I saw a fantastic documentary about Pentagon on discovery program called "Super Structures" today and thought to pen those thoughts in this blog.
most of the lines were typed as an when the narrator was telling it in the video.
I have heard about pentagon, but i never knew about its history. 9/11 was probably the incident that made the whole world look at this super structure again.
pentagon - a monumental structure it stands apart from the rest of the world in a very formidable way.
It has gone 60 years without renovation and is in a terrible shape today. But now it is changing to become stronger than ever.
It's a huge Concrete fortress.Its a place from where you make one phone call and a bomb can be dropped anywhere in the world.
It has Five rings and Five Floors and can accommodate more than 25000 people at a time.
Analysts have warned that pentagon is the 3rd most attractive target for terrorists next to white house and the capitol building.
as warned by them 40 minutes after the twin tower attack on 9/11 the Pentagon was hit. Flight 77 hits the pentagon...
When the plane hit Pentagon, it traveled at a speed of 560 km/h destroyed the
west side of the pentagon, first and second floors of the outer 3 rings.
5000 people were in this part of the building when the plane hit! 125 people died that day.Wondering how only 125?
That was one of the most and only fortunate thing that could happen on 9/11. By chance the plane hit the part of the building that was renovated.
But why was this building constructed?
During the Summer of 1941, war was raging in Europe and US feared attack.
In Washington,the war department was scattered all over the place and they needed a new building. They constructed a new war department but it was too small and General Brehon Somervell, Cheif of construction for the war department was given responsibility to handle the problem.
The speed which they erected the building is absolutely remarkable.
July 17 1941,Thursday, the General ordered that he needed a plan to construct
a fire proof, A/C building to accommodate 40,000 people and ordered the plan to be on his table by Monday morning. Within 3 days a whole new building was planned and fulfilled all the requirements of the General. The plan was quickly approved, after 5 days the plan was conceived. The Then US President, Franklin Roosevelt was concerned about safety and the threat the building could receive and suggested the building be constructed without windows, but later as per experts advice the idea was dropped.Franklin was still worried about security, because of the vastness of the building.
Within 2 months time, it was designed completely,approved,funded and location decided. No other building got a federal approval in such a short time. The building started construction and
ironically the date it began construction was sep 11, 19412.5 months after the construction pearl harbor attack happened which actually led to speed up the construction and every day 15000 workers worked 3 shifts,7 days a week.
Within a short span of 6 months one wedge was completed and was fully operational.
It had 30 centimeter concrete walls and is one of the strongest building in the world.
Within 16 months the building was completed.
Some Facts and trivia.!It will take 5 capitol building to make one pentagon..
25000 people work everyday and it never closes.!
Wandering through the pentagon is daunting and one can get lost easily.
The building has a very simple numbering system.
The whole building is divided into 5 rings. A - E
Crossing the rings are 10 corridors.
each ring has 5 floors.
For example Donald Rumsfield's office number was 3E880. which means that, his office is located at
3rd floor. E ring. 8thcoridor, 80 was his room number.
(but Donald Rumsfield got lost so easily in Pentagon! during his early days)
unsurprisingly everything in Pentagon is in large numbers.
They have,
131 stair cases,
672 fire hose cabinets,
4200 clocks,
7754 windows,
16250 light fittings,
691 water fountains,
19 escalators all go one way...(go up during the Morning, come down during the evenings)
There are no passenger lifts(Elevators). There was a reason for this. Guess what?..The General didn't want any Fat Generals and he wanted
everyone to use the stairs.
Elevators are used only for freights!
300 toilets . When Franklin asked why such a huge number, It was told that, it was a legal requirement by the state of Virginia.
Due to racial segregations there were blacks only toilets but Franklin Roosevelt immediately ordered to open them to all.
Once the Pentagon was fully constructed, there were
21 flyovers and underground station
parking space for 10000 cars!
There are just over 1000 staff to oversee and maintain the building alone.
Its a city within itself with shopping malls!
They have an unofficial mayor.. David O Cooke the administrator director. He has been there in the Pentagon now for 50 years.(is still there)
They have a number of unmarked office..which is a secret to rest of us except for those who use it.
They have 28 km of corridor! and the most exclusive offices is in the E ring's outer ring.
The best rooms face east ...can see the capital tomb and the Washington monument and its view is spectacular.
The 3rd floor is the office of the Secretary of defense
The final construction cost, like any other budget planning was well over the initial projected cost and it was $83 million dollar, ( 35 million dollar was the initial cost they had promised)
several incidents in 1990's forced the security increase in pentagon.
astonishingly the pentagon is built next to a airport..Everyday dozens of planes, pass every day over the pentagon and a bomb could be dropped easily.!
Truck bombs was the obvious threat.so a separate building was constructed. Within 13 months a remote delivery facility was constructed and proper screening and checking is made now.
Though millions of money is spent on other stuffs in the pentagon, no money was spent in updating the decor of the building.
Its just the endless white corridors and plain white walls.
Since the building was built during the time of war..they wanted to keep extravaganza low! and any unnecessary spending would be frowned upon.
60 yrs without any significant renovations. electrical systems became inadequate
and at least 30 power outages every day. boilers were broken and pipes which were supposed to be for 30 yrs has gone 60 yrs! last year it was with compliance with standards was 1953.
The reason for this is, Pentagon was not intended to be open for a long time. When Roosevelt was asked what would happen to Pentagon after the world war II
he answered after the war the building would be used as filing cabinets.
but it was open from then!!as US was involved in one war activity or other.
1990's a massive renovation project was signed by the congress to add extra fortifications.
There were New windows which used thermal glass. 4.5 cm pane weighs 1000 kg
10,000 dollars each. added steel rings, added a caviar type cloth to cover the masonry...(All this precautions prevented life loss on 9/11)
The building which took 16 months to construct is now predicted that, the renovation will go on for 16 yrs and go up to 1.2 billion dollars to 2 billion dollars.
When the the plane hit the renovated section and there were 5000 naval officers and
other workers in that part of the building.
floors 3,4 and 5 remained intact and helped 100s of people to escape.
newly installed sprinkler helped the rest of pentagon prevented fire spreading the entire pentagon.
5 weeks after the attack the renovation process begun again from scratch
as the attack was enough to damage the whole wedge. it was called the "Phoenix"...it took 4 weeks to complete the first stage ( takes usually 6 months according the construction engineer)..and the construction goes on to fit the 21st century.! It stills as a great American monument..
To the outside world it will restore it is former glory, to the inside it
is revitalized,reinforced and will be ready !
But this structure will remain a target. the reasons are the same.!!
As Benjamin Forgey says, "architecture is evidence, often extraordinarily moving evidence of the past.Buildings their shapes,materials,textures,and spaces represent their culture in its most persuasive physical form. Destroy the buildings and you rob a culture of its memory of its legitimacy of its right to exist."
Buildings fail. Even the most fortified can succumb, but the love of freedom and the people commitment to defend that freedom will live on!
