World Trade Center And Manhattan 1:2 ◎

To build foundations in the wet soil adjacent to the Hudson River, engineers constructed a 3,500-foot-long concrete underground "bathtub". This prevented the Hudson from flooding the excavation site and became a marvel of civil engineering. IV. Economic Symbiosis and the Globalized City

Instead of using a traditional grid of heavy interior columns, engineers Leslie Robertson and John Skilling moved the load-bearing columns to the outside perimeter. This left the floor plates completely open and column-free, offering massive acre-sized workspaces that financial corporations demanded. World trade center and manhattan 1:2

Before the construction of the complex, Lower Manhattan was defined by narrow, winding Dutch-settlement streets and early 20th-century skyscrapers built on small lots with severe setbacks. The WTC broke all established rules of this environment: To build foundations in the wet soil adjacent