Writing / Tamer Tageldin
The Citigroup Center (originally Citicorp Center), completed in 1977 in New York, is a 915-foot skyscraper famous for its unique stilt-style design,…
The Citigroup Center (originally Citicorp Center), completed in 1977 in New York, is a 915-foot skyscraper famous for its unique stilt-style design, with columns placed at the center of each side rather than the corners, and a massive tuned mass damper to reduce wind sway. It was built alongside a new St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, honoring a deal to preserve the church’s presence after selling air rights. In 1978, a student’s question revealed a critical engineering flaw: the building was vulnerable to collapse in strong quartering winds. Secret overnight repairs were conducted to fix the issue without causing public panic, narrowly avoiding what could have been a catastrophic disaster.