Minoru Yamasaki

“The World Trade Center’s architect, Minoru Yamasaki …merged modernism with Islamic influences.”
—Laurie Kerr, Slate

“At the base of the towers, Yamasaki used implied pointed arches—derived from the characteristically pointed arches of Islam—as a transition between the wide column spacing below and the dense structural mesh above. (Europe imported pointed arches from Islam during the Middle Ages, and so non-Muslims have come to think of them as innovations of the Gothic period.) Above soared the pure geometry of the towers, swathed in a shimmering skin, which doubled as a structural web—a giant truss. Here Yamasaki was following the Islamic tradition of wrapping a powerful geometric form in a dense filigree, as in the inlaid marble pattern work of the Taj Mahal or the ornate carvings of the courtyard and domes of the Alhambra… A number of designers from the Middle East [described] the entire façade as a giant ‘mashrabiya,’ the tracery that fills the windows of mosques.”
—Laurie Kerr, “The Mosque to Commerce,” Slate, 2001