I.

Introduction

World Trade Center, complex of seven commercial buildings in New York City, demolished by a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. The best-known buildings of the World Trade Center were twin skyscrapers designed by American architect Minoru Yamasaki with the firm Emery Roth and Sons. These 110-story towers were built in lower Manhattan from 1966 to 1973 and quickly became a distinctive feature of the New York City skyline and a symbol of the city’s financial power. Tower One, the north tower, stood 417 m (1,368 ft) tall; Tower Two, the south tower, 415 m (1,362 ft). The towers briefly ranked as the world’s tallest buildings, but they were surpassed in 1974 by the Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois, which has a height of 442 m (1,450 ft).