The easiest & cheapest way to make bldgs resistant to plane crashes is to
ban airplanes.

deb bledsoe wrote:

> But early in the show, there was one brief mention that the reason the
> structure did not contain more columns was because the owner wanted to
> maximize rentable floor space....
>
> So there's another question:  was it just naked greed on management's
> part -- wanting more floor space than they actually needed to return a
> reasonable profit, and demanding the elimination of additional columns
> and materials--

Whether the WTC made a profit until Silverstein took it over is open to
discussion..
This was built for and by a semiautonomous government agency...
the wtc was a nightmare of logistics, the ratio of unrentable space, ie
elevator, stairwell and riser shafts
per  actual square foot- usable was one of the highest around here..


Which brings up another point
How come there are no Real Estate people in this mix...



We- the US & NY needed the worlds tallest building at the time
The Empire State Building is a nightmare to layout office space in-
think a series of boxes not much bigger than a 2 car garage- thats what the
column layout is like.

>
>
> Regarding the design process:  I'm remember reading, but even after
> searching not only the corners of my spleen, but all over everywhere
> else too, can't remember where, that the reason the fuel load was not
> factored in originally, was because the engineers on the design team
> made the assumption that an aircraft striking the buildings would do so
> accidentally.

On NOVA they also said that at the time ca 1966- there was not enough
computer power to
make these calcs...

> I think Leslie Robertson's biggest misfortune was being there, in his
> office with a view of the buildings, on 9/11 to watch the whole thing,
> in person, live, helplessly. It seemed obvious to me that he feels
> personally responsible for the failure of the structures, and the deaths
> of the victims not killed by the initial incidents. A lesser man might
> have already committed suicide in this situation -- or moved his office
> somewhere else at the very least. He struck me as a person in purgatory,
> relentlessly determined to suffer his penance without absolution.
>
> deb
>
> --
> To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
> uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
> <http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>