Timz From United States of America, joined Sep 1999, 6477 posts, RR: 8 Posted (9 years 1 month 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 2396 times:
NY Times for 17 May has a front-page article on changes in NY City building codes. In the continuation on page B4 there's a sidebar "History Rewrites the Rules" listing the years of various changes, and the last is 1968:
"1968-- The building code is rewritten again, allowing for new, lighter-weight materials and spray-on fireproofing. Previously illegal techniques, like those employed in 1962 to build the T.W.A. terminal at what is now Kennedy International Airport would now be possible in New York City."
The article says nothing more about it. What, if anything, was illegal about the Saarinen terminal?
LY4XELD From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 851 posts, RR: 16 Reply 1, posted (9 years 1 month 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 2353 times:
Looks like they were referring to the TWA terminal using those spray-on fireproofing and lighter-weight materials? This exceprt seems like a rather cryptic, but I'd imagine the design of the TWA terminal wouldn't have been possible without light weight materials.
LTBEWR From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 12365 posts, RR: 12 Reply 2, posted (9 years 1 month 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 1975 times:
What that really meant was that at the time of the construction of that famous TWA terminal building, it was using techniqes of construction that were new then, but not yet approved by NYC building/fire codes. The airports within NYC, JFK and LGA, have always been under the authority and jurisdiction of the NY NJ Port Authority, they didn't have to follow the NYC codes. It wasn't until 1968 that these newer methods of construction were allowed by NYC codes. The exemption of jurisdiction of the NY/NJ PA also included the construction of the World Trade Center complex - it wasn't built in some ways to NYC codes. This may have contributed to its collaspe and some of the deaths. Now ALL buildings within the borders of NYC, except US government owned properties, must meet all NYC building codes. It is interesting to note that right now NYC is revising it's building codes to become more like the general US codes, although with some important exceptions.
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