World Trade Center

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	World Trade Center 1970 - 2001
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*" We will Rebuild - 9/11/01"* On September 11th 2001,the World witnessed the worst ever act of terrorism. The sickening events of that day,will live in the memory forever.This page is dedicated to the memory of the World Trade Center,the people who lost their lives,and the families whose loved ones will never return home.
The World Trade Center was designed by the late Minoru Yamasaki,in collaboration with Emery Roth & Sons. Initial ground-breaking and construction,began on August 5th,1966. The official ribbon-cutting ceremony took place on April 4th,1973. The WTC was actually a complex of seven buildings,covering a 16 acre site. It was set within a 3ft thick,70ft high retaining wall called the `Bathtub`,which kept out the Hudson River!. Each of the 2 towers rose to 110 storeys,and were covered in silver-coloured aluminium alloy.
The WTC housed offices of 430 businesses,from 26 countries,employing over 50,000 people. The South tower was 1362ft tall,and the North tower was 1368ft tall...topped off with a 100ft antenna!. In 1974,Philipe Petit crossed the towers using a tightrope!.And,in May 1977,George Willig climbed up the side of the WTC using homemade climbing equipment.It was illegal,but gave the building some good publicity!. He probably got the idea from the remake of `King Kong`,which was released in 1976.In the movie,Kong climbs to the top of the WTC.....without climbing equipment...obviously!!.
At the base of the twin towers,was the Austin-Tobin Plaza.This was where a sculpture called `The Sphere` used to stand. Designed by Fritz Koenig,it now stands as a memorial,in Battery Park. Austin-Tobin was the Director of the NY Port Authority at the time. Many dead birds were found at the base of the towers each week...due to the reflective metal and glass making the towers practically invisible to them!. The WTC cost 800 million dollars to build,and each tower had 21,800 windows!. The World Trade Center was built with special lightbulbs,that screwed in anti-clockwise...to prevent staff from taking them home!. The WTC was 100ft higher than New York`s previous highest building..the Empire State Building. Through a cruel twist of fate..the Empire State is once again..the highest building in New York.
From this observation deck,on the South Tower..it was possible to see for over 45 miles!. In strong winds,each tower would sway 3 feet!. The only rock video ever filmed at the top of the WTC,was `Rolling`..by Limp Bizkit!.They filmed it on this observation deck,on the South Tower. On Friday February 26th,1993..a 454kg bomb was left in a van in the underground car-park.It killed 6 people,injured over a 1000,and destroyed several hundred cars. The towers were cleaned,repaired,and open for business less than a month later!. The person behind the attack,was Osama Bin Laden..and he was already planning his next attack on the towers.
On September 11th 2001,at 8.45am,a hijacked American Airlines Boeing767 crashed into floors 94 to 99 of the North Tower. 18 minutes later,at 9.03am,a second plane crashed into floors 78 to84 of the South Tower.The attack on the World Trade Center was,without doubt,THE most sickening act of terrorism that the World has ever seen. The South Tower was thefirst to collapse,at 9.50am. The North Tower was to follow 39 minutes later,at 10.29am. The Towers actually resisted the impact of the two planes,and wouldhave remained standing if it wasn`t for the intense heat and fire. The WTC was built to resist the impact of a Boeing 707,but not a 200 ton 767,travelling at over 300 mph...fully laden with 60,000 pounds of lethal aviation fuel.
No building on Earth..no matter how well it was built..could have survived the flames,and intense 2000 degree heat. The actual heat generated,was equivalent to the output of a nuclear powerplant. The steel melted,causing the floors,coated in 4 inch thickconcrete,to cascade down...taking the rest of the building with them. I`m lucky to have been to the World Trade Center,and looked up at the Towers from the base...and remembering how huge it really was,i still find it difficult to imagine that it`s really ceased to exist. The estimated 300,000 tons of steel from the two towers,were melted down and made into new steel.
To mark the 6th month anniversary of the attacks,88 large spotlights were shone into the night sky, from a site next to Ground Zero.Occupying the space of the former Twin Towers..the`Tribute in Light`,began on March 11th 2002 and lasted for a month. Future plans for the site of the former WTC are still uncertain.Many people want a new twin towers to be built,and many people think it should have a memorial built on it. Personally,i think a memorial should be built,resembling the towers,possibly higher. With a facade of aluminium,but primarily glass,the names of people who lost their lives could be etched into it as a permanent memory of 9/11/01. At night,as a permanent`Tribute in Light`..internal spotlights could light it up..giving New York both a permanent memorial...and it`s identity and famous skyline back.