September 11 Attacks
On 11th September 2001, two hijacked planes crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City. Both of the towers were destroyed while another flew into the Pentagon and crashed into a field in Stoneycreek Township, Pennsylvania. As many as 2,996 people died and more than 6,000 were injured. A1-Qaeda, a terrorist group set up by Osama bin-Laden were the perpetrators of the attack and in May 2011, bin Laden was
killed in Pakistan.
What caused the Twin towers to collapse?
As you know the Twin Towers in New York were destroyed when two hijacked planes crashed into them on 11th September 2001. You're probably wondering what caused them to collapse by 10:29AM Eastern time.
Well, the planes crashed into the towers at speeds of 550mph. The first plane crashed between the 93rd and 99th floors of the North Tower while
the second plane crashed between the 77th and 85th floors of the South Tower.
The impact of the planes blasted the fireproofing off the buildings' steel core columns which now made them vulnerable to fires like the ones started from the collision.
As the fires reached temperatures of 1,5000 Fahrenheit (815.5560 Celsius), the integrity of the steel is melted away.
At 9:59AM Eastern time, the South tower is the first of the two to collapse when the core columns buckled which caused the floors to sag. This was too much pressure for the floors below the damaged area which had to hold up the top floors and thus, it collapsed with each floor pancaking on top Of each other.
Similarly, the North Tower collapsed at 10.28AM and as it fell, the top floors collapsed into the rubble and were destroyed by the fall. There were some 1.8 million tons of debris left from the collapse of the towers. A lot of it was sent to Fresh Kills landfill while several other chunks have been used to create 9/11 memorials in all 50 US States. Today, an elegant memorial stands in the towers place.
Who designed the Twin Towers?
Who designed the Twin Towers?
The attacks of September 11 2001 brought America to a standstill as the twin towers which collapsed after two hijacked planes were driven into them. In the aftermath, many people decided to look up and research about the history of the towers before they were destroyed. One of the people they looked up about was the architect of the towers, Minoru Yamasaki.
Minoru was born in 1912 to Japanese immigrants in Seattle,
Washington. He experienced racism and prejudice for being of
Japanese descent in his youth. After graduating from University of
Seattle's architectural programme, Minoru worked as an engineer
and a draftsman before getting a master's degree in architecture at
New York University. His first job was working for the designers
behind the Empire State Building, Shreve, and Lamb & Harmon who
helped him with avoiding internment (prison without trial) during
the Second World War After working at various other architectural
firms, Minoru started his own partnership with one of his first
designs being a bakery in Detroit, Michigan. Minoru was inspired by
Gothic architecture which features include ribbed vaults, ornate
decoration, and pointed arches. He was also known for his usage of
narrow vertical windows. In fact, the narrow windows reflected his
fear of heights so when he was designing the Twin Towers in the
1960s, he designed them with narrow windows so the buildings'
occupants would feel secure inside. Minoru also designed the
towers with framed tube structures which saw the stairwells and
the lift shafts being housed within the middle of the towers so
tenants would have an open floor plan uninterrupted by walls or
pillars. The Twin Towers had 110 floors to comply with the Port
Authority's requirement for office space to be 10,000,000 square
feet (930,000 m2). Designing the Twin Towers was the commission
of a lifetime for Minoru, he could not turn it down while
understanding that it was too big of a job for his office.
At first, people were not happy with the World Trade Center project's
conception but the critical reception shifted dramatically as the project
progressed. The North Tower opened first in December 1970 while the
South Tower opened in January 1972.
Minoru also designed the Rainer Tower in Seattle, 100 Washington
Square in Minneapolis and Torre Picasso in Madrid. Minoru died in 1986
from stomach cancer, 15 years before his iconic Twin Towers were
obliterated by Al-Qaeda hijacked planes. A new tower stands in the
same plaza where the Twin Towers were called the One World Trade
Center while two reflecting pools stand on the exact points of the plaza
where the towers were with the names of those who died in scripted on
bronze parapets.