Ask the Architect

What brought the twin towers down?

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Q. What’s your take on why the World Trade Center towers collapsed? It still bothers me that other buildings have had fires and have been hit by planes, but didn’t collapse. Were the towers such a different type of building? I read a theory that the buildings were brought down on purpose. There are videos on the internet about this. It really haunts me to think that might have happened.

A. This is a very sensitive topic. No matter how much time has passed, the 9/11 attacks seem like only a few days ago, and for those who lost loved ones, I cannot imagine the anguish. We should keep in mind, no matter what is studied or revealed about the past, that history is an incomplete record of what might have happened by those who weren’t there. We can, however, learn from the past to avoid the same problems in the future.

Recently, a study was released involving a conclusion many will be uncomfortable, even angry, with, because of the controversy. An international group of scientists and engineers, who stated that a “truly scientific and impartial investigation by responsible authorities” studied the mountains of data to try to understand why not one, but three, buildings collapsed that day, and reached a conclusion that is stunning to many. It has never happened in any other instance.

The study was conducted by Steven Jones, a former physics professor at Brigham Young University; Robert Korol, professor emeritus of civil engineering at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada; Anthony Szamboti, a mechanical design engineer with 25 years of structural design experience in the aerospace and communications industries, and a team of their peer professionals. The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology had launched a study in 2002, and took six years to release a comprehensive report, but it was inconclusive, because this was the only case in which fire and intense heat collapsed three tall buildings. They stated, simply, that fire played a “significant role.”

The researchers concluded that “the only phenomenon capable of collapsing such buildings completely has been by way of a procedure known as controlled demolition, whereby explosives or other devices are used to bring down a structure intentionally.” Before skeptics write emotional letters to the editor, read the article and understand some basic history of the World Trade Center. Go to www.anonews.co/science-911/.

Everyone (or so it seems) who I know had an uncle or a cousin who worked on the construction of the World Trade Center. More than 10,000 people worked on it over a six-year span of time, from 1967 to 1973, so the emotional connection New York has to this landmark and this topic is well understood. What many do not know is the nature of the design, the progressive thought process that went into planning the complex and what contingencies were intended. To be continued next week. Stay tuned.

© 2016 Monte Leeper. Readers are encouraged to send questions to yourhousedr@aol.com, with “Herald question” in the subject line, or to Herald Homes, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530, Attn: Monte Leeper, architect.