If WTC Building 7 came down due to office fires, as claimed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) then it must be determined whether or not it was due to inadequate fireproofing on the steel framing. "It is we, the architects, who specify the fireproofing for these structures, says Gage. "Either the fireproofing in the building was adequate, and therefore the 2008 NIST report is wrong (because "thermal expansion" would never have happened), or the fireproofing was substandard or inadequately applied, in which case the fireproofing industry standards - as established by NFPA must be re-examined. Yet not one of the 90,000 architect-members of the American Institute of Architects have received even one bulletin about the free-fall collapse of this building in 7 seconds. We need a new investigation to keep the public and the firefighters safe from "Sudden Building Collapse."

 

During his architectural career, Richard has worked most types of building construction, including numerous fire-proofed, steel-framed buildings — most recently a $400M mixed-use urban project with 1.2 million square feet of retail, 320,000 square feet of mid-rise office space and parking structure, altogether consisting of about 1,200 tons of steel framing.