Structural Integrity

The columns could not be built on the corners because there was a church on the corner of the lot that had been purchased to build the Citycorp. The Citycorp’s major flaw was it’s corners. To deter the winds, a concrete mass damper at the top of the building. The architects though the wind problem was solved, but they had not considered what would happen if the wind did not hit the building straight on, but in the corners, hitting two sides at a time. LeMessurier did the calculations and concluded that winds strong enough could knock the building down. He also concluded that winds strong enough to knock down the Citycorp hit New York every 16 years on average. If the building fell, it would have been catastrophic. Many people would have died, and the Citycorp would have had knocked down other buildings as well. The buildings would fall like dominoes. A senior college student, some believe it to be Diane Hartley, discovered this flaw after being assigned to study the building. He or she thought it was a mistake on her calculations, so she tried to contact the chief structural engineer of the Citicorp, LeMessurier t ask about they dealt with the wind on the corners. Later, LeMessurier realized they were on big trouble and acted right away.