The large open floor space of the WTC
| Each floor of the towers possessed an open
unobstructed area of roughly 200 by 200 feet. The pursuit
of adaptable and open floor space by the client, and
satisfied by the engineer, resulted in a problem for the
fire service which was two-fold: the potential incidence
of fire on each floor approached an acre in area,
virtually impossible to extinguish under normal
conditions (typical fire loading and serviceable
standpipes and elevators), and the absence of
intermediate walls and partitions which would have served
as redundancies in the structural system of the frame.
Interior walls would have both compartmentalized the
floor area to resist the spread of fire and
simultaneously provided an alternate load path in the
event of floor collapse from above. [Firehouse]
|
See also: The 9/11 WTC Collapses: An Audio-Video Analysis
