Survey: Rebuild the Twin Towers, or make the area a memorial park

[Jeff H]

If they rebuild they should add some kind of erea for a memorial erea. I think they will.

 

[swamp rat]

If/when they rebuild, the engineers might consider changing the structural support design to be able to withstand more pounding, even if the exterior appearance remains unchanged. Afterall New York has had an earthquake or two over the years, and much more stringent earthquake codes would definitely be in order.

 

[Joe G.]

I saw an interview of some engineer on CNN yesterday. He said the towers were built to withstand a crash by an airliner and they did. What brought the towers down was the heat of the fire softening the steel. The reconstruction of these towers and other new tall buildings will deal with the problem according to that guy.

 

[JConley]

The picture of the towers with the new design is fantastic!!! What a way to send a message.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Engineering Marvels

I also heard the kinetic force of each airplane striking a tower (taking into account airplane weight, velocity and the fact they were loaded with fuel) was equivalent to 1/20th of that of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Like Joe G. said, the towers took the impact of the collision just fine, it was the ferocious 2000F jet fuel fire that ensued that led to their demise. The steel used in the towers would begin to lose its strength at 800F and begin to melt at only 1500F. As tragic as this was, the fact the towers stood for roughly an hour after impact literally saved TENS of thousands of lives.



I agree the buildings should be rebuilt to be the tallest in the world. WTC Tower 1 was 1362 feet and Tower 2 = 1368 feet, which was only 100 feet or so less than the Petronas towers. But one thing the Twin Towers had over the Petronas Towers. . . Floor Space at the top. The Petronas Towers taper down considerably by the time you reach the top and have nowhere near the WTC square footage on the top floors.



If there is anything "cool" about this terrible tragedy, it is that NYC STILL has the 2nd tallest building in the United States. . . the 102-story, 1250 foot Empire State Building Of the numerous skyscrapers around the world surpassing the 1000 foot mark, only the Empire State Building was built before 1974. It was completed way back in 1931 . What is more remarkable, it took only a year and a few days to build the entire structure.



Vaughn

 

[Chris N5CWM]

Good post Vaughn!

Great post. The Empire State Building is

awesome! I went to the top of it in '90.

Never did get to the top of the WTC; wish

now that I would have taken the time.



-Chris

 

[John]

that's the one!

Thank's for posting the pic I was describing gitchesum.

 

[wedodgediesel]

rebuild with memorial at base of the towers

 

[radixr]

Rebuild?

Something to consider before rushing into a decision to rebuild the towers is: -- Would enough tenents want to return (especially to the upper floors) to make it financially feasible? I don't like the thought of the terrorist b******s winning one but it doesn't make sense to build two huge white elephants as a memorial to those who died.