Who Is Le Messurier's Citicorp Center?

I. Introduction The Citicorp Center , today known as the Citigroup Center, is one of the most identifiable characteristics of the New York City skyline. The story of Citicorp Center’s structural engineer, William LeMessurier is a very enlightening story in engineering ethics and very educational to every design engineer . In fact, Le Messurier inventive use and positionning of the big columns bent a "design marvel" (Hegarty) , but those very fundamentals might have been the source for a collateral disaster and engineering scandal. Capitalizing on good fortune, the ruinous end of LeMessurier’s profession was prevented and, as a substitute, his importance in the design professional society increased to new heights. In this essay we shall examine how Le Messurier failed or succeeded to abide by the legal responsibilities and the ethical codes of engineering.
II. Ethics

i. Professional ethics When designing buildings, engineers are obliged to follow the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) canons of ethics. (Accredation Board of Engineers and Technology, 1977)

On one hand, Le Messurier didn’t completely abide to them in the Citicorp case. According to the first canon, engineers should prioritize the safety, health and welfare of the public in every design. Le Messurier disregarded this code by not putting the columns at
In fact, he did calculations mistakes. He did not account for the quaternary wind stresses. Even though the codes of engineering at that time didn 't mention the need to mention these stresses in the calculation le Messurier as a clever engineer should have known the implications of constructing an usual unique structure different from the other typical ones where only normal stresses were accounted. (Kremer, 2002) The fact that he didn 't knew about the risk of his design and the importance of quaternary winds makes him