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| Harvard Mission: To Regenerate the New York Downtown and World Trade Center site. This is an open forum for discussing the program implications of designing, researching, and planning in the wake of a crisis. Our proposition is to create an analysis for public review and consideration based on humanist criterion not pure economic gain. |
| William LeMessurier Adjunct Professor of Architecture, GSD "World Trade Center Discussion" 1:00 PM, Wed. OCT. 3 @ Harvard Design School |
| Noam Chomsky "The New War Against Terror" Thur. October, 18 2001 7:00pm Room 26-100 @ MIT |
| Peter Eisenman "Memorial and Memory: The World Trade Center and After" Room 10-250 @ MIT 6:30 PM, Tues. OCT. 16 |
| History Channel Special: WTC Oct.25 6:30pm @ GSD |
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| WTC was a complex of seven buildings around a central plaza, near the S tip of Manhattan. Its huge twin towers (completed 1972-73) were designed by Minoru Yamasaki (1912-1986). At 1,350 ft (417 m) and 1,362 ft (415 m) tall, they were the world's tallest buildings until surpassed in 1974 by the Sears Tower. The towers are notable for the relationship of their simple, light embellishment to their underlying structure. In 1993 a bomb planted by terrorists exploded in the underground garage, killing several people. On 9/11/01 both towers were destroyed by a terrorist attack killing over 5000 Americans working in the buildings. Each tower had 104 passenger elevators, 21,800 windows, and roughly an acre of rentable space on each floor. From the observation deck on Two World Trade Center it was possible to see 45 miles in every direction. Each tower swayed approximately three feet from true center in strong wind storms. If all the glass used in the construction of both towers were melted into a ribbon of glass, 20 inches wide, it would have run 65 miles long. |
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| "Rebuilding Lower Manhattan" Joseph B. Rose, Chairman New York City Planning Commission Wed. Nov. 7 @ 6:30pm Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall, Harvard Design School Sponsored by the Department of Urban Planning and Design |
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Renzo Piano comments on the WTC disaster In an interview published in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica on September 21, Piano spoke about skyscraper design in the wake of the World Trade Center attacks. When asked “Is it possible to build safer skyscrapers?” he replied, “We already know how to build skyscrapers that can resist earthquakes. Now we must devise ways to protect buldings from the kind of fires that occurred at the twin towers. The necessary technology exists and is employed at offshore oil-drilling platforms where protective coatings such as polypropylene fibers are used. There’s a need to rethink security systems and make fire egress easier.” Asked what should be built on the WTC site, Piano said, “Whatever is built, there should first be a great deal of thought and reflection. It’s not only an economic issue but a cultural one. What is at stake is saving the soul of a city, its spirit.” |
Photo: Hablik Collection, Itzehoe; Source: The Crystal Chain Letters: Architectural Fantasies by Bruno Taut and His Circle. ed. & trans. by Iain Boyd White, Cambridge: MIT, 1985 |
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| World Trade Center Regeneration |
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| Dr. Sean Ahearn "Charting Ground Zero" Thur. March 14th @ 7pm RM. 111, Harvard Design School |
| Design Images Power Point |