American Experience
The Center of the World: Interview Outtakes

Leslie Robertson:
video | transcript

Differences Between the Two Towers 1 -- The Trade Center's Sculptural Quality2 -- Close Columns and Narrow Windows3 -- The World Trade Center and Empire State Building4 -- The Skin Structure of the Trade Center5 -- Wind Load and the Towers6 -- Differences Between the Two Towers

Mike Wallace Pete Hamill Carol Willis Guy Tozzoli
Leslie Robertson Camilo José Vergara Niall Ferguson Philippe Petit
William Langewiesche Ed Koch Mario Cuomo Ada Louise Huxtable

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People looked at the buildings and called them twin towers. I never thought of them as twin towers. To me, they were -- each had its own personality. Mental twins. But they were not the same. So if you took an element (say, one of the columns) in identical location -- on each facade there would be -- two, you would think, would be the same. They were not. And then you go around the corner. They were not, nor were these, nor were these. And the two buildings were different, because the wind loads on the two buildings were different. Because one, in a sense, shielded the other from winds in one direction, and the other shielded it from winds in the other direction. So to me, the two towers were quite unique. And I thought the thought of them that way. They were not -- We called them A and B or North and South, and I always hoped that they would eventually get names like real things. Never did, I guess.