Editorial
The aftermath of September 11 has brought with it concerns about the continued wisdom of constructing tall buildings. Articles have appeared in the national press suggesting that the time has come to rethink our preoccupation with tall buildings. An alternative view, however, would be to recognise that the attacks were aimed at symbols of economic, military and political power and who is to say that a low rise building would have been any less vulnerable? It was probably just coincidence that the World Trade Centre in New York comprised two of the tallest buildings in the world. By contrast, the Pentagon was definitely low rise.
The tragic events of that day have raised further issues about what should be rebuilt on the site. If it is possible to put to one side the emotional implications of what has happened it will be clear that tall buildings are built that way because of economic factors. Land values are usually so high that the only way to justify the land values is to build high. Look at cities such as Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong. The demand for commercial office space has resulted in high land values and high buildings. But apart from economic reasons tall buildings give cities a sense of form. They create an image of what a modern city should be like. Economics and architecture go hand in hand.
It is already evident that the destruction of a large quantity of office space is having a profound effect on the real estate market in New York. In order for many businesses to keep operating they have to pay premium rents or prices toacquire the space they need. This is an unfortunate example of market efficiency and one that is probably worth researching in more depth at some point in the future.
It will take some time to absorb the full implications of this event, but we know that many cities around the world have, at times, suffered major destruction but have successfully risen from the ashes. The World Trade Centre was designed 30 years ago and built to withstand what was known at that time. It was not, however, great architecture. Whatever decision is made to redevelop the site it should not be influenced by terrorism. Out of adversity comes opportunity.
New York will recover.
Professor Gerald R. Brown
