After the Fall: New thinking to make skyscrapers safer (Steven Ashley, September 09, 2002, Scientific American)

One year after the devastating attacks on New York City’s 110-story, 1,365-foot-high World Trade Center towers, questions linger concerning the future of skyscrapers. After all, who wants to work or live in a grand, iconic structure that stands out in a crowd and thus makes an inviting target? "Despite the tragedy of the World Trade Center collapse, the skyscraper is here to stay," asserts A. Eugene Kohn, senior partner of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, a leading architectural firm in New York City. "Although there could be a hiatus in the construction of skyscrapers in the U.S. lasting as long as a decade, ultimately I think it'll just be a sad interlude in the ongoing history of tall buildings."

Kohn notes that the reasons for building lofty towers haven't changed: high land costs in congested cities, demanding economic needs (especially in fast-growing Asia) and the developers' egos.

Aren't those all reasons to stop building them? Posted by Orrin Judd at September 10, 2002 4:21 PM