Structural Integrity

The columns of the Citicorp center couldn’t be built on the corners because there was a Church in the way of the columns, and the building was only approved if it could avoid the Church, which was in the corner. So, the columns were build in the center of the building.

The major flaw in the Citicorp building is the fact that quartering winds were strong enough to topple the building, but strong enough winds only come about every 55 years in a strong storm. But, what wasn’t calculated was the fact that the tuned mass damper needed power to run, and if a storm took out the power, the building could collapse as well. About every 16 years, there is a storm that is strong enough to take out power in the building, so there is a 1/16 chance every year that the building could be knocked down due to a loss of power and strong winds, which couldn’t be countered by the tuned mass damper. This flaw was found and pointed out by an undergraduate student from New Jersey, who was studying Citicorp center as a part of his thesis. He gave LeMessurier a phone call and described the problem in 1978. The fact that LeMessurier had to use these ultra-light Chevron bracing structure, which were bolted instead of welded together, proved to be a catastrophic mistake. Emergency repairs were immediately made to the building and took 3 months to complete, but were done in secret to the public and all the building’s occupants, which put all of them in danger. This wasn’t right.