American Experience

Construction of the World Trade Center

Clip: Season 16 | 2m 7s

The foundations themselves presented the first challenge. They would have to descend through 70 ft. of water-logged landfill before reaching bedrock. The greatest challenge by far, however, lay in the engineering of the towers themselves. The solution, developed by the structural engineers John Skilling & Leslie Robertson in the mid-1960s, was to re-conceive the basic structure of tall buildings.

Aired: 09/09/03

Rating: NR

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