1. Terrorist attacks had changed architecture even before 9/11
By Tish Wells
McClatchy Newspapers August 30, 2011
WASHINGTON— Did the destruction
of the World Trade Center 10 years
ago spark a sea change in
architectural designwith safety and
security in mind?
No. That spark was lit years before.
"Each benchmark event gives
change," says architect Barbara
Nadel, who edited a book on how to
designsafer buildings. "Catastrophes
do trigger changes ... the way we think, the way we act and how we
respond as a society."
The most obvious security changes at public buildings stem from
earlier events: the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Lebanon, which
killed 241 U.S. servicemenand raised the awareness to the dangers
of truck bombs,and the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City, which killed
168 and shattered the federalbuilding's bank of glass windows.
Now bollards — those short vertical objects made of steel and
concrete — line the sidewalks outside governmentbuildings, which
are surrounded with wider plazas and strongerfences to prevent a
terrorist from attacking with a vehicle filled with explosives.There are
other more discreetchanges — more leafy trees, the placement of
concrete benches and tables in courtyards, improved lighting.
Those changes, however, did nothing to stop the aircraft that crashed
into the World Trade Center buildings, whose structures buckled
under the heat and stress,killing thousands in the ensuing collapse.
The new 7 World Trade Center, built on the site of one of the
destroyed buildings,has a concrete core and a steel superstructure.
The architects, Skidmore,Owings, & Merrill, exceeded the

2. requirements of the Port Authority and the New York City building
codes.
The biggestchange, however, wasn't so much to ensure that the
building would stand in the event of a similar attack, but that people
inside could get out. The airplane that hit the World Trade Center 2
building "destroyedthe operation of the elevators and the use of two
of the three stairways," according to the National Institute of
Standards and Technology'sWorld Trade Center investigation.
In the new 7 World Trade Center, the emergencystairways are better
protected than they were before and the stairwells themselves are 20
percentwider, to allow more people to use them.
"Architecture changed less than anyone predicted,than expected,"
said G. Martin Moeller, senior vice president and curator at the
National Building Museum in Washington. Now, he said, "many of the
building codes ...are set up with the intent of protecting the
occupants and not necessarilywith the idea that the building should
survive the attack."
Building codes have always changed after a tragedy.
A tragic fire in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory on March 25, 1911,
which killed 146,led to the creation of workplace safety regulations,
workers' compensationand new safety codes.
In 1998,the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania
spurred the State Department to build saferembassies.In 1999,the
Secure EmbassyConstruction and Counterterrorism Act required,
among other things, that "all U.S. agencies,including the U.S.
Agencyfor International Development(USAID), co-locate offices
within the newly constructed compounds," according to the
Government Accountability Office.Since passage of the act, the
State Department has moved 24,000 people,as of July, into more
secure facilities; 35 more projects are either being built or are being
designed.
The Sept. 11, 2001 attacks brought more focus to the issue of
security.

3. "In the last 10 years, the building industry, the security industry, the
real estate industry, have all worked together to create solutions,"
said Nadel, editor-in-chief of "Building Security: Handbook for
Architectural Planning and Design," a resource guide on the topic. "A
really comprehensive way to approach security integrates designs,
technology and operations."
In 2009,the American Institute of Architects produced a report,
"Designfor Diplomacy:New Embassies forthe 21stCentury,"
regarding security for governmentbuildings abroad. The report noted
the need for updating embassysecurity procedures overseas and
tracked what changes had been made.
One example is that the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic
Security, which sets security standards when embassiesare built,
added a second review of security six to nine months after the
buildings were opened.
"Governments are responsible fortheir (employees')safety and
security," Nadel said.
Sometimes,however, it takes years to implementsecurity
improvements.
A 2008 WikiLeaks cable from the U.S. Embassyin Sudan, for
example, complained that American officials were having trouble
persuading the government in Khartoum to continue construction on
a new embassycompound.The cable recounted the U.S. diplomats'
sense that the Sudanese government was holding the new embassy
hostage in an effortto resolve political issues.The new embassywas
finally completedin 2010.
Another cable, dated April 18, 2008, from the embassy in Montevideo,
Uruguay, bemoans delays in security upgrade that were first called
for in 1999 but had been pushed back to a completiondate in 2013.
As of August, the State Department had taken several steps to
improve security at the embassy:rerouting traffic, building inspection
points for vehicles and visitors, and installing bollards and planters to
block a vehicle from approaching the building. A State Department
spokeswoman,Christine T. Foushee,said in an email that a contract

4. for additional work is expected to be awarded in the next month.
ON THE WEB
AIA — New Embassiesforthe 21st century"
http://jump.dexigner.com/news/20460
Cable: Sudan minister considers new U.S. embassyconstruction a
"political issue"
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/08/25/121996/cable-sudan-
minister-considers.html
Cable: U.S. Embassyin Uruguay worries about security issues
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/08/25/121998/cable-us-embassy-
in-uruguay-worries.html
Barbara Nadel http://www.barbaranadelarchitect.com/
Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade
Center Disaster: Final Reportof the National Construction Safety
Team on the Collapses of the World Trade Center Tower 7
http://wtc.nist.gov/NCSTAR1/
National Institute of Standards and Technologyreporton the World
Trade Center disaster http://tinyurl.com/3n49yah
McClatchy Newspapers 2011
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