- Playing
- 99% Invisible #35- Elegy for WTC
- From
- Roman Mars
(Photo by Charles Traub)
I want to be careful not to overstate what it means for a building to die. A building’s worth is an infinitesimal fraction of the worth a person’s life. Even two buildings don’t even move the needle in comparison to real human loss. But a building is still a living thing in a way. It breathes and it moves. This movement makes a sound.
Les Robertson, the structural engineer of the World Trade Center, says that the people working inside the tower couldn’t feel this movement, but they could hear it.
This episode of 99% Invisible was produced with the Kitchen Sisters, Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, and the creaking “Buildings Speak” section was mixed by Jim McKee of Earwax Productions. It’s comprised of extracts and outtakes from the Peabody Award Winning Sonic Memorial Project produced in 2002. A new, tenth anniversary edition of the Sonic Memorial Project, which is narrated by my literary hero Paul Auster, is going to be playing on public radio stations around the country. Find out where and when it’s playing on your local public radio station and make an appointment to listen.
Also in the 99% Invisible series
99% Invisible #48- The Bathtubs or the Boiler Room
(00:11:07)
From: Roman Mars
Discovering marble bathtubs in the basement of the US Capitol.
99% Invisible #47- US Postal Service Stamps
(00:12:27)
From: Roman Mars
They are NOT tiny paintings.
99% Invisible #46- Vulcanite Dentures, or When Patent Violators Strike Back
(00:08:51)
From: Roman Mars
These false teeth were to die for. To kill for, even.
99% Invisible #45- Beauty Pill's Immersive Ideal
(00:09:30)
From: Roman Mars
The closest one could ever hope to get to dancing about architecture.
99% Invisible #44- The Pruitt-Igoe Myth
(00:11:27)
From: Roman Mars
How a St. Louis public housing marvel became "hell on earth."
99% Invisible #43- The Accidental Music of Imperfect Escalators
(00:07:21)
From: Roman Mars
Sometimes it's an object's imperfections that makes you fall in love with it. And sometimes that object is an escalator.
99% Invisible #42- Recognizably Anonymous
(00:10:36)
From: Roman Mars
A group accidentally created what ad execs dream of: a unique brand identity that rapidly achieved world-wide appeal and renknown. Except this group wants to bring down the ...
99% Invisible #41- The Human-Human Interface
(00:04:30)
From: Roman Mars
We're used to interacting with objects. But we're not used to objects that teach us how to interact with each other.
99% Invisible #40- Billy Possum
(00:12:05)
From: Roman Mars
The children's fad that has never swept the nation
99% Invisible #39- Darth Vader Family Courthouse
(00:07:33)
From: Roman Mars
Not the kind of place that makes your divorce or custody battle any easier.
Related Pieces
Piece Description
(Photo by Charles Traub)
I want to be careful not to overstate what it means for a building to die. A building’s worth is an infinitesimal fraction of the worth a person’s life. Even two buildings don’t even move the needle in comparison to real human loss. But a building is still a living thing in a way. It breathes and it moves. This movement makes a sound.
Les Robertson, the structural engineer of the World Trade Center, says that the people working inside the tower couldn’t feel this movement, but they could hear it.
This episode of 99% Invisible was produced with the Kitchen Sisters, Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, and the creaking “Buildings Speak” section was mixed by Jim McKee of Earwax Productions. It’s comprised of extracts and outtakes from the Peabody Award Winning Sonic Memorial Project produced in 2002. A new, tenth anniversary edition of the Sonic Memorial Project, which is narrated by my literary hero Paul Auster, is going to be playing on public radio stations around the country. Find out where and when it’s playing on your local public radio station and make an appointment to listen.
