Here's to Yamasaki

In this thread I hope to shed light on the legacy of the architect selected by the Port Authority to design the World Trade Center, and to show his selection was likely thanks to his being a compliant government asset specifically selected to design towers that were built to be destroyed. Yamasaki’s history supports this premise:

1. During a time when other Japanese-Americans were being rounded up and put in cages, Yamasaki moved freely throughout the country.

2. Shortly after the war he designed buildings for the government and the CIA among others. Yep, he even designed a Federal Reserve Bank Building.

3. He had a reputation for designing buildings to the specifications of the client, whether or not they made sense. He was discreet and compliant.

The WTC’s history supports this premise as well:

4. The WTC appears to have been built to make a statement rather than to provide office space. That statement provided a pretext for another CIA asset, Osama bin Laden to publicly declare war against the USA; which in turn gave the USA the pretext to invade the world.

Much has been written about Minoru Yamasaki, the architect for the World Trade Center; and much of it is not flattering.

Minoru Yamasaki will forever be remembered alongside America’s most profound architectural disaster. Whatever he was before 2001—which was dead, maligned, and mainly sliding away into obscurity—he is forever after the designer of the most ambitious modern structure ever to end up as a gaping hole.

Source

BLAST FROM THE PAST

During WWII, when most Japanese-Americans were being rounded up and put in cages, Minoru Yamasaki was able to roam freely. Details are few as to why Yamasaki was granted freedom over so many others, but it seems he can thank the firm he worked for at the time:

In 1945, Yamasaki moved to Detroit, where he was hired by Smith, Hinchman and Grylls. The firm helped Yamasaki avoid internment as a Japanese-American during World War II. He also sheltered his parents in New York City during this time. Yamasaki left the Detroit firm in 1949 and started his own partnership.”

Source

The accounts don’t explain HOW Smith, Hinchman and Grylls “helped Yamasaki avoid internment”, but perhaps a glimpse into the firm’s work will give us a clue:

“The New (CIA) Headquarters Building was designed in the early 1980s by the Detroit architectural and engineering firm of Smith, Hinchman & Grylls.”

Source

So Yamasaki was spared WWII internment with the help of an architectural firm that went on to design the headquarters of the CIA. It pays to have friends in high places.
After the war he abandoned the firm that “helped” him avoid incarceration and started “Yamasaki and Associates” in 1949; how’s that for gratitude? He went on to design the U.S. Consulate in Kobe, Japan and in 1961 the Dhahran Air Terminal in Saudi Arabia, but don’t mistake Saudi Arabia for the United States:

“If postwar America became, in the words of Harvard anthropologist Enseng Ho, “an empire without colonies,” then Arabia was certainly part of that invisible empire. We Americans built Aramco, built the company towns of the Eastern Provence, built the Dhahran air base…

…The Saudi intelligence apparatus is modeled after our CIA – and for decades American intelligence officers, often embedded inside Aramco, were the closest of advisers to the king.

…We aligned ourselves with Wahhabi royalists and against secular Arab nationalists, and when the House of Saud was threatened by Saddam Hussein’s occupation of Kuwait in 1990, we sent an army of half a million Americans to defend the Kingdom. All of this was done because of our desire to control Arabian black gold.”

Source< br />
Arm-Twisting

When Yamasaki was selected as architect for the WTC, Yamasaki and Associates was a relatively unknown firm which once selected raised eyebrows, and not just because of his lack of notoriety. The firm’s experience was called into question:

Carol Willis, Historian: Yamasaki was a very strange choice for the architect of the world's tallest buildings, because he had never been a commercial architect, and especially of skyscrapers or of high-rises -- his previous buildings had been mid-rises of 20 or so stories. He was not one of those architects who was particularly emphatic about a structural engineering solution. One thinks of his earlier work more in a decorative vein. He was interested in the play of light and shadow on the surface of a building. So that his previous buildings seemed almost delicate in scale, and wholly out of proportion to the ambition of the commission of the Trade Center.”

“Paul Goldberger, Architecture Critic: He felt that sort-of standard issue modern architecture was harsh and unwelcoming and cold. And he wanted to make architecture warm. So he kept doing these buildings that were sort of delicate. A lot of his stuff had these funny little gothic arches and it looked kind of cute, in a weird way.”

“Paul Goldberger, Architecture Critic: They thought they were actually making kind of a leap to a sort of "high art" architect. Yamasaki was actually a kind of low-end "high art" architect. He was not one of the more admired ones by architectural historians and critics, but he was nonetheless sort of somewhere in the bottom of that group. And this was of course for him the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Source

Out of the 12 firms considered, it was Yamasaki’s that was awarded the gig, and it doesn’t take much digging to find out why; because he would do as he was told:

Eric Lipton, New York Times Reporter: They also wanted someone who was not so old and established and also set in his ways that they couldn't, you know, twist his arm and get him to agree to do what they wanted to do. They wanted someone who was creative, but they also wanted someone that was going to listen to Guy Tozzoli and to Austin Tobin. And they got that in Minoru Yamasaki.

Source

“Yamasaki’s designs, a sort of corporate gothic, articulated the will of the institutions that commissioned them. It was an honor to have IBM, Consolidated Gas, the Defense Department, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as his clients, even if they wanted their buildings with no fire sprinklers, or in a no man’s land, or too tall. “Since they were the client,” he said of the Records Building in St. Louis, “we went along with their option.” Yamasaki’s firm was selected for the design of the World Trade Center precisely because he could be counted on to be agreeable, to accommodate the developer’s demands. It gave him ulcers, but Yamasaki made real the visions of America’s leaders—and left everyone else to suffer the consequences.”

Source

I ran out of room and will continue shortly.

Very interesting that the CIA headquarters and the WTC shared the same architect.
Another little piece to the puzzle that is 9/11.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
Very interesting that the CIA headquarters and the WTC shared the same architect.
Another little piece to the puzzle that is 9/11.

What a tangled web we weave, eh? The whole Saudi Arabian connection to Yamasaki never smelled right to me, so I laughed out loud when I stumbled on that little morsel. The same firm that is credited with enabling Yamasaki to avoid the American version of the Nazi concentration camps, later went on to design the current headquarters for the CIA.

You just can't make this stuff up.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
Very interesting that the CIA headquarters and the WTC shared the same architect.
Another little piece to the puzzle that is 9/11.

This is not quite what the articles say. Yamasaki left the firm that designed the new CIA HQ more than thirty years before that project began construction. He had nothing to do with it.

Originally posted by DrEugeneFixer

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
Very interesting that the CIA headquarters and the WTC shared the same architect.
Another little piece to the puzzle that is 9/11.

This is not quite what the articles say. Yamasaki left the firm that designed the new CIA HQ more than thirty years before that project began construction. He had nothing to do with it.

Yes, you are correct, Yamasaki was helped to avoid internment by his employers who later went on to design CIA headquarters. It is not clear how they helped him avoid internment.

Yamasaki’s buildings were no strangers to disaster (as in fire and explosions); as of last count, three of his projects were destroyed by explosives and/or fire.

The Pruitt-Igoe Houses project in St. Louis, Missouri was so bad it had to be dynamited, but what I consider the crème de la crème is the National Personnel Records Center in Overland, Missouri. This huge concrete building was built to house the personnel records of much of the Army and Air Force. Paper records; for the Military. The building was constructed per the client’s wishes without a fire extinguisher system. No sprinklers in the hall of records; you guessed it, *poof*, up in flames after multiple arson attempts, incinerating decades’ of military records in the process.

“A building commissioned in 1951 by the Department of Defense was built without a sprinkler system, and then burned in a spectacular fire. That building, the U.S. Military Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri, housed 38 million individual service records and 4,000 employees. When it was completed in 1956, the six-story concrete and aluminum behemoth was one of the twenty largest buildings in the world.

Less than twenty years later, in July 1973, a fire tore through the building, burning out of control for more than two days. It was the weekend of the official end of the draft, and the news was all bombs and impeachment. Over the previous two years, the Records Center had reported a dozen small fires, all started intentionally. This one, set shortly after midnight on July 12, appeared to be another case of arson. No one died in the blaze, set when only 50 employees were on duty, but sixteen to eighteen million military personnel files, many of them irreplaceable, were lost. Today, the Personnel Records Center informs those seeking information that, as a result of the fire, it cannot provide access to 80 percent of army files on personnel discharged between 1912 and 1960, as well as 75 percent of air force personnel discharged between 1947 and 1964. Information about hundreds of thousands of veterans vanished from the face of the earth.“

This is quite a dubious legacy:

National Personnel Records Center, Overland, Missouri
Commissioned: 1951
Completed: 1955
Overcome by fire 12 July 1973
Employees: 4,000
Acreage: nearly 5

Pruitt-Igoe Houses, St. Louis, Missouri
Commissioned: 1951
Completed: 1954
Dynamited 15 July 1972
Capacity: 12,000 residents
Acreage: 55 acres (34 still vacant)

World Trade Center, New York, New York
Commissioned: 1962
Completed: 1976
Bombed from parking garage 26 February 1993
Casualties: 6
Hit by airplanes 11 September 2001
Casualties: 2,823
Workers: 50,000
Acreage: 16 acres, redevelopment to be determined

americancity.org...


Fortunately his clients were very forgiving. Here's a partial list:

Urban Redevelopment Plan, St. Louis, 1952
Gratiot Urban Redevelopment Project, Detroit, 1954
University School, Grosse Pointe, 1954
U.S. Consulate, Kobe, Japan, 1955
Pruit-Igoe Public Housing, St. Louis, 1955
Lambert-St.Louis Airport Terminal, 1956
McGregor Memorial Conference Center, Wayne State University, Detroit, 1958
Reynolds Metals Regional Sales Office, Southfield, 1959
Michigan Consolidated Gas Co., Detroit, 1963
U.S. Pavilion, World Agricultural Fair, New Delhi, India, 1959
Dhahran Air Terminal, Dhahran Saudi Arabia, 1961
Federal Science Pavilion, Seattle World's Fair, 1962
Queen Emma Gardens, Honolulu, 1964
North Shore Congregation Israel, Glenco, Ill., 1964
Northwestern National Life Insurance Co., Minneapolis, 1964
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, 1965
Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, 1966
IBM Office Building, Seattle, 1964
Manufacturers and Traders Trust Co., Buffalo, 1967
World Trade Center, New York, 1976
Eastern Airlines Terminal, Logan International Airport, Boston, 1969
Horace Mann Educators Insurance Co., Springfield, Ill., 1979
Temple Beth El, Birmingham, 1974
Century Plaza Towers, Los Angeles, 1975
Colorado National Bank, Denver, 1974
Bank of Oklahoma, Tulsa, 1977
Performing Arts Center, Tulsa, 1976
Rainer Bank Tower, Seattle, 1977
Federal Reserve Bank, Richmond, Va., 1978
Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency Head Office, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 1981
Founder's Hall, Shinji Shumeikai, Shiga Prefecture, Japan, 1982
Eastern Province International Airport, Saudi Arabia, 1985

apps.detnews.com...

Yamasaki was the architect for the spooks.

According to the linked articles, his personal life was a shambles, as one would imagine of someone being caught-up in events beyond his control, owing debts he couldn't pay, and from which there was no escape. I feel pity for him when I put myself in his shoes.

...

Originally posted by DrEugeneFixer

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
Very interesting that the CIA headquarters and the WTC shared the same architect.
Another little piece to the puzzle that is 9/11.

This is not quite what the articles say. Yamasaki left the firm that designed the new CIA HQ more than thirty years before that project began construction. He had nothing to do with it.

It was late when I read the post, sorry I missed that, Thanks.

He did also design the Eastern Airlines terminal for Boston, MA Logan airport though,
And that ugly Federal Reserve Building in Richmond, Va that I had to look at for 15 years - it dominates the Richmond skyline. Which, incidentally, Queen Elizabeth II came to visit back in '07.

reply to post by comprehension

Yamasaki was the architect for the spooks.

So what "spooky" buildings did he design?

In your list see airline terminals, bank buildings and even a Jewish temple among others

The Pruitt-Ingoue house failed because of social conditions, not do to the intristic design of the building

Was little more than high slum full of crime and other social ills. Became so bad that decision was made to
level the buildings and try something else

Originally posted by comprehension

3. He had a reputation for designing buildings to the specifications of the client, whether or not they made sense. He was discreet and compliant.

My God!!! You discovered this all by yourself? He actually and literally designed buildings to the specification of his clients?


There it is!! The Perfet sMokiNg Gunnnn!@@@3!!!! *sob* After all these years. More absolutely unimpeachable logic and brilliance from the Truthers.

Always make laugh when Masons say "We got nothing to hide, stop the hate."
Well, what do we got here from a architectural and engineering firm?
another strike.

Originally posted by comprehension
Yes, you are correct, Yamasaki was helped to avoid internment by his employers who later went on to design CIA headquarters. It is not clear how they helped him avoid internment.

It might have something to do with the fact that he lived in New York City at the time and the Japanese internment was only on the pacific coast. The fear was of a Japanese invasion of the Hawaiian islands, not New Jersey.

You're not very good at this conspiracy mongoring game, are you?

Originally posted by GoodOlDave

Originally posted by comprehension
Yes, you are correct, Yamasaki was helped to avoid internment by his employers who later went on to design CIA headquarters. It is not clear how they helped him avoid internment.

It might have something to do with the fact that he lived in New York City at the time and the Japanese internment was only on the pacific coast. The fear was of a Japanese invasion of the Hawaiian islands, not New Jersey.

You're not very good at this conspiracy mongoring game, are you?

When he married his Japanese-American wife two days before Pearl Harbour, it looked like foreknowledge and he was investigated by the FBI. After a thorough vetting, he was allowed to work on the design of a naval station, but found himself constantly reported as a spy. Yamasaki’s parents escaped internment on the west coast by coming to live with him and his wife in the one bedroom New York apartment that they already shared with his brother.

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk...


A west-coast born Japanese-American traveling freely and ensuring his Seattle-based family was free too. Nothing to see here, in fact all the West Coast Japanese-Americans needed to do was move to NY, then they too could be thoroughly vetted by the FBI and be allowed to work on Naval bases.

Originally posted by comprehension

When he married his Japanese-American wife two days before Pearl Harbour, it looked like foreknowledge and he was investigated by the FBI. After a thorough vetting, he was allowed to work on the design of a naval station, but found himself constantly reported as a spy. Yamasaki’s parents escaped internment on the west coast by coming to live with him and his wife in the one bedroom New York apartment that they already shared with his brother.

So in other words you admitting you KNEW the guy was living in NYC at the time, and that you KNEW there wasn't any roundup of Japanese Americans on the East coast. If you knew all that then it's patently phony for you to turn around and attempt to sow abject paranoia by claiming "it's a mystery how he escaped internment"....and what possible point are you trying to dredge up now? Are you saying it was the Japanese Empire that staged 9/11?

You really need to learn to give up while you're still behind.

withdrawn

Originally posted by comprehension
I will happily respond to intelligent comments. Got any?

Yes I do. My "intelligent comment" is that your goal is to promote these conspiracy claims because you want them to be true, and becuase you want them to be true you're willing to grasp at any straw, regardless of how absurd it sounds, in order to keep your theories alive. This is by definition "faith based logic".

You may take umbrage at my flippant remarks, but at the end of the day you have not shown why anything I'm saying is incorrect.

Originally posted by GoodOlDave

So in other words you admitting you KNEW the guy was living in NYC at the time, and that you KNEW there wasn't any roundup of Japanese Americans on the East coast. If you knew all that then it's patently phony for you to turn around and attempt to sow abject paranoia by claiming "it's a mystery how he escaped internment"....and what possible point are you trying to dredge up now? Are you saying it was the Japanese Empire that staged 9/11?

You really need to learn to give up while you're still behind.

Come on! I mean after all, anyone who "had a reputation for designing buildings to the specifications of the client" has *got to be* in cahoots with the Dark Side!

reply to post by comprehension


Its a little odd that they list the completion date for the World Trade Center as 1976, I was in the building (forget which tower) in 1975. Just a little thing but I know that you and facts don't get along very well.