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CNN Live At Daybreak

World Trade Center Exhibit in New York

Aired May 06, 2002 - 06:56   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Cleanup at the World Trade Center site, it is expected to be finished this month. Most of the debris is gone and the site is now looking much like it did more than 30 years ago when work first began on the towers. An exhibit in New York reminds us of the accomplishment of the buildings that were once the world's tallest buildings.

Our Phil Hirschkorn has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL HIRSCHKORN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the idea for the World Trade Center was conceived in the 1960s, in America, bigger was considered better.

LESLIE ROBERTSON, WTC CHIEF ENGINEER: It was the project of the century. Everyone wanted to work on the World Trade Center.

HIRSCHKORN: Leslie Robertson was the chief engineer overseeing construction, which began in 1966 by digging the 70-foot hole for the foundation. Robertson's innovative design had the steel exterior frame bearing much of the weight so there were no bulky interior columns. Steel beams connected the outside walls to an interior tube. The result was an acre of office space on every floor.

ROBERTSON: The structure of the World Trade Center was not unlike a cardboard box that just went up very high.

HIRSCHKORN: Each tower has four million square feet in rentable space for the building's owners, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The first tower was finished in 1971, the second in '73.

Before last fall's terrorist attack, Carol Willis was putting together this exhibit on building the World Trade Center for the New York Historical Society. When the buildings opened, some architectural critics called them an intrusion on the skyline.

CAROL WILLIS, THE SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM: The towers were set apart from the rest of the city in a sort of isolated space. They were a little bit alienating, they were imposing, they were easy to respect, but I think they were a little hard to love.

ROBERTSON: It was intended to be economically competitive with other office buildings and was. So unlike any other tall building actually before or since, it put a huge amount of real estate up high in the air.

HIRSCHKORN: And revitalized Lower Manhattan with thousands of new jobs.

WILLIS: They were like magnets or like batteries in an engine that were meant to charge up a whole new area for business.

HIRSCHKORN (on camera): At 110 stories, the Twin Towers stood 1,350 feet. Each tower also had 43,600 windows. When the buildings were destroyed on September 11, so were all the architectural models stored inside the Trade Center except for this one.

ROBERTSON: I think the issue of the -- of the loss of life is still very, very tough to take. It's pretty hard for me to get tense about the loss of the -- of the buildings.

HIRSCHKORN (voice-over): Robertson says the World Trade Center site was a place of commerce and should be rebuilt as one. Different buildings this time, including a memorial.

Phil Hirschkorn, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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