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CNN Live At Daybreak
America's New War: Pentagon Reconstruction
Aired September 26, 2001 - 07:52 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.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It is 15 days ago that a jet liner struck the Pentagon. Two jet liners, of course, struck the World Trade Center as well. The recovery efforts still going on, but already talk turning to rebuilding. There you see a live picture of the Pentagon this morning, the gaping hole formed two weeks and one day ago.
We are joined this morning by David Hudson. He is president of RTKL, the architectural firm contracted to do the reconstruction effort at the Pentagon.
Sir, good morning to you.
DAVID HUDSON, ARCHITECT/PRESIDENT, RTKL: Good morning.
KING: I want to ask you, number one, what's the greatest challenge you face here? The Pentagon seems to be in a hurry to get this building rebuilt.
HUDSON: Yes, they've acted extremely quickly. Our number one mission is to have this building up and working and functioning as soon as possible.
KING: And what is as soon as possible? Is it ready for construction? How long until you can actually get construction crews in there as opposed to recovery crews?
HUDSON: Our first job is to get in there and assess the damage. Obviously we cannot get in at this time. We hope to get in later this week or the beginning of next week. We want to start construction in weeks.
KING: How much money are we talking about, sir, to rebuild this, and how long do you think it will take once you do start construction?
HUDSON: I can't tell you that right now. We just do not know the extent of the damage, what additional demolition may be needed. I can't possibly give you an estimate.
KING: I know you are reluctant to discuss the specifics of the security arrangements here because this is obviously a very sensitive building.
HUDSON: Certainly. KING: But how does that complicate your task, because this has to be obviously a very secure environment?
HUDSON: Really not at all. Security measures are one of the components that go into building design. Obviously blast resistance and life safety protection will be a key element here. But it's also in a number of other projects that we've been designing.
KING: Have there been lessons learned here because of this damage? Has the Pentagon come to you and say we want this to be different, we want to make the walls stronger, we want to use different glass, we want to do other things to protect those working on the inside in the tragic event, something like this happen again?
HUDSON: Well, they've certainly said that they wanted to include the latest thinkings in terms of life safety protection and blast resistance. But nothing specific at this time.
KING: And, sir, I understand that in addition to rebuilding the Pentagon, there will be something as part of this construction process to remember and memorialize what happened here?
HUDSON: That's correct. A part of our contract as the executive architect it so facilitate the development of a memorial. The location and character of the memorial is obviously not determined at this time, though.
KING: Any sense on when that progress will begin? Are you working -- is that a government, is the government working with you on that, a separate architect who will design the memorial?
HUDSON: I believe what will happen is there will probably be a design competition to select ideas, develop what the memorial should be. I assume that will take some time to have happen.
KING: And, sir, have you yourself been down there to survey the damage? Your thoughts on taking a look at it if you have.
HUDSON: No, I've been as close as the public can get. We have not been, our team has not been permitted on site yet. It's still obviously an FBI site. Until they are complete, we will not be permitted in.
KING: But do you think that you will be able to get inside eventually? Have they given you any sense of when? You say you want to start immediately.
HUDSON: Yes.
KING: We're looking at pictures. I know you can't see them. But inside this building it is devastating.
HUDSON: Right. We expect to be in as early as next week. We want to get -- there are some parts of that that obviously have water damage or smoke damage. We want to get anything that we can up and operating as quickly as possible. The Pentagon staff has made it very clear that's our number one mission. And so I think we will have a series of areas that are opened as quickly as possible while construction is starting.
KING: David Hudson, president of the architectural firm RTKL. We thank you for your time this morning and we hope you'll come back and join us and update us once the reconstruction at the Pentagon begins. Thank you again for your time this morning.
HUDSON: Thank you, John.
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