TRIZEK 60-Story Office Building Proposal, Kansas City, Design Sketches

In the early 1980s, architect Harry Weese and structural engineer Charles H. Thornton collaborated on an experimental project for a supertall skyscraper with a 45-degree torque from the base to the top of the tower, providing wind resistance in a manner similar to guy lines, the steel cables employed to stabilize broadcasting towers and telephone poles. Although Weese was not known for designing tall buildings, this high-profile study led to a widely publicized, unrealized design of 1982 for a 210-story building for the World Trade Center Chicago. Since then his ideal of the twisted rectangular column has become a standard type for contemporary tall buildings, including the design for the 1 World Trade Center in New York.