POST-CIAM
Revolution of Manhattan BRAJONA BREMACHANDRAN The World Trade Center also known as the “Twin Towers” were the tallest buildings in the world from 1972-1974, before it got destroyed on September 11, 2001 tragedy. The skyscrapers were built to draw attention to Lower Manhattan and to stand as a symbol of New York in the financial district in the global community. Before the Twin Towers were built, in 1970s the city gained a reputation as a graffiti-covered, crime-ridden city and the government was also facing imminent bankruptcy. The city eventually picked itself up by creating a commercial, financial and culture district. The 110 story towers were opened on April 4th, 1973, in the heart of New York City, lower west side of Manhattan. It was designed in the early 1960’s by a well-known architect at the time, Minoru Yamasaki, and assistance from Associates of Troy, Michigan and Emery Roth and Sons of New York. Although, Yamasaki was the architect responsible for designing the Twin Tower he had certain requirements that had to be met by the government, which limited his creativity of the buildings. These certain requirements are associated with the social, physical, economical and political context. While Yamasaki and the other architects were designing this building they had to be aware of certain aspects of the building; the space surrounding the building and city planning regulations (physical context), the community’s opinion on whether the building should be built (social context), the estimated cost and whether the skyscraper will be a benefit for the city (political/ economical context).
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