In memory of
The World Trade Center New York, New York
Built 1970 - 1977
Minoru Yamaski & Associates, Architect, with Emery Roth and Sons
Designed for strength, demolished by terrorist attack
on September 11, 2001
"The World Trade Center is a living symbol of man's dedication to world peace." --Minoru Yamasaki, chief architect
The World Trade Center consisted of two 110-story buildings (known as the "Twin Towers") and five smaller buildings. The buildings were light, economical structures designed to keep the wind bracing on the outside surfaces. Architect Minoru Yamasaki studied over a hundred models before adopting the twin tower plan. Plans for a single tower were rejected because the size was cumbersome and impractical. Plans for several towers "looked too much like a housing project," Yamasaki said. The World Trade Center Towers were among the tallest buildings in the world, and contained nine million square feet of office space.
Construction of the World Trade Center Twin Towers
Tower One was 1,368 feet (414 meters) tall
Tower Two was 1,362 feet (412 meters) tall
Each tower was 64 m square
Each tower stood 411 m above street level
The Towers rested on solid bedrock and the foundations extended 21 m below grade
The Towers had a height-to-width ratio of 6.8.
The Tower facades were constructed of aluminum and steel lattice
Each tower used a lightweight tube construction with 244 closely spaced columns on the outer walls
A 80 cm tall web joist connected the core to the perimeter at each floor
Concrete slabs were poured over the web joists to form the floors
There were no interior columns in the Tower office spaces
Each tower contained 104 passenger elevators
Each tower had 21,800 windows
Each tower weighed about 500,000 tons
About 50,000 people worked in the World Trade Center complex
Why the World Trade Center Towers Fell
Engineers who studied the Twin Towers after the September 11 attacks explain why the buildings stood as long as they did, and why they eventually collapsed.
World Trade Center Reconstruction Find news, links, photos, and structural information in our master index of World Trade Center information.
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