Address the authorities would have been a very slow process and with the cyclone season weather was approaching what it had less. He chose to go directly to senior executives of the bank owner of the building and persuaded them to take action without going through the friendly tried for the common good. For three months, a squad of workmen was devoted to weld steel plates of 6 cm thick in all the structural joints to reinforce the structure.
This work was done at night after the daily working time so that went virtually unnoticed even to employees of the company itself. The ruling was kept hidden to the public for nearly 20 years until it was published by The New Yorker at 19, LeMessurier was severely criticized for not redo its calculations when changing the type of seals used and keep secret the case once discovered and when the building was already in full use.
But he was also recognized as an example of professional ethics by the fact advise the heads of Citigroup and try to find a solution more quickly and efficiently. The Citigroup center was the first building of the United States to incorporate a cradle of masses. The cradle of bodies designed to correct deviations from the center of gravity of the building before the action of strong winds or earthquakes. The cradle is controlled by computer and with your help the building is estimated to hold smooth winds that statistically occur in New York City every 50 years.
The finished exterior of the building is a curtain wall alternating panels of blind white aluminum panels with translucent glass in horizontal bands, leading to a composition of facade very clear and clean. Mies Memorial Library. CitiGroup Center Architect:. Hugh Stubbins. The answer was sickening: every fifty-four years, they said, unless a storm cut off power to the tuned mass damper, which would reduce the frequency of potentially catastrophic storms to a mere sixteen years.
Together, they hatched a plan to superimpose fully welded steel plates over the weak joints on the braces, and began fortifying the building around the clock while keeping a watchful eye on the weather forecast. In conjunction with high-up government officials and the American Red Cross, they also prepared a block evacuation plan for the midtown area in case collapse became imminent. But all of this was unremarkable compared to the fact that the entire operation was conducted in total secrecy.
Not a single worker in the Citigroup building or any of its neighbors was made aware of the threat looming above them, and the hundreds of officials, welders and forgers that were brought into the fold successfully kept the affair away from the media.
For architects, the project prompts a series of provocative ethical and professional questions that cast a more sinister shadow over the otherwise heroic efforts of Le Messurier and his team. The duty to inform the public of potentially catastrophic threats posed by failing architecture, if not during repairs then immediately after, is counteracted by legitimate interests in avoiding mass panic and less-legitimate concerns over corporate and professional reputation.
Furthermore, while certainly not implying that more active oversight by the architect could have avoided the structural failures, this story begs a reconsideration of how collaborative efforts on complex projects are coordinated.
If a series of unfortunate events were required to bring about the near miss—low structural safety margins, late-stage budgetary substitutions, the failure to account for necessary environmental conditions—an equally varied array of counter fixes could have been proposed by individuals with a more comprehensive and holistic perspective on the project. There are countless ways that architects and engineers can learn from the mistakes and achievements of the Citigroup Building, and it is perhaps the greatest shame of all that they were kept hidden from the public for so long.
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