I was staying at a friend’s apartment in the heart of Hollywood on the evening of September 10th, 2001. I had to wake up unnaturally early the next morning to move my car to avoid getting a parking ticket. I vividly recall the eery feeling squeezed into the tiny old elevator as I descended the building with more neighbors than I would have expected to be awake at that hour. Nobody said anything. I could tell something was off. The moment I got into my car the radio quickly caught me up. In fact, it was right at the moment the second plane hit the towers… a little after the 6 am deadline to move my car out of the streetcleaner’s way. I don’t remember re-parking my car or returning to the apartment, but I clearly remember spending the next many hours jumping between the television, my phone, and my computer, taking in the horror and working it out with friends, family, and colleagues in real-time. 

Archinect was only 4 years old at that time. This was before social media existed, as we know it today. Archinect was the world’s only online architectural platform and community site, so the industry followed closely through our daily updated feed and discussion forum. Archinect’s news back then was like a foreshadowing of Twitter–mostly short text bites with links and the occasional image. It was updated throughout the day by myself and a select group of friends and colleagues around the world. We were young, snarky, and didn’t take issues too seriously, but this day was different for obvious reasons. On this day, 20 years after the event that forever changed history, we’re looking back at how the team responded to the tragedy on 9/11 and the days following, starting with my friend Peter's first post while working as the in-house web designer at CNN's Atlanta HQ..

9/11/2001 Reporting from the CNN Center. I am stunned.
posted by: peter rentz

9/11/2001 FRIENDS/FAMILY IN NYC: phones apparently down in NYC... email me to let me know you're OK.
posted by: Paul Petrunia

9/11/2001 checking in from los angeles international airport. faa has cancelled all flights for the rest of the day - avoid all airports. please do not phone new york city as rescue efforts need all the available phone lines they can get. all my loved ones at k+d, shop and twbs please email me to let me know you are alright. i have not posted in a while, and i regret that this is the context under which i check in.
posted by: israel kandarian

9/11/2001 things are calming down in nyc, yet the F16s are still flying overhead. Downtown is evac'd and the majority of people have made it partially uptown. Many people are attempting to walk home from their current locations as most or all subways are stopped. the horror of seeing parts of this with my own eyes is shocking compared to distance afforded by the television screen. i hope that as the phone come back that everyone out there hears good news from friends and family here.
posted by: jason anderson

9/11/2001 Structural engineers comment on the collapse of the WTC towers. And WTC architect Minoru Yamasaki Associates issued this statement.
posted by: Alan Loomis

9/11/2001 just have been seeing the pictures from the usa on the tv.

this is devastating and unbelieveable. who has this sick mind to come up with something like this? i feel exhausted and sad and all personal difficulties stop mattering. my thoughts are with the people in ny, washington and the usa. how will this go on?

from berlin, watching in horror.
posted by: michael filser

9/11/2001 The evolving tragedy of today's unprecedented attacks has us all deeply shocked and saddened. If you have friends or relatives who are unaccounted for, here are some contact numbers --

World Trade Center businesses:
Emergency number for Morgan Stanley: 1-888-883-4391

Pentagon personnel:
Pentagon employees only are asked to check in by calling 1-877-663-6772


United Airlines
US: 1 800 932 8555
The Netherlands: 020504051
Germany: 06966985407
Italy: 024829813
Belgium: 027133646
France: 0169199659
UK Foreign Office: 020 7008 0000

American Airlines, US: 1-800-245-0999

++
Get cogent, measured reportage through National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org/

The New York Times -- http://www.nytimes.com -- is posting continuously, as is the British Broadcasting Corporation: http://www.bbc.co.uk

St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan reports that they've had to turn away droves of New Yorkers wishing to give blood. However, you can discover where to donate in your area by accessing http://www.redcross.org or 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. Type "O" blood is most needed, and Manhattan hospitals overall request that donors go to outlying hospitals that can then transfer to the most-needed centers.

Please be safe.

posted by: Paul Petrunia

9/11/2001 Exclusive interview at The Jerusalem Post with Aaron Swirski, WTC architect.
posted by: Paul Petrunia

9/12/2001 Understandably, many plans have been cancelled due to recent events... for those here in LA, that includes MOCA (re-opening on Sunday) and SCI_Arc's opening party on Saturday.
posted by: Paul Petrunia

9/12/2001 DISCUSS - I've opened this forum with a editorial broadcast by Canadian journalist Gordan Sinclair. Please feel free to post news, responses, feelings, whatever in this forum.
posted by: Paul Petrunia

9/12/2001 Los Angeles: While the celebration of the restoration and reopening of the Los Angeles City Hall has been postponed you can still check out the finished product at LACityHall.com. Additional images of the construction and the project history can be found at LACityHall.org.
posted by: Scott Fajack

9/13/2001 L.A. Times:
Critic's Notebook: Towering Symbols of Faith. The World Trade Center's skyscrapers stood as an architectural vision of a strong nation confident of its future.

DESIGN 2001: Right Here, Right 'Now'. How do you define L.A.? Book, exhibition and films provide a snapshot of today and visions for tomorrow.
posted by: Scott Fajack

9/13/2001 How the World Trade Center Fell.
posted by: chris grimley

9/13/2001 Architects and engineers discuss the collapse.
posted by: Paul Petrunia

9/14/2001 THE ARCHITECTS: Watching a Creation From Infancy to Rubble in the NY Times.
posted by: Scott Fajack

9/14/2001 Developer Said Committed to Rebuild WTC
posted by: Paul Petrunia

9/14/2001 step outside tonight at 7pm e.s.t. and light a candle to show that our country stands in peaceful solidarity against terrorist action. london is representing.
posted by: Mason White

9/14/2001 The New Yorker website is featuring The Towers written in 1972, chronicling the construction of the World Trade Center, when it was a symbol of hope and optimism.
posted by: Scott Fajack

9/16/2001 The opening party at SCI_Arc was also cancelled Saturday, but the school is open in its new building, as the LA Weekly reports.
posted by: Alan Loomis

9/17/2001 frightening...
posted by: Alan Loomis

I've also spent the last few days reading through the hundreds of messages shared by our community in our discussion forum from 20 years ago. Here are a few comments from the threads that stood out...

donna  09/13/01-13:14

I think it is critical that a discussion begin - soon - regarding what will be rebuilt on the World trade Center site. I'm afraid that in our memorial building mania of late there will be calls to preserve this site as a memorial, and in my opinion that would be the most disrespectful and defeated response. The terrorists were striking at the icon that most represents our country as a place of business. As the capitalist country that we are, we need to maintain that valuable real estate as what it is - real estate. The sooner it can start operating as a part of the financial worls again, the more clearly we will show that our spirit is not broken.

I don't want to sound crass. I know that the loss of those buildings, both as real estate and as icons of modern architecture and symbols of New York City, pales to insignificance in comparison to the tragic loss of life that has occurred here. I'm not saying that there should not be a memorial, but if the land becomes sacred and untouchable then they have succeeded in taking away some of our American spirit.

Colin Montoute  09/13/01-16:09

Thoughts

As I travel around an emotionally devastated Manhattan.
Everyone is moving a littlie slower being a little more polite.

Very little eye contact is being made.

Collective conscience has taken on new meaning for me.

My 8 year old is somewhat oblivious. She wants to know why she can‰t watch rugrats or some other diversion on television.

This innocence is somewhat refreshing.

I hope she keeps it as long as possible.

Perhaps every generation loses its innocence in some traumatic way. I don‰t know.

I am riding to work on the subway, a crowded Manhattan subway train. Usually you can here talking, complaining, and ranting and screaming, music and babies.

Today nothing, only the train and the conductor.

Where do you go what do you do.

I have always felt cocooned in New York. We don‰t have earthquakes.

Floods.
Tornados.
Hurricanes.
Perhaps the occasional blizzard.

Dealing with trauma on this level at this scale this close to home

Alan  09/15/01-00:10

Looking through this forum, and indeed seeing footage of the disasters and the aftermarth, a greater openness and sense of humanity has been displayed (for the most part) than usual. Events like these concentrate the feelings which we all have, day to day, although to a subconcious degree: far more important than anything else is our love for one another, and our equal standing as human beings.

The attacks on America were more exactly attacks on our beliefs - beliefs which no doubt will be strengthened as a result. I have never seen boarders apear so transparent as over these last few days - people, not countries.

My heart goes out to you all.