9/11, Twenty Years Later: Remembering Minoru Yamasaki, the Local Connection

[image source] What can I possibly say about September 11, here on the 20th anniversary of that still-vividly-remembered day, that I have not already said, over and over again, in the span of those years? Well, there's one thing, only recently discovered, which I think is very cool: the architect of those original twin towers, Minoru Yamasaki, was not only native to Seattle but has an enduring local architectural legacy as well. Let's go through them!
Architect Minoru Yamasaki, born of Japanese immigrants in Seattle in 1912, designed what was originally called the United States Science Pavilion for the Seattle World's Fair (also called the Century 21 Exposition) in 1962. The guy evidently had quite a thing for arches, often cathedral-like; the Pacific Science Center's own history page refers to his work as inspired by "Gothic cathedrals, Islamic temples, and Japanese gardens."
A recent Crosscut piece about Yamasaki described the Science Center arches as blending those influences to create "a sacred space for science." When the Pacific Science Center's original structures were completed, Yamasaki would have been 50 years old.
Yamasaki's next local, Seattle project would be what was then called the IBM Building and is now just 1200 Fifth: completed 1964, 276 feet tall, 20 floors. This building has arches of its own at its base, and a facade very similar to a whole lot of his other buildings—including the World Trade Center. He designed a ton of buildings of varying heights and shapes but several other recognizably similar skyscrapers he designed include One M&T Plaza in Buffalo (1967, 318 ft, 21 floors), Century Plaza Towers in Los Angeles (1975, 571 ft, 44 floors), and Torre Picasso in Madrid (1988, 515 ft, 46 floors).

[image source] The World Trade Center was finished in 1972, 1,368 ft for one of the Twin Towers and 1,362 ft for the other, both of them 110 floors, replacing the Empire State Building's 40-year record as the world's tallest building for two years until Willis Tower (then the Sears Tower) was completed in Chicago in 1974. This old photo illustrates the cathedral-like arches at the buildings' base, which are very similar to those at Seattle's Pacific Science Center. (Side note: prior to their collapse in 2001 making everyone suddenly nostalgic for them, the design of the World Trade Center was widely reviled.
Finally, back to Seattle again, Rainier Tower, on its infamous, 11-story tapered pedestal, was completed in 1977 (514 ft, 41 floors). Aside from that pedestal though, Yamasaki's well-worn design aesthetic to the building strikes me as pretty clear and recognizable. I can't say I'm especially fond of it in any of these buildings—ironically considering my love of skyscrapers, I think the Pacific Science Center "Space Arches" are by far his best work—but, I do love that he designed two of the world's most famous skyscrapers in history, and that his legacy lives in indefinitely not just in several other cities, but especially his birth city of Seattle. (Thanks to Karen Gaudette Brewer for alerting me to this local connection; it appears the book about him referenced in that Crosscut article is not available at the Seattle Public Library, which is disappointing; I may make a truly rare move and actually go to a local bookstore and buy it! The aforementioned Crosscut article is well worth a read.) [posted 8:14 am]