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CNN Live Saturday

New York Firm Specializes in Blast-Resilient Office Buildings

Aired May 12, 2001 - 16:06   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.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: As authorities look for ways to prevent future attacks, a New York engineering and architectural firm says their blast-proof building designs could minimize damage. Their designs aim to prevent what's called progressive collapse, which killed most of the victims in Oklahoma City. CNN's Brian Palmer has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The World Trade Center in 1993; Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, 1996; U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, 1998; and foremost on the minds of many Americans now, the handiwork of Timothy McVeigh: April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City -- attacks on U.S. facilities, at home and overseas, that together killed hundreds and injured thousands.

Law enforcement uses detective work to try to prevent future attacks. Engineers and architects practice another kind of prevention against the effects of catastrophic terrorist actions, using computers...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you'll see here is when a bomb goes off and destroys a column, the whole structure falls in on itself.

PALMER: And even bombs of their own.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This would be a pretty significant blast on a building.

PALMER: New York's Weidlinger Associates designs blast-resistant buildings for the U.S. government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have heavy damage to one column bay, but not to the rest of the structure.

PALMER: Tod Rittenhouse is a structural engineer at the firm.

TOD RITTENHOUSE, WEIDLINGER ASSOCIATES: We're trying to design buildings such that if an event, a terrorist attack, occurred, the occupants inside the building would not get hurt, that is prevent injury from flying glass, or prevent buildings from collapsing, such as we saw in Oklahoma City. So, it's a process of designing a building to eliminate the damage and injuries from a terrorist attack. PALMER: Baltimore's Edward A. Garmatz federal building, the new U.S. courthouse and post office in Brooklyn, New York, and the Las Vegas federal courthouse are a few examples. Weidlinger's designs stress security, but they also try to make their buildings attractive and comfortable.

RITTENHOUSE: I want to work in a beautiful building that I can see outside, and I don't feel like I'm in a prison or a fortress.

PALMER: To achieve both strength and beauty, specially treated heavily reinforced concrete and laminated blast-proof windows are used.

RITTENHOUSE: It's been said that 80 percent of the injuries in Oklahoma City were related to flying glass, as opposed to the injuries or deaths that occurred through structural collapse.

PALMER (on camera): But protection for a building starts on the outside, with barriers to keep threats away, cameras for surveillance and much farther afield, intelligence about who may pose the threat.

Brian Palmer, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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