Structural Integrity

The Citicorp center is a well known building in New York City. It is known for the slanted top and the fact that the building is standing on top of 9 story tall stilts. These stilts were placed in the middle of the building because there was a church located in the corner of the lot. The owners of the church said that they couldn’t build on the lot of the church, but they could build above it.

The major flaw of the building is the wind. The skyscraper is very light compared to most which causes it to sway with the wind. This is as planned from the architect. What wasn’t planned was pointed out by an undergraduate student. This student proved that the building would not be able to withstand quartering winds. If these type of winds hit, the entire building would come down. The chances of this happening every year was 1 in 16. After this discovery, the building went under a major reconstruction every night in secret. It was able to remain a secret because the newspapers were on strike. It was a secret until 1995, when a story ran about the building in the New Yorker. The story of the Citicorp center was known as being ethical and having great structural integrity.

Diane Hartley, a viewer of the BBC special soon realized that her realization about the quartering winds saved thousands of people in New York. She was the student who noticed the flaw in the building those many years ago. If it had not been for her thesis, the Citicorp could have collapsed years ago.