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In 1945, a military aircraft accidentally crashed into the Empire State Building. There were 14 casualties and $ 1 million worth of damage, but the 1,250-foot tall structure remained upright. Thus, when structural engineer Leslie Robertson was working on the World Trade Center, which would exceed the Empire State by more than 100 feet, he envisioned the impact of the jets.
"The towers were designed [to withstand a] 707, "said The Robertson Post, 90, the largest commercial airliner existing in the 1970s." A 707 flying low and slowly flying towards Idlewild. " But on September 11, two 767 fully fueled fires that weakened the Twin Towers' support systems unexpectedly.
The World Trade Center was destroyed, as was Robertson.
"He lost a lot of joy and wit. He had to defend himself because he had been attacked, criticized and pressed by other engineers, by architects, by customers, "says architect A. Eugene Kohn in a documentary about his colleague Robertson, "Leaning Out", presented Tuesday at the Design Film Festival.
A graduate of California, Robertson joined the Navy and studied engineering at Berkeley on the GI bill. He then moved to Seattle, Washington. Yamasaki designs the twin towers.
Yamasaki and Robertson had never worked on buildings of more than 28 stories. To allow the towers to climb over 1,600 feet from relatively small bases, Robertson placed the facade columns close to each other and designed dampers to prevent swaying.
It was rented when the project began in 1973. And after a bomb blast in the basement of the north tower in 1993, he was confident that the towers could withstand.
"I was often on TV [afterward]. I was probably the only person on the planet who could really say that the buildings were safe … the only one who could say, "Hey, take the subway and go back to work in this building," Robertson said. "After September 11, I did not go on television for months. I had nothing I could say to people to help them feel better.
His role in the project was thoroughly examined, with FEMA having dissected his drawings, the last remaining ones, those of the port authority of the WTC operator having been destroyed during the collapse. Robertson spent 18 hours a day working with investigators and dealing with fallout.
"I have received 1,000 letters from people writing to support my work," he said. "But people also came to my office and lost someone there. They wanted to talk. Robertson even attended therapy sessions alongside grieving survivors.
"I did my best," said Robertson, recalling a teenager who had lost her brother, a Windows on the World employee, and contacted her. "We agreed to meet in a park at the end of Manhattan. It was very stressful … we kissed and cried.
"He lost a lot of joy and wit. He had to defend himself because he was attacked, criticized and pressed by other engineers. "
"[People] wanted me to say somehow [how their loved ones] died. I could not do that. I was not there.
Robertson admits that he fears that his career is over. "I thought I really crossed, crossed, crossed – forget about it!" He recalls in the movie. "Who's going to want this guy whose building was destroyed by a simple plane?"
The FEMA investigation revealed that Robertson was not to blame. He is currently working with his wife and business partner, SawTeen See, on a 2,113-foot Malaysian tower. Although his company served as a structural engineer at the rebuilt 4 World Trade Center, he avoided this area.
"I have a lot of trouble going there," said Robertson, who lives in the Upper West Side and is the father of two grown children. "I did as little as possible [on 4 WTC]. "
Robertson and See have a mutilated steel piece from the 1993 bombing in the backyard of their second home, in New Fairfield, Connecticut.
"It's a little symbol of the great work … done to control this tremendous explosion, shake it up and continue to live," he said.
And tragedy has not changed its design philosophy – as Robertson says in the movie, you can not make buildings as safe as they look like prison cells.
"Buildings should be built for people, not for attacks," he told The Post. "The unfortunate events of life will probably take place, but if we conceive for them, then life would be a horrible place to live … We must think of life first.
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