chaplain, Reverend Michael, who was killed by falling debris.
Little remains of the elegant facades of the Twin Towers, which Japanese architect Minoru Yamasaki designed to include narrow window openings and soaring arches.
Two 110-story towers overlooking the city were compressed into a twisted mass of molten metal. Welders spent months cutting away steel so the damaged structure could be dismantled.
Rescue work
The New York City Fire Department rushed to the scene and suffered incredibly high casualties as they tried to rescue people from the burning towers. As a result, 343 brigade members died during the suppression operation. The strong men could not stand it; tears kept running down their cheeks.
In the following days, rescuers arrived in New York from neighboring cities and states. The sight of the bodies in the rubble brought indescribable horror. A contrasting sign of indomitability was the moment when American flags were raised over the site of the tragedy.
Loved ones have posted photos of missing friends and family members in the desperate hope that they might be alive.
Tragedy brought everyone together
A city coming together is something many Americans have never seen. Citizens lined the streets to cheer on the National Guard and rescue workers as they arrived in Manhattan for the mission that became known as Ground Zero.
The Americans were consumed by a thirst for revenge. Soon national troops were stationed in Afghanistan.
These attacks were not limited to New York. The Pentagon was also hit hard, killing 125 people.
The view of the Pentagon was also terrifying, but the military headquarters building itself did not collapse.
A new tower rose to Ground Zero along with a memorial. This gave many Americans a sense of pride when it opened. But this is not enough to make people forget this terrible day, on which many lives were cut short. America itself at this moment changed radically.
The new architecture of lower Manhattan stands proudly above New York City. Here is the famous Oculus, from where you can once again look at the endless space of the city from above.
Commemorative Memorial
In memory of the enormous losses of the 2001 terrorist attacks, a museum was opened in New York, the exhibition of which is constantly expanding. According to American media reports, the memorial was visited by more than 900 thousand people.
Here you can see fragments of the steel frame of skyscrapers, a mangled fire truck that participated in putting out the fire, many photographs depicting those killed on that ill-fated day and stunning videos.
Viewers can also see the jacket of a fighter who took part in the elimination of the largest terrorist Osama bin Laden, and a symbolic coin that belonged to the CIA officer who tracked down the dangerous terrorist.
The exhibits on display at the memorial provide citizens with an opportunity to pay tribute to the courage of the many people who sacrificed their lives for their country.
2 WTC: 415 m.
3 WTC: 73.7 m.
4 and 5 WTC: 36 m.
6 WTC: 32 m.
7 WTC: 186 m.
2 WTC: 411 m.
3 WTC: 22 floors
4 and 5 WTC: 9 floors
6 World Trade Center: 8 floors
7 World Trade Center: 47 floors
4, 5, and 6 WTC: 50,000 m2
7 WTC: 170,000 m2
Emery Roth and Sons
World Trade Center(English) World Trade Center), abbr. The World Trade Center is a complex of seven buildings designed by Minoru Yamasaki, an American architect of Japanese origin, and officially opened on April 4, 1973 in New York (USA). The architectural dominant of the complex were two towers, each with 110 floors - North (417 m high, and taking into account the antenna installed on the roof - 526.3 m) and South (415 m high). On September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center complex was destroyed in a terrorist attack. For some time after the completion of construction, the towers were the tallest skyscrapers in the world (before that, the tallest building was the Empire State Building, which, after the destruction of the World Trade Center, again became the tallest building in New York). Sometimes these towers are called “a symbol of US global dominance.”
History and construction
View of the window of one of the twin towers. It can be seen that the entire outer cladding consists of huge steel rods.
Minoru Yamasaki conceived the World Trade Center project in 1962; in January 1964, the architect, commissioned by the Port Authority, created drawings of the buildings; a little later that year, he presented a 1:130 life-size model for discussion, and two years later (5 August 1966) powerful excavators began to dig a foundation pit.
Before the twins, skyscrapers in New York were built on a natural stone base. Manhattan is truly made of stone, it has stone and granite under a layer of earth, this can be seen when you watch the construction of new houses: pits here are not dug, but cut down, gnawed out with the steel teeth of loggers.
The first problem that the engineers encountered was that there was no footstone in the place where the twins were supposed to stand. Instead, they found artificial, alluvial soil that previously “belonged” to the Hudson River. This soil was a large number of artificial earth, mixed with layers of cobblestones, sand, gravel, pebbles, even old ships were found in artificial soil. The builders were in despair: additional difficulties, additional costs, additional concrete.
This was not the only problem that beset the architect and engineers. The next problem that befell them was the 164 large and small, narrow and wide buildings, most often made of stone, that stood on the site of the future World Trade Center and had to be demolished. It was not difficult to take them down, but the problem still remained after that. It was much more difficult to leave intact and then move a rich and complex system of underground communications, a fire alarm system, multi-core telephone and electrical cables, gas, heat, pneumatic and water pipes, not to touch the nearby expressway and preserve numerous pedestrian roads and transitions.
Another problem was the underground station railway, from here starting an underwater route to New Jersey, which carries hundreds of thousands of people to and from work. If the road were closed, New York and the entire United States would face inevitable economic problems. The subway transported people until a new underground station was built in the lower tier of the complex.
This is not to say that the work of the builders was easy. That only 1.2 million cubic meters cost. yards of earth that had to be dug up and hauled away. Instead, under the twins, the so-called Plaza was created - an underground space where there were numerous restaurants and banks, travel agencies, airline ticket offices, shops, a new station of the New Jersey road, much better than the previous one, warehouses, technical workshops for servicing the twins and an underground garage for two thousand cars.
Faced with the challenge of constructing a building of unprecedented height, engineers adopted an innovative structural model: a rigid "hollow tube" of closely spaced steel columns, with floor trusses extending outward toward the center. Along the outer surface of each of the four sides of the building, 61 steel beams ran along the entire height, between which cables were also stretched along the entire height. The columns, clad in silver aluminum alloy, were 476.25mm wide and set just 558.8mm apart, making the towers appear from a distance to have no windows at all. The load-bearing walls were assembled from prefabricated steel blocks, each weighing 22 tons, height 36 feet (4 floors high), width 10 feet. The steel embedded in Gemini weighed two hundred thousand tons in total.
As the twins grew, installers laid interfloor floors from special, pre-prepared corrugated steel and durable concrete slabs. The ceilings were attached to the external load-bearing walls from the outside and to the internal, the only steel columns in the twins with a purely useful function - they were erected to attach internal elevators.
The elevator system used in the buildings was also unique. The Twin Towers were the first supertall buildings designed without masonry. Concerned that the intense air pressure generated by high-speed elevators could bend standard shafts, engineers developed a solution using a "dry wall" system anchored in a reinforced steel base. Elevators with a standard configuration to serve 110 floors could require half the area of the lower rooms to accommodate the shafts. Otis Elevators developed a fast and compact system in which passengers would take turns in "sky lobbies" on the 44th and 78th floors, cutting the number of shafts in half. In total, the World Trade Center complex had 239 elevators and 71 escalators, which were controlled by a computer center from the Port Authority. Each elevator with a lifting capacity of 4536 kilograms could lift 55 people with a lifting speed of about 8.5 meters per second.
Laying the foundation in the dug pit began with the northern tower in August 1968, including by Italian workers, who started work at 8 am and worked until 15:30 with a 40-minute break for lunch at a normal rate, and after half past three they worked at double rates: the foreman received $40 per hour or, respectively, $80 per hour of work in the evening, and overtime was the rule, not the exception. Construction proceeded quickly, despite the difficulties with financing that arose every now and then. New York City Budget 1965−1970 was 6 billion dollars. To raise money to invest in the construction of the Trade Center, the city issued bonds with a guarantee of their repayment. But in 1970, New York suffered a financial crisis. The deadline for paying off the bonds has also arrived. The construction was almost frozen. To save the situation, new, increased taxes in the business sector had to be introduced. Another source of money was found: they began to rent out future Gemini premises for offices. And they were expected to be huge - 100 thousand square meters. m. We finally managed to get out of all the difficulties. The north tower was completed in 1971, the south tower in 1973. The grand opening of the World Trade Center took place on April 4, 1973.
The cross-section of the towers was square, with a side of 65 m. Each tower was 110 floors. The foundations of the structures went 23 m underground. 200 thousand tons of rolled steel were spent on the building frames, and electrical network cables, with a total capacity of 80,000 kilowatts, stretched for 3 thousand miles - half the distance from New York to London, across the Atlantic. The structure of the buildings was simple and reasonable. The facades are made in the form of steel frames and modular aluminum sections mounted on them measuring 3.5 × 10 m, manufactured by factory stamping. This design is earthquake-resistant and can withstand very strong wind pressure. high altitude. According to the architects, each World Trade Center tower could withstand collisions with several aircraft, but on September 11, 2001, both WTC towers collapsed to the ground.
Fire February 13, 1975
On February 13, 1975, three fire alarms sounded on the 11th floor of the North Tower. The fire spread through the central empty pipes to the 9th and 14th floors due to the fire of telephone wires in the shaft located vertically between the floors. Those areas where the fire penetrated through the wires were extinguished almost immediately; the fire was contained within a few hours. Most of the damage occurred on the 11th floor, where the fire started in a cabinet filled with paper, printing fluid and other office equipment. Fire-resistant treatment of the steel against melting saved the frame itself, and no structural damage was caused to the tower. In second place in terms of damage caused were the lower floors, which suffered not so much from the fire as from the fire foam. At that time, the World Trade Center did not have a fire suppression system.
Terrorist attack on February 26, 1993
Destruction in the basement
On February 26, 1993, at 12:17 p.m., a truck carrying 680 kg of explosives, driven by Ramzi Yusef, drove into the World Trade Center. It exploded in the underground garage of the North Tower. As a result, the blast wave made a hole with a diameter of 30 m through 5 underground floors, causing the maximum damage to levels B1 and B2 in their entire history and significant damage to level B3. Six people were killed (including during a stampede to exit) and another 50,000 workers and visitors were unable to breathe due to lack of oxygen on the towers' 110 floors. Many people inside the North Tower had to climb down dark stairs, some taking more than two hours.
Yusef fled to Pakistan shortly after the bombing, but was arrested in Islamabad in February 1995 and extradited to the United States for trial. Sheikh Omar Abdel Raman was accused in 1996 of participating in the bombing and other conspiracies. Yousef and Aid Izmoil were sentenced to life in prison in 1997 for their involvement in the bombing. Four more were also sentenced for their participation in the explosion in May 1994. According to the court, the goal of the conspirators was to completely destabilize the North Tower, followed by the South Tower - that is, the complete destruction of both towers.
After the explosion, it was necessary to restore the damaged floors, especially since they carried structural loads and were supporting. The liquid cement wall was in danger after the explosion, and the metal plates that prevented the pressure of the Hudson's water on the other side were also lost. The cooling plant on sublevel B5, which supplied air to the entire World Trade Center complex, was disabled.
After the attack, port authorities installed photoluminescent signs on the walls. The fire notification system had to be completely replaced due to the original system's wiring and alarm system failing. In memory of the victims, a reflective pond was created with the names of those killed in the explosion. As a result of the September 11 terrorist attack, the memorial was destroyed. A new memorial, common to the victims of the explosion and the terrorist attack, will appear in the new complex being built on the site of the former World Trade Center.
Destruction of September 11, 2001
On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 and deliberately crashed it into the North Tower at 08:46 (from the north façade, between the 93rd and 99th floors). Seventeen minutes later, a second group of terrorists crashed the same stolen United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower (floors 77-85). Due to the destruction caused to the North Tower by the plane's body, all exits from the building above the collision site were completely blocked, resulting in 1,344 people trapped. The impact of the second plane, unlike the first, was closer to the corner of the skyscraper, and one stairwell remained undamaged. However, few people managed to go down it unhindered before the structure collapsed. But still, despite the fact that the plane hit the South Tower below, less than 700 people were trapped between floors or killed at once - much less than in the North. At 9:59 a.m., the South Tower collapsed due to a fire that damaged the steel structure, already weakened by the collision with the aircraft. The north tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m. after a fire that lasted 102 minutes.
At 17:20 on September 11, 2001, the east penthouse of the seventh building of the World Trade Center (WTC-7) collapsed, and at 17:21 the entire building collapsed due to the fact that spontaneous fires irreversibly destroyed its structure. The third building of the World Trade Center, the Marriott Hotel (WTC 3), was hit by the falling Twin Towers. The three remaining buildings in the complex were seriously damaged by falling debris and were eventually demolished because they were beyond repair.
The Deutsche Bank building on the other side of Liberty Street, opposite the World Trade Center complex, was later declared uninhabitable due to the high content of toxic compounds in the premises; This building is now dismantled. Manhattan Community College's Fiterman Hall at 30 West Broadway is also slated for demolition due to extensive damage sustained in the attack.
After the terrorist attack, media reported that tens of thousands of people could have been injured, as there could have been over 50,000 people in the complex during normal working hours. As a result of the 9/11 terrorist attack, 2,752 death certificates were issued, including in the name of Felicia Dunn-Jones, whose death was registered only in May 2007; Dunn-Jones died five months after the attack due to a terrible lung condition caused by clouds of flying dust during the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings. Two more victims were later added to the official death toll: doctor Sneha Anne Philip, who was last seen the day before the attack, and Leon Hayward, who died in 2008 from lymphoma caused by breathing dust-laden air. raised during the collapse of the Twin Towers. The investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald L.P., located on floors 101-105 of the World Trade Center, lost 658 employees - more than any other institution, even the Marsh and McLennan Companies, located directly below the bank's premises on floors 93-101 (where the plane crashed terrorists) and lost 295 people. In third place in terms of human losses (175 people) is Aon Corporation. Another 343 New York City firefighters, 84 employees of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, including 37 employees of the Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) and 23 officers of the New York Police Department, also died. Of all those people who were in the towers at the time of their collapse, only 20 people were extracted alive, including PAPD police officers Will Jimeno and John McLaughlin (the eighteenth and nineteenth survivors).
Consequences
As a result, all seven buildings of the complex were destroyed: the three tallest buildings (North Tower, South Tower and WTC-7) collapsed, the Marriott Hotel was almost completely destroyed by the debris of WTC-1 and WTC-2, the other three buildings suffered such damage that they were deemed unfit for restoration and were later demolished. Also, as a result of the collapse of WTC-2, irreparable damage was caused to the 40-story Deutsche Bank building, which is currently being dismantled.
A memorial complex was erected on the site of the collapsed twin towers.
Buildings of the new complex
- Freedom Tower 1 )
- 200 Greenwich Street (Tower 2 )
- 175 Greenwich Street (Tower 3 )
- 150 Greenwich Street (Tower 4 )
- 130 Liberty Street (Tower 5 )
- World Trade Center Transportation Hub
Notes
- Builders: World Trade Center towers collapsed due to “pancake effect”
- 9/11 Commission Report. The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Archived
- Dwyer, Jim, Lipton, Eric et al.. 102 Minutes: Last Words at the Trade Center; Fighting to Live as the Towers Die, The New York Times(May 26, 2002). Archived from the original on October 10, 2008. Retrieved May 23, 2008.
- NIST NCSTAR 1-1 (2005), p. 34; pp. 45-46
- FEMA 403 -World Trade Center Building Performance Study, Chapter. 5, section 5.5.4 (PDF). Archived from the original on August 27, 2011. Retrieved January 30, 2011.
- Final Report on the Collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 - Draft for Public Comment xxxii. NIST (August 2008). Archived from the original on August 27, 2011.
- World Trade Center Building Performance Study. FEMA (May 2002). Archived
- World Trade Center Building Performance Study - Bankers Trust Building. FEMA (May 2002). Archived from the original on August 26, 2011. Retrieved July 12, 2007.
- The Deutsche Bank Building at 130 Liberty Street Archived from the original on August 26, 2011. Retrieved July 12, 2007.
- Fiterman Hall - Project Updates. Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center. Archived from the original on August 26, 2011. Retrieved November 19, 2008.
- DePalma, Anthony. For the First Time, New York Links a Death to 9/11 Dust, The New York Times(May 24, 2007).
- Official 9/11 Death Toll Climbs By One, CBS News(July 10, 2008). Retrieved August 29, 2010.
- Foderaro, Lisa W.. 9/11"s Litany of Loss, Joined by Another Name (September 11, 2009). Retrieved August 29, 2010.
- Siegel, Aaron. Industry honors fallen on 9/11 anniversary, InvestmentNews(September 11, 2007). Retrieved May 20, 2008.
- Lung Ailments May Force 500 Firefighters Off Job, The New York Times(September 10, 2002). Retrieved May 23, 2008.
- Post-9/11 report recommends police, fire response changes (August 19, 2002). Retrieved May 23, 2008.
- Police back on day-to-day beat after 9/11 nightmare, CNN(July 21, 2002). Retrieved May 23, 2008.
- The premiere of Oliver Stone's film took place in New York. Radio Liberty(August 07, 2006). Retrieved March 5, 2011.
see also
- World Trade Center Memorial
- List of World Trade Centers List of world trade centers )
Links
- Official website (English)
- Genis, Alexander. September 11: Images of Tragedy (about the book: David Friend, Watching the World Change), Radio Liberty(September 13, 2006). Retrieved March 5, 2011.
- Genis, Alexander. September 11: “Day of Gemini”, Radio Liberty(September 08, 2008). Retrieved March 5, 2011.
- Kopeikin, Anatoly. I keep looking somewhere in the sky, as if I was looking for an answer, or Amazing story, Russian thought(June 06-12, 2002). Retrieved March 5, 2011.
| Supertall buildings (see also list of buildings over 100 floors) | |
|---|---|
| Built | |
| In progress construction |
23 Marina 175 Greenwich Street Abdul Ahmed Rahim Al Attar Tower Al Hamra Tower Al Yaquob Tower APIIC Tower Central Market Project China 117 Tower DAMAC Heights Diamond Tower Gift D1 Tower Dubai Towers Doha Elite Residence Emirates Park Towers Faros del Panamá |
Twin Towers: History, Pride and Tragedy of America
Buildings, like people, have something in common. Some live simple lives unnoticed by most and, when they die, remain in the memory of only their closest relatives. Others are visible, admired or hated; at least many people know them. When they die, they remain part of history, living in the minds of millions, even after passing into eternity, influencing the living.
It was the second option that fate chose for the famous skyscrapers, the Twin Towers in New York. Blown up as a result of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, these buildings seem to continue to exist: everyone knows them, remembers them, they continue to be replicated in thousands of photographs. In the end, they still subtly influence the life of a huge metropolis, and the United States as a whole.
Construction of the Twin Towers
It's easy to build, difficult to negotiate. Any building in the world, even a country house, is born not on a construction site, but in the minds of its creators. The World Trade Center in New York was no exception, the architectural and visual dominance of which were two skyscrapers, immediately called towers: North and South.
The idea of building a grandiose complex was born in the USA during the Second World War. By 1944, it became clear that as a result, there was only one state left in the Western world that managed not only to maintain its economic power, but to significantly strengthen it, especially against the backdrop of destroyed Europe and Japan. America became this state. It did not take much intelligence to understand the simple truth: in the coming decades the country will become a superpower and will develop rapidly. And it will need a large financial and trading complex.
But a lot of time passed before the idea began to turn into reality. There were two main reasons.
The first is the heated arms race and the Cold War, which required colossal financial investments.
The second is a clash of economic interests of several influential US groups, as well as two states, New Jersey and New York. In addition, the construction of the Center assumed the emergence of new skyscrapers that would exceed the height of the Empire State Building, the pride of the city, the tallest building in the world. The financial groups that controlled this building were not at all eager for the emergence of a formidable competitor.
And only by the beginning of the 60s were all commercial, image and financial issues managed to be settled. The Rockefeller brothers, David and Nelson, played a significant role in this. Using their influence, connections and money, the brothers began to build the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.
The entire complex, including the twin towers, was designed by several powerful design companies, but Japanese-American Minoru Yamasaki was chosen as the lead architect, the father of the project.
Before starting work on this project, Yamasaki completed several serious works in different cities of the United States, although he was not one of the most venerable professionals in the country. A proponent of Gothic modernism, strongly influenced by the architecture of Le Corbusier, the Japanese drew attention to the small ancient twin towers in the Italian town of San Gimignano, taking them as a model for his task.
And the master’s task was simple: to create something that would have 5 times more office space than the Empire State Building. After going through several possible options, Yamasaki came to the final one: two slender towers with a square cross-section, shaped like parallelepipeds.
The entire construction process can be divided into the following stages:
- design: 1962 - 1965;
- cleaning and preparing the area for construction - from March to August 1966;
- August 1966 - start of excavation work, excavation of soil for the base of the towers;
- installation of the last load-bearing element of the buildings - December 1970 (North Tower), July 1971 (South Tower);
- grand opening of the complex - April 4, 1974.
At the end of construction, the towers turned out to be the tallest buildings in the world, each with 110 floors. The upper elevation of the South was 415 meters, the North was 2 meters higher, and it was also decorated with an antenna with an elevation of 526.3 meters.
Among other things, the appearance of the towers launched a real race of skyscrapers that began in the world. Looking ahead a little, we can say that on the site of the fallen “candles” the Americans built a new World Trade Center, which is crowned by the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. However, now it is only the fourth in a cohort of giant buildings.
The unusual face of the Twin Towers
Continuing the analogy we started, we can say that, like people, outstanding buildings also have their own records and unique life events. They are also available at the Yamasaki Towers. Here are some of them:
- During the construction of the buildings, deep 20-meter pits were dug to get to the “bedrock” rock. The earth from the excavations was used for an artificial embankment, on which several buildings of the World Financial Center were subsequently built.
- The design of the towers is based on hundreds of large and small steel pipes, creating a special frame that is resistant to wind and seismic vibrations.
- The facade of the buildings is replete with a huge number of narrow windows, only 56 cm wide. Yamasaki suffered from a fear of heights, and designed the windows so that any person, approaching the window sill, could easily rest against the slopes of the window opening, which would create a special feeling of reliability.
- Each of the towers had 103 elevators, of which 6 were freight. Some passenger elevators were high-speed, some were ordinary. For the transition from the first to the second, platforms on the 44th and 78th floors were used.
- Immediately after the construction of the towers, they received derogatory criticism from the world's leading architects. The city residents didn’t really like the buildings either. But gradually they got used to them and even began to be proud of them. The Eiffel Tower in Paris had approximately the same fate.
- The first attempt to destroy the buildings was made in 1993. Then, in the garage of the North Tower, underground, a truck with more than half a ton of explosives was blown up.
In the end, the terrorists managed to blow up unusual buildings. But, having destroyed them, did they destroy the very idea, the desire of man to conquer, to create something unusual? After all, it is inherent in human nature itself.
And, perhaps, the daring Frenchman Philippe Petit said this very well, who in August 1974 managed to walk 8 times in a row (!) on a rope stretched between two towers, while dancing and even lying down: “Lying on the rope, I saw very close above you is a seagull. And I remembered the myth of Prometheus. Here, at this height, I invaded her space, proving that a person can be compared with a bird ... "
Few people know that during the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, not only the famous New York Twin Towers were destroyed. The explosions affected a huge area. Several more skyscrapers that were part of the World Trade Center complex and the Marriott Hotel collapsed. The place where towers and other buildings used to rise was nicknamed “zero mark” by the townspeople. Despite the fact that the whole of America was having a hard time experiencing the September attack, work to restore this site began already in 2001. To date, new majestic structures have appeared on the site of the destroyed Trade Center.
Freedom Tower
One of the initial tasks set by the New York administration for engineers and city planners was the creation of a new World Trade Center building. After much debate, Daniel Libeskind's project was chosen from among all the options. The architect proposed placing the offices of the World Trade Center in a mirrored skyscraper topped with a thin spire. Construction began only in 2006, and in 2014 the tower was inaugurated. Today, the Freedom Tower is the tallest building in America. Its height is 541 meters or 1776 feet (according to the architect’s idea, the number 1776 should symbolize the year the US Declaration of Independence was signed).
In the spring of 2016, a new transport hub, Oculus, was opened in front of the Freedom Tower, connecting 11 metro lines, an above-ground railway station and ferry crossing. According to the architect Santiago Calatrava, the station building resembles a dove taking off, spreading its wings.
In the center of the structure there is a huge oval hall - the “Oculus”, which gives the name to the entire structure. Along the circumference of the hall there are steel piles converging at a height of 120 meters. The majestic building has already been called the most expensive metro station in the world. According to experts, over 250 thousand people will pass through Oculus every day.
9/11 Memorial and Museum
Discussions about the construction of a memorial began in the fall of 2001. A special commission examined thousands of proposed projects. By early 2004, architect Michael Arad was declared the winner of the competition. The memorial, called Reflective Absence, features two huge square pools paved with granite. The swimming pools are located strictly in the places where the foundations of the destroyed towers were located. The names of all 2,977 victims are engraved on the outer granite walls, and water flows endlessly along the inner walls, flowing into square holes in the center. The memorial is surrounded by white oak trees, and the famous “surviving tree” also grows here - a pear that was found under the rubble of the World Trade Center.
Next to the memorial there is a small, bright building - the 9/11 Museum. Here you can see fragments of structures and cars destroyed by the explosion, personal belongings of the victims, photographs from the scene of the tragedy. The remains of still unidentified victims are kept in the same building.