Hi! It's me, Winter Garden speaking. They elected me as the spokesperson for the entire World Financial Center (WFC) New York complex. It's ok with me. I probably know more stuff than the tall guys anyway.
Here is a map of the WFC complex
[qimg]http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/imagehosting/1363948858597e198e.gif[/qimg]
Well, let's get straight to the point. The World Financial Center, which is located at the forefront of Lower Manhattan, encompasses over eight million square feet including the four unique, 34 to 51-story towers and me, the 45,000-square foot 10-story Winter Garden, all designed by architect Cesar Pelli.
Here are the four towers
[qimg]http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/imagehosting/136394885857436def.jpg[/qimg]
And here are WFC 2, 3, 4, and me the glass roofed Winter Garden
[qimg]http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/imagehosting/136394885857488e57.jpg[/qimg]
Each tower is defined by geometrically shaped copper roofs. The four towers have large floor plans, and are steel-framed structures with granite-clad curtain wall facades. The office towers house the world headquarters of international corporations, including American Express, Merrill Lynch, Dow Jones, and Deloitte. Public spaces connecting the office towers include myself and the Courtyard. We have provided venues for many notable events. The World Financial Center nowadays features over 30 specialty shops, restaurants and services.
I'm sure the others won't mind if I take a little time telling more about myself and the courtyard. I, Winter Garden,
am a 10-story enclosed glass atrium
structure with a glass and steel telescopic barrel vault roof, featuring an enormous indoor sanctuary with a cascading marble semicircular staircase, fashioned of Italian marble, leading to a grove of 45-foot palm trees.
[qimg]http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/imagehosting/136394885859819296.jpg[/qimg]
The Courtyard, with restaurants and bars designed to look like they occupy an outdoor courtyard, have "open-air" seating that protrudes beyond the restaurants' awnings. The perimeter of the second floor overlooks the Courtyard and hosts exhibits in a gallery space. Our facilities are a known venue for exhibitions, festivals and free performances and
also have one of the largest public spaces in New York. Here is the schedule for you, ladies and gentlemen.
http://www.worldfinancialcenter.com/calendar/
Well, ok then. Enough about me, I will move on.
One World Financial Center is the southernmost office tower at the World Financial Center complex. The building consists of over one and a half million square feet of office and retail space, along with interior and exterior public amenities. Completed in 1986, this tower has 40 floors.
Two World Financial Center is a domed-topped tower, which was completed in 1987 and has 44 floors.
Three World Financial Center is the tallest of the towers and is located at the north end of the complex. Completed in 1985, this tower has 51 floors.
Four World Financial Center is the westernmost office tower. Completed in 1986, this tower has 34 floors.
There has been one sad episode during our existence. You all know what it was, so I will get straight to the point. Here is how the episode affected us.
[qimg]http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/imagehosting/1363948858574e143f.jpg[/qimg]
Columns from WTC 1 hit the east end of my precious Winter Garden structure, particularly the area directly adjacent to the North Bridge which used to link myself to the WTC complex. I experienced severe collapse of the eastern end framing. Several other semicircular trusses and parts of the dome were also badly damaged. The western two bays of the roof structure remained intact, but were covered with debris. Inspectors estimated that 60 percent of the roofing glass panels of my structure had collapsed. Additional structural collapse occurred on parts of the 2nd and 3rd floor framing adjacent to WFC 2 and WFC 3, the North Bridge connection extension, the ceremonial stair above the circular landing, and the 4th and 5th floors at the eastern end. Localized structural collapse occurred in various other areas of the barrel roof. I was shocked.
But I was not the only one hit. WFC 3 was the most damaged of the WFC towers. Exterior column trees from WTC 1 were found hanging from the southeast corner of WFC 3 and on the setback roof.
[qimg]http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/imagehosting/1363948858552413ec.jpg[/qimg]
Debris from WTC 1 caused a collapse of the top 8 stories of the 10-story octagonal extension located at the southeast side of the building. The main WFC 3 building suffered damage from floors 17 to 26. At floors 17 through 26, the corner column had been removed by the impact of debris, and the floors cantilevered from adjacent columns to the north and west. Smaller column debris penetrated floor 17. The damage did not extend past the corner bay, which had to be shored and was later demolished.
WFC 3 interior damage
[qimg]http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/imagehosting/136394885855288866.jpg[/qimg]
WFC 1 & 2 suffered glazing and façade damage. Debris and dust penetrated WFC 2 at several levels. WFC 4 was the only undamaged building.
The collapse of the twin towers closed the WFC buildings for several months, and myself for a year. The atrium underwent a $50 million reconstruction, which included replacing 60,000 square feet of marble and 2,000 panes of glass or nearly 70% of the arched ceiling, half of the grand staircase and the marble flooring, and all 16 of the 40-foot Washingtonia robusta palm trees. A new eastern entrance was built where there formerly had been a pedestrian bridge (North Bridge) to the World Trade Center. I was the first major building damaged in the attacks to be completely restored. The original architect, Cesar Pelli, and his son Rafael of Cesar Pelli & Associates designed the reconstructed facility.
That's about it, really. I'm not much of a speaker, but I always get these little engagements. But it wasn't all too bad. You're nice folks. Maybe if I told more about the marble? Ok, fine.
One more detail. Look at those photos, and see how many windows are still intact. If there were powerful explosives used so close to us, most of those still intact windows would have been broken to pieces. A small but important detail and useful if someone makes silly accusations.
Earlier stories:
90 West Street
130 Cedar Street
30 West Broadway aka Fiterman Hall
or
http://911guide.googlepages.com/damages
World Financial Center related links:
http://www.worldfinancialcenter.com/
http://nymag.com/listings/attraction/world_financial_center/
http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/fema403_ch7.pdf
http://newyork.construction.com/projects/02_TopForty/02_TopProjects35_WinterGardenRestoration.asp
