World Trade Center original drawings

[MacMerdin]

Can someone help me out in trying to obtain the original construction documents to the World Trade Center Towers and possibly WTC7? I tried a search for this topic but didn't show anything. Thanks in advance.

 

[JAE]

Why do you need them? Just curious.

 

[MacMerdin]

I don't need them per say. I'm studying for the P.E. exam and I thought it would be something that could keep me interested and educated at the same time. I mean no offense to anyone that lost loved ones that day. Should I ask the Port Authority for copies or NIST? Would they even give them out?

 

[JAE]

I doubt that you would be able to easily get them. My son did a project in high school building a scale model of a 40 story building in our city. I knew the structural engineer personally, but he couldn't provide them due to security concerns, etc. The fact that the WTC no longer exists may eliminate the security issue here, though.

 

[cap4000]

Security and Legalities will prevent you from getting them. I would be very surprised if anyone in the public domain could ever get a copy of the actual plans. It has become a subject of way too many lawsuits. Try ASCE who investigated the fires and the melting of the steel structure, the Engineering News Record Magazine or the many books written on the WTC buildings themselves. I got them myself from barnes and noble.

 

[Lutfi]

Interesting exchange! If some one calls my office and asks for copies of any structural plans for any of our designs, we simply would not blindly give them up. We would check and request permission from the owner.

I suggest that you get your hands on a copy of the WTC report that was published by ASCE. It has great information and it is available to the public.

This is my two cents worth.


Regards,
Lutfi

 

[MacMerdin]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll take a look at what ASCE has to say.

 

[samdamon]

Mac- Fyi copies of a portion of the original construction docs (Floor plans and sections)for the WTC were displayed in public in an outdoor exhibition in NYC about five or six months after the attacks. Sorry I don't remember the exact name of the exhibit or the organizer, but I viewed it personally, briefly. The drawings were dated 1968 or '69. Try contacting the city DBC or googling for old data on exhibits on the WTC in the NYC metro area.

For lots of data on structural aspects of the WTC collapse see FEMA publication 403 (prelim findings) or visit NIST (National Institute of Science and Technology) website wtc.nist.gov for acess to a variety of publications and research. Several NIST reports have been issued that deal with research results on structural aspects of the towers and adjacent buildings.

 

[EddyC]

The structural portion of the design drawings were also part of a buildings exhibit at the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York City about 2 years ago. They were in book form and had all the floor plans and elevations with all structural members clearly identified. The Structural Engineer, Leslie Robertson, had his name & PE stamp on them.

 

[MacMerdin]

Thanks Sam and Eddy. I'll look into these. Any Idea what this book was called by any chance? I'll do a google and if I find out what the book was called, I'll post it here. Again, thanks.

 

[EddyC]

MacMerdin,

It was a homemade type binding (Acco style) and not something that is available in published form (At least at the time that I saw it). It was put out on a table for review by the museum patrons.

 

[JStephen]

Pardon my ignorance, but wouldn't the construction documents for the WTC run into a stack of paper several feet high? I see what gets sent out for structural-only bids on large projects, and it is a mess of paper. I assume the entire WTC was pre-CAD, so someone would have to physically copy umpteen thousand sheets of paper here?

 

[MacMerdin]

Good point. I am assuming though that some aspects would be redundant and would not need to be drawn umpteen times. But yes, there are probably a lot of drawings for it. Wish I could find just one though.

 

[samdamon]

Mac, look at wtc.nist.gov/NISTNCSTAR1-1A.pdf for a discussion of the original design of WTC. Regards

 

[PT999]

Try asking the Port Authority for the Building Code that the WTC architects abd engineers were supposed to follow.

Apparently as a NY/NJ bi-state agency, they are not required to the follow the New York City Building Code.

Ok, so then they would need to follow the NYS State Code one would figure, but apparently (according to newspaper articles on the subject), the Port Authority determined they were only required to follows their own Port Authority building code.

Apparently, (again as stated in newspaper articles on the subject) they can't find that document also.

While this didn't impact structural engineering since all codes reference AISC and ACI codes, apparently this "no code" code allowed the Port Authority to omit sprinklers and other fire protection measures.

Some of these deficiencies (sprinklers for example) were apparently rectified after the 1991 events.

 

[Pressed]

[URL unfurl="true"]www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/wtc/[/URL]  (WTC towers)

There are links and references to info there

_______________________________________
Feeling frisky.........

http://www.tailofthedragon.com

 

[mshimko]

The NIST site contains a wealth of information.

http://www.wtc.nist.gov

From here you have access to many, many reports on the many aspects that were investigated, including applicable building codes. Personally, I'm interested to see if the use of asbestos throughout the buildings would have delayed the collapse and saved a few folks......something to read up on during today's snow.