# Rebuilding the World Trade Center **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 11, 2001, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuilding-the-world-trade-center/80895 "2001-09-11T18:45:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuilding-the-world-trade-center/80895/41 "2001-09-12T23:22:09Z")
So how do you build a skyscraper to withstand a collision with a jet airliner nearly full of fuel? The Empire State Building withstood the impact of a bomber, but that was a smaller plane flying at a slower speed and low on fuel (they were in heavy fog trying to find the airport). ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuilding-the-world-trade-center/80895/42 "2001-09-12T23:29:46Z")
I take it my earlier suggestion of building the new skyscraper out of solid adamantium is out, then? 😉 (I mean, all we’d need to do was invent adamantium first.) ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuilding-the-world-trade-center/80895/43 "2001-09-13T00:37:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by spoke- \* > \*\*I say we put a big hunk of rock there and paint it to _look_ like the WTC. Imagine the terrorists’ surprise… That’s hilarious! “Uhhh, boss? The suicide bombings didn’t go _exactly_ as planned…” ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuilding-the-world-trade-center/80895/44 "2001-09-13T01:57:05Z")
> [@](#): > > This tragedy might have turned out better if the buildings had been short enough for the fire dept. water cannons to reach the fire. Rebuild if necessary, but not so tall. I have seen this sentiment come up a couple of times. My understanding is that: 1. water is more or less useless on burning jet fuel and 1. Any fire burning at a normal temprature can be contained by the skyscraper’s firewalls/sprinkler systems. Am I right about that? Surely we have had normal fires in skyscrapers before, and they didn’t burn the whole building down. ---
**Author:** ![Toaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@Toaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toaster)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuilding-the-world-trade-center/80895/45 "2001-09-13T02:04:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Manda JO \* > \*\*2) Any fire burning at a normal temprature can be contained by the skyscraper’s firewalls/sprinkler systems. > > Am I right about that? Surely we have had normal fires in skyscrapers before, and they didn’t burn the whole building down. \*\* It’s possible that the fires massed among several floors immediately. Water pipes were probably crushed and broken and would not be able to supply the sprinkler systems. So…perhaps not. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuilding-the-world-trade-center/80895/46 "2001-09-13T19:45:51Z")
Great Buildings Online has already updated their [WTC page](http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/World_Trade_Center.html) and their [Pentagon page.](http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/The_Pentagon.html) ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuilding-the-world-trade-center/80895/47 "2001-09-13T20:05:35Z")
Toaster wrote: > [@](#): > > It’s possible that the fires massed among several floors immediately. Water pipes were probably crushed and broken and would not be able to supply the sprinkler systems. This would stop most ordinary folks from getting out of a burning skyscraper alive, but would it have stoped Steve McQueen in _The Towering Inferno_? ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuilding-the-world-trade-center/80895/48 "2001-09-13T20:05:42Z")
Toaster wrote: > [@](#): > > It’s possible that the fires massed among several floors immediately. Water pipes were probably crushed and broken and would not be able to supply the sprinkler systems. This would stop most ordinary folks from getting out of a burning skyscraper alive, but would it have stopped Steve McQueen in _The Towering Inferno_? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuilding-the-world-trade-center/80895/49 "2001-09-13T20:38:39Z")
Well my first reaction was to have them rebuilt a little taller. NYC should have the worlds tallest building after all. Now a special feature of the new improved WTC would be that the lights of the offices that face the ocean would make a fist with an extended middle finger at night. (sort of a new beacon to the world) Of course I think the original builders lost their shirts. And of course I would forbid Mrs.Z to work there. Now I like **tracer’s** idea. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuilding-the-world-trade-center/80895/50 "2001-09-13T21:05:32Z")
First off, **Tracer** , you rock. To address **waterj2’s** comment about the buildings being ugly … well, a lot of New Yorkers felt that way too. They weren’t the most beloved buildings in New York based upon how they looked, that’s for sure. However, in the past few years, public feeling about them has been changing – I don’t know if it’s that more people started to appreciate that style of architecture (minimal, but graceful), or if one just becomes fond of something one sees every day regardless of how ugly it is. I have no doubt that at least some of the space, or some of the future building, will be a memorial to the victims of this horrible act. As to other possible functions of the space, there are several possibilities. I think we should rebuild, with the intention of having space for business and commerce. However, I don’t think the new structure should look exactly like the old ones. Time has passed and our priorities and needs have changed. Let’s build something that speaks to the 21st century. In Greenwich Village, there is a 19th century row townhouse that was destroyed by the Weathermen’s bomb in 1970. There was quite a bit of debate about what should be done – restore it to exactly how it looked before, to make it blend in with the other townhouses in the row? Build somehing completely modern? What ended up happening was that the house was rebuilt in a modern design that preserved the shape of a townhouse, with the front set at an angle to the rest of the street, to symbolize the impact of the exploding bomb. It’s a very successful mingling of old and new. There’s a picture of it here: [http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/village/greenwich.html](http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/village/greenwich.html) It’s a big page, so it takes time to load, and you need to scroll down almost to the bottom to see the picture of the house at 18 West 11th Street. It’s not the greatest picture for showing how the modern house is part of a larger complex of historic townhouses, but you get the general idea. Anyway, I would like to see something like this for the WTC site – something new, looking to the future, but a design that also incorporates a tribute to the Twin Towers, so that we remember the past. (but only if we can’t go with the first choice, a giant robot) ---
**Author:** ![Kalashnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kalashnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalashnikov)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuilding-the-world-trade-center/80895/51 "2001-09-13T23:27:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > \*\*From a friend’s friend’s friend (who told them to pass the message along)… > > “Personally, I’d like to see three towers built in their place, with the middle one much taller than the other two. That way, it would look like a giant middle finger, directed straight at the fuckers who did this.” > > Frankly, I agree with him. We’re _America_, goddammit. Nobody has screwed with us and won. Ever. We’re not about to let that happen. \*\* [http://www.photoasa.com/disk2/3679/91918\_rebuilding\_the\_wtc1.jpg](http://www.photoasa.com/disk2/3679/91918_rebuilding_the_wtc1.jpg) But seriously, yes they should be rebuilt. The city just looks _wrong_ without them. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2001, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuilding-the-world-trade-center/80895/52 "2001-09-14T23:25:50Z")
[Lease owner Larry Silverstein committed to rebuilding.](http://cnnfn.cnn.com/2001/09/14/news/silverstein/) However, he said he would not build exact replicas, “acknowledging tenants may be reluctant to relocate in such prominent buildings, according to the paper.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuilding-the-world-trade-center/80895.md?page=2)