WTC Tower One - by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (formerly "Freedom Tower") [Archive] - Page 9

pianoman11686

June 24th, 2005, 12:31 AM

A follow-up to the recently-issued skyscraper safety report:

Time for Drastic Changes in Tall Buildings? Experts Disagree

By ERIC LIPTON and JIM DWYER

Published: June 24, 2005

The day had been one of utter confusion, panic, even death. Terrorists had attacked the largest buildings in New York. And for months afterward, a task force of senior government officials met to reflect on the event, and to study how to make tall buildings safer. In the end, they produced a document calling for fundamental change in how they are built and operated.

The date of their report was Feb. 22, 1995, two years to the week after the first attack on the World Trade Center. More than six years later, on the morning of the next attack, very few of the recommendations had been put into effect. "It just didn't happen," said Patricia Lancaster, now the city buildings commissioner.

Yesterday, a federal agency released a 10,000-page draft final report on the collapse of the World Trade Center, including a set of recommendations for fundamental changes in the next generation of skyscrapers, and for emergency response. Having been struck twice, New York City has already passed Local Law 26, which anticipates and surpasses many of the federal recommendations. But faced with opposition from the real estate industry, the city has not required wider staircases.

Elsewhere, some of the early reactions to the new recommendations, from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, recall the history, if not the fate, of the reform effort after the 1993 attacks. Many structural engineers argue that the events of Sept. 11, 2001, were so unusual that they should not propel drastic change.

"Tall buildings are extremely safe today, one of the safest places you can be," said W. Gene Corley, a structural engineer who led an earlier investigation into the World Trade Center attack, as well as an inquiry into the bombing of the Murrah Federal Office Building in Oklahoma City.

He and William F. Baker, a structural engineer at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in Chicago, said that as a result, changes in building codes will likely be modest. "I expect it will be more a case of refinements than wholesale changes," Mr. Baker said.

Leaders of the National Institute of Standards and Technology say that they have an ambitious program of meetings with building code experts and industry officials to push for changes that they believe will improve the safety of buildings faced not only with terrorist attacks, but also more routine hazards like earthquakes, fires, and hurricanes. The agency plans to hold a conference in September on how the building industry can reduce the risk.

"We already have begun working with the organizations that will be responsible for turning the recommendations into action," said Hratch Semerjian, the acting director of the institute.

Nationally, between 1989 and 1999, no more than five civilians were killed in 6,900 reported high-rise office building fires, according to statistics complied by the National Fire Protection Association. Those numbers - which do not include the attacks at the World Trade Center - are not large enough to produce wide-scale change in building codes, several engineers said.

"You can do anything you want, but you can't change a number that is already extremely low," Dr. Corley said.

In presenting the findings yesterday, S. Shyam Sunder, who led the federal investigation, rejected suggestions that the events at the trade center were too rare to provide useful lessons for other skyscrapers. The investigation used two approaches to study risks, he said. One was based on historical records. The second was "scenario driven," an effort to anticipate unusual events that could cause serious injury or death.

Dr. Sunder said that fully equipped firefighters - carrying nearly 100 pounds of gear up stairs - begin to reach their physiological limits about the 15th or 20th floor, and that it takes about two minutes to climb per floor. For people on the 60th floor of a building that has lost power, Dr. Sunder said, "help is actually a few hours away. We did not look at other buildings, but we are very confident in our recommendations."

Historically, major revisions in building codes have often followed catastrophes or spectacular fires, such as the Chicago Iroquois Theater fire in 1903, the Triangle Shirtwaist fire in New York in 1911, two major skyscraper fires in New York City in the early 1970's, and a deadly fire in 1980 at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. All told, hundreds of people died in those fires. Even so, the debate over code changes often drags on for years, as groups with competing interests attempt to influence the process, debating costs and benefits.

Jonathan Barnett, a professor at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Center for Fire Safety Studies, said that many recommendations the standards institute has made would require extensive research before code standards could be drafted.

That research would cost tens of millions of dollars, he said, far more than the $16 million that the institute invested in the study. "There will be no significant change unless Congress throws money at this," he said. "It is not going to come from the private sector."

Ms. Lancaster, of the New York Department of Buildings, cited the example of using glow-in-the-dark paint in staircases, a feature of the trade center stairs that a number of people said had been helpful in their evacuation, and which the city recently required for all tall buildings. Deciding where and how much of the paint should be applied took nearly two years, Ms. Lancaster said.

Ms. Lancaster said that the city was determined not to let reform efforts fall into a bureaucratic torpor, and that it had already adopted a number of the recommendations called for by the federal inquiry. These include such changes as reinforced walls for staircases and elevators, more sprinklers, smoke control measures, and inspection of fireproofing. The question of expanding the width of staircases continues to be debated in New York because of cost concerns.

Dr. Corley, Mr. Baker and Dr. Barnett each agreed that many of the recommendations could work their way into model codes adopted by organizations like the National Fire Protection Association and the International Code Council, which local and state governments use as templates for their own codes.

Jack Murphy, an adviser to the National Fire Protection Association on high-rise safety, said that firefighters could provide powerful voices on the need for change, but that they are rarely involved.

The new standards will likely result in an immediate adjustment in the development of certain major skyscrapers, if they have not already been made. Mr. Baker, for example, is working on the structural design for the Trump Tower in Chicago. The Freedom Tower, which is to replace the World Trade Center, is also likely to integrate many of the recommendations, the engineers predicted.

The changes Mr. Baker is incorporating into these kinds of buildings include wider stairwells that have more robust walls, and refuge areas for the disabled to await assistance or for tired tenants to rest during an evacuation. He also is designing these towers with stronger connections between columns and beams, addressing one recommendation in yesterday's report.

"What we might do on a high-profile building or a building with special tenants is one thing," Mr. Baker said. "But if you want to do that in all tall buildings, I am not sure that is appropriate."

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Ninjahedge

June 24th, 2005, 09:06 AM

Stronger connections between columns and beams?

For what?

That was not what failed in the WTC. That is usually a provision for ectreme seismic where the moments due to lateral motion could force a failure of the joint before a failure of a member.

I hate some of these studies. Noone is going to reat all 10,000 pages and be able to see it for what it's worth. Noone is going to apply the right solutions to the right situations.

they are going to look at the summary and say "we have to make this all law to save countless lives" without realizing that in doing so they are killing countless projects that may help countless lives in the process.

Fear is not the right emotion to design for or with.

NYguy

June 24th, 2005, 06:48 PM

NEWSDAY

New WTC tower plans to be unveiled next week

By staff reports
June 24, 2005

A new design for the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero will be unveiled next week and it will be, "arguably the safest building ever built," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday.

He said the tower, the linchpin of the Lower Manhattan redevelopment, would be built to meet the same construction standards as American embassies.

"Nobody has ever built a tall building to an emgassy standard -- anything remotely more than probably three or four stories high," the mayor said on his weekly show on WABC-770AM radio.

He said new buildings should take advantage of improvement in building materials and technology to built safer buildings, although the Freedom Tower would be made safer than other because of its "icon" status.

Gov. George Pataki ordered a redesign of the Freedom Tower last month to address security concerns raised by the Police Department.

Although the mayor gave no details of the new design, previous reports have said the tower would be set farther back from the street to limit damage from a bomb-lader vehicle, and the structure would be harded to resist the force of an explosion.

michelle1

June 24th, 2005, 08:42 PM

It sounds good

krulltime

June 24th, 2005, 09:06 PM

Good I can't wait for this 'New Freedom Tower' (uh that name..)

"Nobody has ever built a tall building to an emgassy standard -- anything remotely more than probably three or four stories high," the mayor said on his weekly show on WABC-770AM radio.

emgassy standard? Whats that?

macreator

June 24th, 2005, 09:56 PM

emgassy standard? Whats that?

It's a misspelling -- what he said was embassy standard, referring to the security standards that U.S. embassies abroad are built to in terms of standing up to car bombs, etc.

BrooklynRider

June 24th, 2005, 09:57 PM

NEWSDAY

New WTC tower plans to be unveiled next week

By staff reports
June 24, 2005

A new design for the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero will be unveiled next week...

Man, my reaction was just a knot in my stomach. It is strange. I am just dreading this. My mind is set on, "how bad will it be?"

macreator

June 24th, 2005, 10:19 PM

Man, my reaction was just a knot in my stomach. It is strange. I am just dreading this. My mind is set on, "how bad will it be?"

Haha, welcome to my world. I was walking across the Vessey street bridge today coming back from a ferry ride from Jersey City today and I was fighting the urge to throw up over the banners the LMDC has posted on the bridge of the new World Trade Center with its offcenter spire up front and shining.

Jake

June 25th, 2005, 11:59 AM

I can already picture it

"the freedom tower will be able to withstand a direct assault by an enemy force armed with automatic weapons. It can also act as a bunker in case of an artillery attack. It provides US Marines with strategic advantage points in case of a required defense"

Why in the world would we need an embassy standard? I understand it's good for car bombs but anyone who has ever been to any American embassy knows that has to do with the outside perimeter and not with the building itself.

"safest building ever built: - that just makes me think Titanic

I too am thinking just how bad will it be, lol, we might just want the birdcage back!

Last I heard it's gonna be a 1776 foot totem pole

Johnnyboy

June 25th, 2005, 12:34 PM

Thats funny. Birdcage

NoyokA

June 25th, 2005, 08:06 PM

michelle1

June 25th, 2005, 09:52 PM

Stern, meeeeeee tooooooo
come-on next week!!!!!!!

kz1000ps

June 25th, 2005, 11:57 PM

I remember my initial reaction to seeing the then-new Freedom Tower design on the front page of the Times Arts section (I wasn't on WNY on a regular basis back then) and off-the-bat feeling - ok, this is a much better design than the "etheral" thing Libeskind had for his master plan. I can only hope I get the same gut reaction this week, nevermind standing up to some absolute ideal of what is good design/functionality. Here's to hoping this will be the piece to hold downtown's skyline for at least another 30 years.

pianoman11686

June 26th, 2005, 12:39 AM

No, it comes out at the end of the month. Next week.

pianoman11686

June 26th, 2005, 12:49 AM

Well technically on the calendar it's listed as an event that comes out between June 26th and 30th. I don't think anyone knows exactly when it'll come out.

BrooklynRider

June 26th, 2005, 12:50 AM

I’ll even have trouble sleeping the night before the unveiling.

You could just lay back and count Liebskinds until you drift off.

NYguy

June 26th, 2005, 02:52 AM

For the very first time in my entire life I feel like a fanatic, I am so anxious and excited about the redesigned Freedom Tower I have inverted into a Star Wars style groupie, I’ll even have trouble sleeping the night before the unveiling.

Anyone going to camp out at the WTC until the unveiling? Someone can go dressed as Libeskind, then others as Silverstein and Childs. We could even get someone to go as Pataki. May the force be with us all.

Anyway, "next week" is a little too vague for me. It could be Monday. It could be Tuesday. Or maybe it could be Wednesday (wednesday was a favorite for unveilings). My guess is that they have it right now, so what are they waiting for? Why the suspense? Just release it already! I don't even need to see the photos yet, just give me the exact details and that will hold me over for a while.

Jake

June 26th, 2005, 11:59 AM

well i still remember what someone said about the new design-

"it will look more like a normal building"

that just always makes me laugh

Just out of curiousity, where is the main entrance to the Freedom Tower going to be?

lofter1

June 26th, 2005, 01:07 PM

From renderings, maps etc. it seems that the main entry would be at the SE corner of the Tower, on the corner of the extended Fulton St. and (extended ?) Washington St.

pianoman11686

June 27th, 2005, 01:57 AM

This, from an article about 7WTC posted in that building's thread:

...1,776-foot-tall Freedom Tower that will be built next door. That skyscraper's security redesign is expected to be unveiled on Wednesday.

NYguy

June 27th, 2005, 07:51 AM

1,776-foot-tall Freedom Tower that will be built next door. That skyscraper's security redesign is expected to be unveiled on Wednesday.

Somehow, I knew it would be Wednesday. It's always on a Wednesday. Here's more about the base from the 7 WTC article...

A shimmering, sharp-edged parallelogram sheathed in glass is being married to the brutalist 78-foot-tall substation with what looks like a sculptural installation: a kinetic, interactive stainless-steel wall.

Architects have said that this screen, intended to be a source of reflected color and light, may serve as the prototype for the cladding of a new, sturdier base at the 1,776-foot-tall Freedom Tower that will be built next door.

kliq6

June 27th, 2005, 09:45 AM

Silver got his incentive package, lets see if anyone takes the bait. I wish however they would get rid of the commerical rent tax for the whole city, this double tax on firms is one of the biggest reasons for firms leaving

Legislature Approves New Incentives for Lower Manhattan
By Barbara Jarvie

NEW YORK CITY-An agreement called a “Lower Manhattan Marshall Plan” by New York State Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver contains incentives to promote economic growth and revitalization in Lower Manhattan. The legislation calls for initiatives to promote Downtown commercial space occupancy, including a $5-per-sf incentive for the first 750,000 sf of commercial space leased anywhere on the World Trade Center site and a $3.80-per-sf incentive for the first 750,000 sf leased at 7 World Trade Center. Developer Larry Silverstein will have to match these incentives.

Additional provisions include to permanently eliminate the Commercial Rent Tax for all Ground Zero tenants and a five-year exemption of the CRT for all of Lower Manhattan and the modification of the Relocation and Employment Assistance Program to make businesses relocating to the area eligible for the tax credits, while the benefit for businesses leaving the area will be at the discretion of the city. Other provisions include sales tax exemptions for such items as office furniture and equipment for businesses leasing at the WTC site and build-out costs at the site and other downtown locations. The agreement also eliminates tax incentives that encourage residential/mixed-use conversion before June 30, 2006.

A separate agreement will dedicate the remaining $3.5-billion Liberty Bond pool for use in Lower Manhattan only with a priority at Ground Zero. Other items listed as priorities by Silver include reconstructing the Church Street corridor and constructing a rail link connecting Lower Manhattan to JFK Airport and the Long Island Rail Road.

Carl Weisbrod, president of the Alliance for Downtown New York, says the agreement will “provide significant economic incentives for the revitalization of Lower Manhattan. Downtown has come a long way since the horrible events of Sept. 11. But the economy remains fragile and these incentives are a key tool for revitalizing the area and fueling economic growth for years to come.”

NoyokA

June 28th, 2005, 09:28 PM

New design for Freedom Tower to be unveiled Wednesday
6/28/2005 8:30 PM
(New York-RNS)

The new design for the proposed Freedom Tower at Ground Zero will be unveiled at a press conference Wednesday.

Governor George Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and developer Larry Silverstein will join architects David Childs and Daniel Libeskind for the announcement.

The 1,776-foot tower has been redesigned, in part due to security concerns conveyed to the planners by the NYPD.

STT757

June 28th, 2005, 10:20 PM

The renderings are going to be released to the media at 4Am, you can watch channel 4 at 5AM to see them.

NoyokA

June 28th, 2005, 10:34 PM

The renderings are going to be released to the media at 4Am, you can watch channel 4 at 5AM to see them.

Where did you hear this?

NoyokA

June 28th, 2005, 10:53 PM

Newsday:

Unveiling of new Freedom Tower design

BY PRADNYA JOSHI

June 29, 2005

A new version of the centerpiece building at Ground Zero, deemed by officials to be the "safest" office building in the world, is being unveiled Wednesday morning.

Architect David Childs was told to redo his vision for the iconic building in May after the New York Police Department raised several security issues, particularly noting that the building in its old design was vulnerable to damage from a truck bomb.

The new Freedom Tower will still stand 1,776 feet high in homage to America's independence, but the tower will be moved farther away from West Street. According to previous reports, the building's base is being changed from a parallelogram to a square and the walls and windows will be modified to make the building less vulnerable to attack.

The new design can be viewed on Newsday.com and NYNewsday.com Wednesday morning.

Gov. George Pataki has made downtown rebuilding his top political priority, but he has recently weathered a series of setbacks and problems at Ground Zero, including the news that Goldman Sachs & Co. was putting on hold its plans to build a new headquarters downtown.

The delays over Freedom Tower and other issues of miscommunication led Pataki to create a rebuilding "czar" position last month, naming his chief of staff John Cahill to the position.

Officials from developer Larry Silverstein's office, the Port Authority and the governor's office either declined to comment or did not return calls for comment Tuesday.

But Lower Manhattan Development Corp. chairman John C. Whitehead, who heads the agency overseeing downtown rebuilding, acknowledged in a radio interview this month that the police should have been involved in the process earlier.

"I did not know of the objection of the Police Department," Whitehead said on "The Brian Lehrer Show" on WNYC. "Whether that was poor communications within LMDC or poor communication in some other way, I don't know."

The police had flagged state officials to the security problems last year but apparently encountered several roadblocks when trying to get officials to address their concerns. Eventually, the Police Department wrote a threat assessment on April 8 that finally garnered the attention to force a redesign.

STT757

June 28th, 2005, 11:25 PM

"Where did you hear this?"

Ralph Penza (sp?) interviewed Charles Gargano on the 6PM Channel 4 news, he mentioned that they wanted the public and media to see the renderings before the press conference later in the morning.

4 AM they will be released to the public, I wonder if the print media can do anything with that?..

STT757

June 28th, 2005, 11:32 PM

The websites for the major Tri-State news outlets will no doubt have the renderings up around 4Am, if anyone wants to stay up (get up) that late/early.

Check the NYTimes, Newsday, Dailynews websites..

krulltime

June 28th, 2005, 11:38 PM

Oh I cant wait!!!

Suddendly these lyrics popped in to my head... go figure... lol

"Give it to me
Give me that stuff
that funk
that sweet
that funky stuff
(Give it to me)
give me that stuff
that funk
that sweet
that funky stuff
Give it to me, give it to me
Give it to me, give it to me
Give me that stuff
that sweet, funky stuff

Oooooh HOW woo"

~ Give It To Me Baby - Rick James

bkmonkey

June 28th, 2005, 11:55 PM

the actual redesign informatin is going to be released at 4 in the morning to all the media. So turn on your televisions sets tommorow morning and keep your fingers crossed!

James Kovata

June 29th, 2005, 12:43 AM

NEW YORK -- The much-anticipated re-design of the Freedom Tower will be unveiled on Wednesday, NewsChannel 4 reported on Tuesday.

The old design that was called unsafe and criticized for its wind turbines is out. The new Freedom Tower has been reinforced and experts said will be one of the strongest buildings in the world.

It's also said to have a crown of light and still includes the original spire that will rise to the symbolic height of 1,776 feet.

pianoman11686

June 29th, 2005, 01:47 AM

This crown of light aspect sounds promising, but I'm not gonna speculate any further. Though only a little more than two hours away from the unveiling, I think I'd rather sleep now and wake up early in the morning. Good night to all. As someone so cleverly suggested, I might be counting Libeskinds if I have trouble falling asleep...

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 03:07 AM

Ohhh... Must stay awake.... ZZZzzzzz..... What... What time is it?

michelle1

June 29th, 2005, 03:53 AM

12:50 AM LA time :( , you guys are 3 hours ahead :)

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 04:50 AM

Oh I guess it wont be seen until a later conference today... But in case anyone is awake right now... Here is a recent story...

New Design to Be Unveiled Today for Freedom Tower

By DAVID W. DUNLAP and GLENN COLLINS
Published: June 29, 2005

With one eye on terrorism and another on what has already been lost to terrorists, New York officials will unveil a redesigned Freedom Tower today whose height and proportion, centered antenna and cut-away corners, tall lobbies and pinstripe facade would evoke - both deliberately and coincidentally - the sky-piercing twins it is meant to replace.

The new design for the 82-story signature building at the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan calls for an almost impermeable and impregnable 200-foot concrete and steel pedestal, clad in ornamental metalwork and set at least 65 feet away from Route 9A, the heavily trafficked state highway that runs along the west edge of ground zero.

This enormous pedestal would overlook the Sept. 11 memorial. Above it would be a tapering tower of glass - some panes laminated and several layers thick - with 69 office floors topped by a restaurant, indoor and outdoor observation decks and an antenna within a trellis-like sculpture that would bring the structure's total height to 1,776 feet.

That symbolic height is one of the few elements left intact from the building first envisioned in 2002 by the architect Daniel Libeskind, the site's master planner, and designed in 2003 by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Gone are the asymmetrical spire, torqued form, parallelogram floor plan, energy-producing windmills, suspension cables, lacy facade and open-air arcade.

The hurried redesign has pushed the completion date of the Freedom Tower back by one or two years, to 2010. It is unclear what effect it will have on the budget, which has been estimated at $1.5 billion, since the extra security measures will add to costs, while the overall simplification of the structure may cut down on time and money.

The latest transformation was driven by the New York Police Department's insistence that the building be more resistant to attack, particularly from car and truck bombs. It was also intended to preserve as much as possible of the foundation design that had already consumed months of work. This includes threading the tower's underground columns among the looping outbound tracks of the World Trade Center PATH station.

Given those requirements, and the goal of maintaining the building's overall 2.6 million square foot floor area, the redesigned Freedom Tower almost naturally assumed some dimensions of the original twin towers, said David M. Childs of Skidmore, the building's chief architect.

Though uncanny, it was not an unwelcome turn, he said. In fact, adjustments and refinements have been made to underscore the similarities. For example, the altitude of the floor of the rooftop observation deck would be set at 1,362 feet, the height of 2 World Trade Center. The rooftop parapet would reach 1,368 feet, the height of No. 1.

Setting aside his publicly expressed enthusiasm for the first Freedom Tower, Mr. Childs said of the new one, "It is a rare moment when new is better." He added: "I feel better about this than the original. The building is simpler, architecturally. It is unique, yet it subtly recalls, in the sky, the tragedy that has happened here."

The new design for Freedom Tower is scheduled to be presented formally later today at a news conference attended by Gov. George E. Pakati and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, as well as Mr. Childs, Mr. Libeskind and Larry A. Silverstein, the building's developer.

At its base, the Freedom Tower would be 200 feet square, like the twin towers and the two voids that are to be created in their place as part of the Sept. 11 memorial. Mr. Childs said the new building's "most important role is being a marker in the sky of the memorial."

But he did not back away from the notion that it is still intended to be a statement of defiance, strength and resolve in the face of terrorism. Mr. Childs referred to the Freedom Tower several times as a "victory column" and invoked Cleopatra's Needle in Central Park and Nelson's Column at Trafalgar Square in London as precedents.

Like 7 World Trade Center, now under construction across Vesey Street, the Freedom Tower would essentially be two buildings in one: a utility-filled concrete pedestal topped by an office tower with a glass curtain wall.

The first 30 feet of the 200-foot-tall pedestal would be completely solid, with no windows. The next 50 feet would have some openings, allowing light to be brought into the lobby from above. The rest of the base would be occupied by mechanical equipment.

Stainless steel, titanium or aluminum panels would mask the concrete wall at the Freedom Tower, Mr. Childs said, much as a stainless-steel screen by James Carpenter Design Associates covers the base of 7 World Trade Center.

Office tenants would enter the building from the north or south, through lobbies on Fulton and Vesey Streets. Visitors headed to the observation decks would arrive across a plaza on the west side of the building. Diners would approach from a plaza on the east.

Almost four acres of open space would surround the Freedom Tower. It would share the block with the performing arts center being designed by Frank Gehry.

The main shaft of the Freedom Tower would begin as a 200-by-200-foot square. As it rose, the corners would be cut away, creating an octagonal floor plan through the middle of the building. ("And eight corner offices," Mr. Childs noted.) Toward the top, the plan would assume a square shape again, 140 by 140 feet.

Depending on the viewer's perspective, the structure might appear to be as rectangular as the original twin towers. Seen from an oblique angle, however, it would appear to slope like an obelisk. Each of the eight planes in its main facade would be an elongated isosceles triangle that would catch and reflect the light from a different angle.

The only externally visible separation between the window bays would be vertical stainless-steel elements known as mullions. The horizontal floor separations would not be expressed on the facade. This pinstripe effect might also recall the trade center to some.

The unusual shape will "confuse the wind," Mr. Childs said, making the building more structurally sound than if it had been a "large square sail" catching the wind at the top. The tapering corners yield ultimately to a narrower square at the top, 140 feet on each side, which will be the base for the spire and the antenna system.

Mr. Childs emphasized that the 408-foot spire and its setting have yet to be fully designed. But it has been decided that the spire will bring the tower's over-all height to 1,776 feet, the symbolically patriotic height proposed by Mr. Libeskind and insisted upon by Governor Pataki. The spire and its cabled supports will be designed to be "a functional piece of sculpture, a piece of civic art of an unusual scale," Mr. Childs said.

The architects are working on a distinctive, silver-or-white structural wrap for the spire, that would enclose the television antenna elements with fiberglass or carbon, substances that would not interfere with emanating radio waves. Currently, a tusk-shaped spire is being envisioned.

The spire is to be braced with guy wires - also woven from fiberglass or carbon - that would be anchored to a circular crown atop the observatory. The entire structure will be lit from within and programmed with shifting patterns of lights, or even a single heavenward beam.

To Mr. Libeskind, the circular new cable-anchor structure bears similarity to the base of the flame of the Statue of Liberty; others have likened its shape to that of the summit of the Empire State Building.

The architects struggled to unveil the redesigned building only seven weeks after Governor Pataki announced - during a luncheon speech to the Association for a Better New York on May 12 - that the tower would have to be reconfigured, and fortified, to respond to security concerns raised by the New York Police Department.

Mr. Childs said that the tower would meet or exceed the recent building-safety design recommendations announced by a federal panel, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, earlier this month, after an analysis of the factors that caused the collapse of the twin towers in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Elevators, sprinkler systems and electrical conduits in the new structure will all be protected in a central core of 2-foot-thick concrete. And an extra stairway will be provided for rescue workers to enter the building even while tenants are leaving.

But the chief Freedom Tower design change, driving other architectural considerations, was to harden the base of the tower against vehicle-borne explosives, since cars and trucks have proven to be an effective way of delivering large explosive charges. The new building is to have a solid concrete core with walls more than 2 feet thick, and a robustly redundant braced steel frame.

The original standoff, or setback from West Street, was 25 feet, which the police said was inadequate to protect the building from a large truck bomb. The new tower has been moved 65 feet back from West Street at its Fulton Street side, and 125 feet from the highway at Vesey Street.

The 80-foot-high lobby of the new Freedom Tower will be comparable to the World Trade Center lobbies' 79-foot height. The south lobby, facing Fulton Street, will be the main office entrance, since it faces the memorial. It will present a glass, cable-tensioned wall to visitors - similar to the lobby facade of Mr. Childs's Time Warner Center - but confront them with a solid concrete security wall (covered with art) that would have to be circumnavigated by pedestrians to obtain access to the building.

The tower's base would be clad with an intricate pattern of interlocking reflective sheets of titanium, steel or aluminum, "designed to catch and reflect the light," Mr. Childs said. "As the sun moves about it, each facade will be illuminated."

"I hope this can answer those who were worried that this would be a foreboding building," Mr. Childs said of the new security constraints.

Above the base, the glass sheathing of the building will be hardened against explosive overpressures with tempered, multilaminated sheets of blast-resistant plastic, especially on the west facade facing West Street-Route 9A. Thanks to the use of low-iron, water-white glass - panes that minimize the conventional greenish hue - the sections of laminate will be just as transparent as glass on the other facades, "so the building will look the same on all four sides - a continuous glass top," Mr. Childs said.

In the end, Mr. Childs said, the new building represents "the positive element of what was lost," he said. "It takes on its most important role as being the pylon marker for the memorial."

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 05:27 AM

WAKE UP NEW YORKERS: THE NEW FREEDOM TOWER IS OUT AND ABOUT...

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 05:30 AM

You Guys Need to wake up seriously!!!

Deimos

June 29th, 2005, 06:54 AM

from the LMDC website:

As the tower itself rises from this cubic base, its square edges are
chamfered back, transforming the square into eight tall isosceles triangles in
elevation. At its middle, the tower forms a perfect octagon in plan and then
culminates in a glass parapet (elevation 1362’ and 1368’) whose plan is a
square, rotated 45 degrees from the base. A mast containing an antenna for
the MTVA, being designed by a collaboration of architects, artists, lighting
designers and engineers, and secured by a system of cables, rises from a
circular support ring, similar to the Statue of Liberty’s torch, to a height of
1776’.

So a glass parapet (what is that exactly?) is symbolizing the twin towers, and we get one building to replace the two we lost?

lofter1

June 29th, 2005, 07:03 AM

Simple, strong design ...

I've had no luck viewing the animations as of yet ...

For those who have seen animations, what do you think?

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 07:16 AM

Here it is the new FREEDOM TOWER!!!!

http://www.pbase.com/image/45468221.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/45468219.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/45468220.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/45468644.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/45468226.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/45468218.jpg

For bigger better versions go here:
http://www.renewnyc.com/plan_des_dev/wtc_site/new_design_plans/freedom_tower/default.asp

lofter1

June 29th, 2005, 07:23 AM

"culminates in a glass parapet (elevation 1362’ and 1368’) whose plan is a
square, rotated 45 degrees from the base."

The more detailed description (pdf file at lmdc site): http://www.renewnyc.com/content/pdfs/freedom_tower_fact_sheet.pdf
states that 69 floors of office space will rise above the 200 foot base, the top floor of offices will rise to 1120'. Additional floors above the office space will contain mechanicals, two floors for the Metropolitan Television Alliance, restaurants and observation decks that will culminate in the parapet / observation deck, which will seemingly contain markings at 1362' and 1368', in recognition of the heights of the originals twins. The spire will then rise to 1776'.

Fabrizio

June 29th, 2005, 07:28 AM

attractive

TonyO

June 29th, 2005, 07:36 AM

Its better than its awkward predecessor.

NYCResident

June 29th, 2005, 07:38 AM

agreed.. huge improvement over the predecessors

NewYorkYankee

June 29th, 2005, 07:48 AM

I agree, I like it. It actually looks like a building now! All day at work Ill be thinking of the specs of this thing. I only had time to get on look at the pics, post this reply and Im out!

Jake

June 29th, 2005, 07:48 AM

I LOVE it. Looks a lot like the NYSE tower. lol, Childs must've read some posts here.

LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT

The top looks like the WTC reborn

NYguy

June 29th, 2005, 08:00 AM

I like it. Although they are insisting again that the spire isn't complete, we have an understanding of what the tower looks like. No more cable-windmill madness. And I like (though I'm not surprised) the fact that the heights of the original Twins (both) will be marked. It's also nice to see that the building does still "twist" in a way.

lofter1

June 29th, 2005, 08:03 AM

From NY TImes 6.29.05:

"The new design for the 82-story signature building at the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan calls for an almost impermeable and impregnable 200-foot concrete and steel pedestal, clad in ornamental metalwork and set at least 65 feet away from Route 9A, the heavily trafficked state highway that runs along the west edge of ground zero...
At its base, the Freedom Tower would be 200 feet square, like the twin towers and the two voids that are to be created in their place as part of the Sept. 11 memorial. Mr. Childs said the new building's "most important role is being a marker in the sky of the memorial."

But he did not back away from the notion that it is still intended to be a statement of defiance, strength and resolve in the face of terrorism. Mr. Childs referred to the Freedom Tower several times as a "victory column" and invoked Cleopatra's Needle in Central Park and Nelson's Column at Trafalgar Square in London as precedents."

The strong base of steel / titanium could be a great counterpoint to the voids of the Arad Memorial. Seemingly it will appear as a 200' by 200' backdrop / curtain rising at the north end of the Memorial site.

James Kovata

June 29th, 2005, 08:15 AM

Simple and elegant.

pianoman11686

June 29th, 2005, 08:33 AM

I have to give my vote of approval. I think it's a huge improvement of the original, which didn't seem to share any kind of deeper thread with New York City except for the spire. Childs has done something unusual and uncommonly difficult in skyscraper design. He has created a modern-looking building, which evokes the entire history of New York skyscrapers. Its numerical denominations and markers pay tribute to the old WTC, as do the pinstripes and the base/roof shape. The spire is more sensible now, no longer off center, and so uncannily reminiscent of the ESB. I absolutely love the vertical development of the building, from square to octagon to square on top again. I think its unique shape proves the building is anything but a static bunker. And as NYGuy mentioned, it still twists in a way, though not nearly as awkwardly as the original. Final points of observation: I would really love to see details of the base, but looking at certain pictures showing the tower's angle with respect to the memorial, it almost looks as if the tower focuses downward, bringing attention to the memorial on the ground (with the downward pointing of one triangle) while at the same time, opening upward towards the sky. I gotta hand it to Childs. I was preparing for something bland, something that screamed "a replacement." But this building has a feel of vitality because of how many different buildings it seems to encompass. Besides the old WTC and the ESB, I see subtle similarities to the NYSE Tower, as someone mentioned; the Bear Stearns Building, whose octagonal shape led a few people on this site to decry the need for more octagonal buildings; and certain aspects of the base such as the glass, cable-tensioned wall on the south side resemble the TWC. All in all, a great fusion of designs, past and present, along with a smart resolution of a host of demands placed on the building which I feared would ruin any sense of grace.

P.S. - All we need to do now is find some good architects to take on all the bland sloped-roof Libeskind Towers encircling the site.

TallGuy

June 29th, 2005, 08:44 AM

Since the new Freedom Tower now has a flat roof, are we to read into this that the sloped roofs of the remaining buildings are gone as well?

I must say, I love this building. World's tallest? No but who cares. It is an honest building now, and a worthy successor to the orig. WTC. Now all we need is a SECOND building matching its' height, which I now think is likely as the site is further developed. It seems we have gotten over the 'height fear' now, as I see little difference to being in an office at 1150 feet versus 1300 or so feet in terms of relative safety, etc.

Bravo.

BigMac

June 29th, 2005, 08:56 AM

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/29/nyregion/tower_slide_1.jpg

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/29/nyregion/tower_slide_3.jpg

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/29/nyregion/tower_slide_2.jpg

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/29/nyregion/tower_slide_4.jpg

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/29/nyregion/tower_slide_5.jpg

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/29/nyregion/tower_slide_6.jpg

NoyokA

June 29th, 2005, 08:58 AM

I posted this a little over a month ago:

Another interesting alternative exists, David Child’s designed a version of the Freedom Tower which is little less than an exact clone of the never built NYSE Tower. While its not the most creative design in the world, with all that’s coming out there’s a chance for its application.

http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/532/28newyorkcity-newyorkstockexchange.jpg

lofter1

June 29th, 2005, 09:02 AM

Stern: Good call (and I think the current version of Child's tower is an improvement).

btw: Given your apparent ESP abilities, do you have any good stock tips?

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 09:12 AM

Yes Stern...

I totaly see the similarities.

I love this new tower so much... It seems to have a positive response here by the look of all the posts!

mkeit

June 29th, 2005, 09:21 AM

There is no comparison with the original Freedom Tower proposal-That was an architects vision-this is a buildable structure.

Ninjahedge

June 29th, 2005, 09:27 AM

I like the overall building, but I think they have gone more than a bit excessive at the base.

So yet again we will have abuilding that is great to look at when you are across the river, but cold and sterile when you get up close to it.

I know that some protection is warranted to prevent damage/etc, but 200' is more than "some".

This is not an armory.

I also like the way they drop descriptions like "Titanium or aluminum, whichever" like there was no difference in cost, availablity and workability.

I like the design, I hate the PR and BS.

Johnnyboy

June 29th, 2005, 09:31 AM

Johnnyboy

June 29th, 2005, 09:34 AM

I love the light on top. Itself makes the tower very unike and beautifull at night.

NoyokA

June 29th, 2005, 09:36 AM

As far as the design I am relieved that it will reach its height without the aid of spires or lattice. The Freedom Tower will reach its symbolic heights majestically. That said every solid part of the building is everything I could’ve hoped for, it pays homage to the former World Trade Centers, which is why in the second competition Foster’s plan was so popular and United Architects wasn’t. People are smart and simple, they do not care about height if they cannot see it, and after all they had a precursor. People rightfully want something like the Former World Trade Center’s were and this fills the bill while rightfully not copying them, it’s a monolith, no two ways about it, its indisputably tall, it has a simple and memorable shape, no twisting or sloped roofs, and in the absence of a twin its faceted fascade will provide a unique interplay with its urban surroundings. No doubt this redesign is important, dare I say it has qualities the former WTC did not. I feel at the end of very long process, New York City at long last has returned its guard to harbor, when I first saw the images I thought this will do, we have our beacon, our familiar sight back, and this will suffice. That’s all I wanted, at face value its not architecture, but in reality it is, it’s what I knew Child’s was capable of, its something a corporate architect is capable of, whereas the United Architects, Libeskind’s original or the original collaboration failed, this shorter building achieves it.

That said the spire needs to be worked on and perhaps Libeskind should design it in accordance with David Child’s design program, its clear his program is more in touch with what New Yorkers want after all. My signature has for a while been “Somewhere between Child's clarity and Libeskind's dazzle lies the future”, and I think Libeskind could, that said if he’s afforded the opportunity to design the light beacon that would mark his career and truly make this building exceptional. The spire is an afterthought, rightfully.

chris

June 29th, 2005, 09:37 AM

It is better than the last one. It fits more with the New York Skyline. Although I do wish that they would be twin or make the tower much taller, its a great improvement from the previous version. I really do wish that it would become much taller so it can stand out like the burj dubay stands out from its skyline and make the tower tall enough to reinsure America and New York City World's Tallest Building once again.

My initial reaction was, 'this is the first nice design to come out of this team.'

My second reaction was,' it's too bad it isn't a little taller, and wouldn't it be nice to have a matching pair.'

(and Nice ESP, Stern)

finnman69

June 29th, 2005, 09:38 AM

from the LMDC website:

So a glass parapet (what is that exactly?) is symbolizing the twin towers, and we get one building to replace the two we lost?

I want the original towers back. This is getting pathetic.

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 09:44 AM

I want the original towers back. This is getting pathetic.

Oh give it a rest... Is not going to happen and never will...

But please dont start to mess with that spire... right now the tower looks fine with the spire it has... if they start to mess with the spire they could mess this tower bigtime!

But I guess I should wait for a new spire before I can make any judgement.

I am just so happy right now with what I see!!!! :)

Eugenius

June 29th, 2005, 09:51 AM

Scraperfannyc

June 29th, 2005, 10:00 AM

Thank god for the new design. The lattice design was as uplifting as watching someone on life support. New York will not be thought of as the city of paranoid skyscrapers, or handicapped skyscrapers.

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 10:00 AM

Here is a close look at the spire:

http://www.pbase.com/image/45473078.jpg

What do you think about the base?

http://www.pbase.com/image/45473079.jpg

NoyokA

June 29th, 2005, 10:03 AM

There isn't much that they can do to the spire, as long as it is properly centered...
I am a bit wary of the concrete box at the bottom of the tower. What kinds of metal "decorative elements" could ever disguise a solid chunk of concrete?

Overall, though, the design definitely looks great on the skyline. The tower is tall and shapely enough to look great both from New Jersey and from Brooklyn.

And from Staten Island, Crocheron Park in College Point, Shea Stadium, Trinity Church and Riverside Park, the Bronx, and as I once saw the World Trade Center's on the LIE in Melville, I'll be able to see this building from Suffolk County in Long Island, too. That's the greatest part of the redesign.

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 10:03 AM

Here are the new FREEDOM TOWER renderings again!!!!

http://www.pbase.com/image/45468221.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/45468219.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/45468220.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/45468644.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/45468226.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/45468218.jpg

For bigger better versions go here:
http://www.renewnyc.com/plan_des_dev/wtc_site/new_design_plans/freedom_tower/default.asp

NoyokA

June 29th, 2005, 10:07 AM

What do you think about the base?

http://www.pbase.com/image/45473079.jpg

The base in the elevation is ugly, no two ways about it. It will however be further developed and even in the worst case scenario if it is left like that I will still appreciate its function as a ploy by Child's to raise the buildings height 200 feet!

KipsBay

June 29th, 2005, 10:18 AM

"...Construction on below-grade utility relocations, footings, and foundations for the Freedom Tower is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2006. It is projected that steel for the building will be visible above grade in 2007, with a topping out in 2009. The building is projected to be ready for occupancy in 2010."

See full report at http://www.renewnyc.com/content/pdfs/freedom_tower_fact_sheet.pdf

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 10:18 AM

Here is another look at the spire and the base:

http://www.pbase.com/image/45473940.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/45473950.jpg

lofter1

June 29th, 2005, 10:19 AM

A bit brutal now.

Clearly the base will go through many refinements.

Much will be learned from what is being done with the base at 7WTC: http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=54985&postcount=726

When you visualize the base in context with the site as a whole it COULD have an incredible amount of power. This will require true artistry to pull it off in a way that is in balance with the area and does not overwhelm the other aspects of the site.

dtolman

June 29th, 2005, 10:19 AM

...once again our emergency services swoop in for our rescue. In this case from a lousy design... without them we'd be stuck with the old version. Hopefully this design will quiet down all those people who want to put a pair of boring cloned boxes.

Only complaint is the base. Hopefully they'll study some of the older non-glass buildings around midtown and downtown over the next few years, and come up with something more inspired to spruce it up...

NoyokA

June 29th, 2005, 10:26 AM

As you can now clearly see in the model Krulltime posted the footprints of the memorial are smaller than the 200 X 200 foot footprint of the Freedom Tower and the former World Trade Center's. This has been known for a while, but now anyone with half a brain can put one and one together. Not that it should ever be an issue.

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 10:28 AM

Night time version:

Here is another look at the spire and the base:

http://www.pbase.com/image/45474307.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/45474303.jpg

Fabrizio

June 29th, 2005, 10:52 AM

It´s strange but the base doesn´t bother me... I think they´ve handled the problem in an elegant, stylish way. The walls of the base look like those cool divider screens that were so big in the 60´s. I really like the simple canopy at the entrance too.

BTW: won´t it be interesting to hear what Trump has to say now...

Fabrizio

June 29th, 2005, 11:00 AM

Also: this thing looks like New York. It doesn´t look like Dubai or Asia. I love the spire. I love the way it´s so simple. You really can see the history of the modern NY skyscraper in this building... there´s still an "international style" rationality showing through.

lofter1

June 29th, 2005, 11:03 AM

NoyokA

June 29th, 2005, 11:08 AM

http://www.pbase.com/image/45468218.jpghttp://www.som.com/resources/projects/5/1/3/5wtc_freedom_cr2_513.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/45468226.jpghttp://www.som.com/resources/projects/5/1/3/6dbox_hudson_513.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/45468644.jpghttp://www.som.com/resources/projects/5/1/3/4wtc_freedom_cr3_513.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/45468219.jpghttp://www.som.com/resources/projects/5/1/3/3pottle_model_from_south_513.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/45468220.jpghttp://www.som.com/resources/projects/5/1/3/2pottle_model_night_aerial_513.jpg

NoyokA

June 29th, 2005, 11:11 AM

Any specs on what the dimensions of the memorial openings are?

I'm not sure of the actual dimensions. I first read about the disparity in Paul Goldberger's book "Up From Zero".

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 11:16 AM

Super great job Stern.... you got the right renderings to compare...

Ah... I made my mind... the new rendering is the keeper.

hey19932

June 29th, 2005, 11:17 AM

i like the old one way better....does this one even have an observation deck?

Clarknt67

June 29th, 2005, 11:19 AM

Big improvement. I can actually get excited about this building going up. This is elegant reminiscent of the ESB, slightly deco. Definately blends and accentuates NYC's landscape.

Teno

June 29th, 2005, 11:23 AM

Next thing to do is change the name, uhggg.

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 11:24 AM

i like the old one way better....does this one even have an observation deck?

Yes it has 2 observation decks!!! One in the inside and one in the outside... At least that is what I believe... Please correct me If I am wrong anyone.

Plus I think it is the the same hight as the old world trade center obervation deck.

NYatKNIGHT

June 29th, 2005, 11:34 AM

Where is the observation deck? Is it on that circular thing up on the spire, or is it on the roof - which leads me to my real question: What is the height of the square roof?

http://www.pbase.com/image/45473078.jpg http://www.pbase.com/image/45473940.jpg

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 11:50 AM

Here is an article about it:

Oh I guess it wont be seen until a later conference today... But in case anyone is awake right now... Here is a recent story...

New Design to Be Unveiled Today for Freedom Tower

By DAVID W. DUNLAP and GLENN COLLINS
Published: June 29, 2005

With one eye on terrorism and another on what has already been lost to terrorists, New York officials will unveil a redesigned Freedom Tower today whose height and proportion, centered antenna and cut-away corners, tall lobbies and pinstripe facade would evoke - both deliberately and coincidentally - the sky-piercing twins it is meant to replace.

The new design for the 82-story signature building at the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan calls for an almost impermeable and impregnable 200-foot concrete and steel pedestal, clad in ornamental metalwork and set at least 65 feet away from Route 9A, the heavily trafficked state highway that runs along the west edge of ground zero.

This enormous pedestal would overlook the Sept. 11 memorial. Above it would be a tapering tower of glass - some panes laminated and several layers thick - with 69 office floors topped by a restaurant, indoor and outdoor observation decks and an antenna within a trellis-like sculpture that would bring the structure's total height to 1,776 feet.

That symbolic height is one of the few elements left intact from the building first envisioned in 2002 by the architect Daniel Libeskind, the site's master planner, and designed in 2003 by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Gone are the asymmetrical spire, torqued form, parallelogram floor plan, energy-producing windmills, suspension cables, lacy facade and open-air arcade.

The hurried redesign has pushed the completion date of the Freedom Tower back by one or two years, to 2010. It is unclear what effect it will have on the budget, which has been estimated at $1.5 billion, since the extra security measures will add to costs, while the overall simplification of the structure may cut down on time and money.

The latest transformation was driven by the New York Police Department's insistence that the building be more resistant to attack, particularly from car and truck bombs. It was also intended to preserve as much as possible of the foundation design that had already consumed months of work. This includes threading the tower's underground columns among the looping outbound tracks of the World Trade Center PATH station.

Given those requirements, and the goal of maintaining the building's overall 2.6 million square foot floor area, the redesigned Freedom Tower almost naturally assumed some dimensions of the original twin towers, said David M. Childs of Skidmore, the building's chief architect.

Though uncanny, it was not an unwelcome turn, he said. In fact, adjustments and refinements have been made to underscore the similarities. For example, the altitude of the floor of the rooftop observation deck would be set at 1,362 feet, the height of 2 World Trade Center. The rooftop parapet would reach 1,368 feet, the height of No. 1.

Setting aside his publicly expressed enthusiasm for the first Freedom Tower, Mr. Childs said of the new one, "It is a rare moment when new is better." He added: "I feel better about this than the original. The building is simpler, architecturally. It is unique, yet it subtly recalls, in the sky, the tragedy that has happened here."

The new design for Freedom Tower is scheduled to be presented formally later today at a news conference attended by Gov. George E. Pakati and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, as well as Mr. Childs, Mr. Libeskind and Larry A. Silverstein, the building's developer.

At its base, the Freedom Tower would be 200 feet square, like the twin towers and the two voids that are to be created in their place as part of the Sept. 11 memorial. Mr. Childs said the new building's "most important role is being a marker in the sky of the memorial."

But he did not back away from the notion that it is still intended to be a statement of defiance, strength and resolve in the face of terrorism. Mr. Childs referred to the Freedom Tower several times as a "victory column" and invoked Cleopatra's Needle in Central Park and Nelson's Column at Trafalgar Square in London as precedents.

Like 7 World Trade Center, now under construction across Vesey Street, the Freedom Tower would essentially be two buildings in one: a utility-filled concrete pedestal topped by an office tower with a glass curtain wall.

The first 30 feet of the 200-foot-tall pedestal would be completely solid, with no windows. The next 50 feet would have some openings, allowing light to be brought into the lobby from above. The rest of the base would be occupied by mechanical equipment.

Stainless steel, titanium or aluminum panels would mask the concrete wall at the Freedom Tower, Mr. Childs said, much as a stainless-steel screen by James Carpenter Design Associates covers the base of 7 World Trade Center.

Office tenants would enter the building from the north or south, through lobbies on Fulton and Vesey Streets. Visitors headed to the observation decks would arrive across a plaza on the west side of the building. Diners would approach from a plaza on the east.

Almost four acres of open space would surround the Freedom Tower. It would share the block with the performing arts center being designed by Frank Gehry.

The main shaft of the Freedom Tower would begin as a 200-by-200-foot square. As it rose, the corners would be cut away, creating an octagonal floor plan through the middle of the building. ("And eight corner offices," Mr. Childs noted.) Toward the top, the plan would assume a square shape again, 140 by 140 feet.

Depending on the viewer's perspective, the structure might appear to be as rectangular as the original twin towers. Seen from an oblique angle, however, it would appear to slope like an obelisk. Each of the eight planes in its main facade would be an elongated isosceles triangle that would catch and reflect the light from a different angle.

The only externally visible separation between the window bays would be vertical stainless-steel elements known as mullions. The horizontal floor separations would not be expressed on the facade. This pinstripe effect might also recall the trade center to some.

The unusual shape will "confuse the wind," Mr. Childs said, making the building more structurally sound than if it had been a "large square sail" catching the wind at the top. The tapering corners yield ultimately to a narrower square at the top, 140 feet on each side, which will be the base for the spire and the antenna system.

Mr. Childs emphasized that the 408-foot spire and its setting have yet to be fully designed. But it has been decided that the spire will bring the tower's over-all height to 1,776 feet, the symbolically patriotic height proposed by Mr. Libeskind and insisted upon by Governor Pataki. The spire and its cabled supports will be designed to be "a functional piece of sculpture, a piece of civic art of an unusual scale," Mr. Childs said.

The architects are working on a distinctive, silver-or-white structural wrap for the spire, that would enclose the television antenna elements with fiberglass or carbon, substances that would not interfere with emanating radio waves. Currently, a tusk-shaped spire is being envisioned.

The spire is to be braced with guy wires - also woven from fiberglass or carbon - that would be anchored to a circular crown atop the observatory. The entire structure will be lit from within and programmed with shifting patterns of lights, or even a single heavenward beam.

To Mr. Libeskind, the circular new cable-anchor structure bears similarity to the base of the flame of the Statue of Liberty; others have likened its shape to that of the summit of the Empire State Building.

The architects struggled to unveil the redesigned building only seven weeks after Governor Pataki announced - during a luncheon speech to the Association for a Better New York on May 12 - that the tower would have to be reconfigured, and fortified, to respond to security concerns raised by the New York Police Department.

Mr. Childs said that the tower would meet or exceed the recent building-safety design recommendations announced by a federal panel, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, earlier this month, after an analysis of the factors that caused the collapse of the twin towers in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Elevators, sprinkler systems and electrical conduits in the new structure will all be protected in a central core of 2-foot-thick concrete. And an extra stairway will be provided for rescue workers to enter the building even while tenants are leaving.

But the chief Freedom Tower design change, driving other architectural considerations, was to harden the base of the tower against vehicle-borne explosives, since cars and trucks have proven to be an effective way of delivering large explosive charges. The new building is to have a solid concrete core with walls more than 2 feet thick, and a robustly redundant braced steel frame.

The original standoff, or setback from West Street, was 25 feet, which the police said was inadequate to protect the building from a large truck bomb. The new tower has been moved 65 feet back from West Street at its Fulton Street side, and 125 feet from the highway at Vesey Street.

The 80-foot-high lobby of the new Freedom Tower will be comparable to the World Trade Center lobbies' 79-foot height. The south lobby, facing Fulton Street, will be the main office entrance, since it faces the memorial. It will present a glass, cable-tensioned wall to visitors - similar to the lobby facade of Mr. Childs's Time Warner Center - but confront them with a solid concrete security wall (covered with art) that would have to be circumnavigated by pedestrians to obtain access to the building.

The tower's base would be clad with an intricate pattern of interlocking reflective sheets of titanium, steel or aluminum, "designed to catch and reflect the light," Mr. Childs said. "As the sun moves about it, each facade will be illuminated."

"I hope this can answer those who were worried that this would be a foreboding building," Mr. Childs said of the new security constraints.

Above the base, the glass sheathing of the building will be hardened against explosive overpressures with tempered, multilaminated sheets of blast-resistant plastic, especially on the west facade facing West Street-Route 9A. Thanks to the use of low-iron, water-white glass - panes that minimize the conventional greenish hue - the sections of laminate will be just as transparent as glass on the other facades, "so the building will look the same on all four sides - a continuous glass top," Mr. Childs said.

In the end, Mr. Childs said, the new building represents "the positive element of what was lost," he said. "It takes on its most important role as being the pylon marker for the memorial."

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

hey19932

June 29th, 2005, 11:51 AM

were is tghe observation deck??? :confused:

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 11:53 AM

with 69 office floors topped by a restaurant, indoor and outdoor observation decks and an antenna within a trellis-like sculpture that would bring the structure's total height to 1,776 feet....

the altitude of the floor of the rooftop observation deck would be set at 1,362 feet, the height of 2 World Trade Center. The rooftop parapet would reach 1,368 feet, the height of No. 1.

Read this part...

hey19932

June 29th, 2005, 11:55 AM

ok...when are they gonna start construction on all the other towers around the memorial?

TonyO

June 29th, 2005, 11:55 AM

NY1

"Beacon Of Light:" New Freedom Tower Design Is Unveiled

June 29, 2005

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation released video Wednesday morning of the new Freedom Tower design, which has undergone a number of changes following security concerns raised earlier this year by the NYPD.

In the new design, the base of the structure is more heavily reinforced and is now a square rather than a parallelogram. The change will set the tower back further from the street to guard against a possible truck bomb attack.

The tower is still topped off with spire, but it will not be as off center as in the earlier design. Light will shine from the top.

NYPD anti-terrorism experts have said they had concerns about the original tower design since they saw the master plan two years ago, including the building's vulnerability to bombing and the strength of the tower's walls.

The security concerns threatened to derail the project, but by mid-May, architects had made good progress toward resolving the security issues to the NYPD's satisfaction.

In the new design, the tower leading up to the spire will be the same height as the original Twin Towers. The tower's architect says that sends a powerful message.

"That act of symbolism above and beyond all these other matters of pragmatism and safety and of just its own stature of creating something of beauty and light is this idea that it will memorialize this place forever in the sky," says Freedom Tower architect David Childs on the video.

"It is going to help restore and reclaim our skyline. It's going to soar 1,776 feet high and have a beacon of light at the top that symbolizes our freedom," says Governor George Pataki on the video.

Construction on the tower is expected to begin next year with the goal of having it ready for occupancy by 2010.

The Freedom Tower isn't the only Downtown development plan undergoing changes. The MTA is reportedly scaling back its plans for the new transit hub in Lower Manhattan in a cost-cutting measure.

When it was first proposed, the Fulton Street Transit Center complex was described as an architectural landmark, a "Grand Central" for downtown Manhattan.

But since then, the dome designed to transmit light to the platforms has been scaled back. Also, the proposed link between the Cortlandt Street station on the R and W lines and the World Trade Center station on the E line has been scrapped. And a concourse under Dey Street will be narrower than originally planned.

The transit center is expected to be built by December 2008.

Meanwhile, some families of September 11th victims want to see more changes at the site, particularly when it comes to the memorial and they're taking their concerns to Washington Wednesday.

They argue the memorial is being minimized, and plan to rally for Congress and the president to get involved.

At issue is the inclusion of an International Freedom Center in the memorial complex, featuring exhibits on slavery and other human rights issues.

Some families argue that the site is not the appropriate place for an exhibit that includes issues not related to the terrorist attacks.

hey19932

June 29th, 2005, 12:00 PM

when are they going to start construction on wtc 1, 2,3,4,5,6?

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 12:05 PM

when are they going to start construction on wtc 1, 2,3,4,5,6?

It hasnt been anounced officially yet.. they will start construction with this tower and then we have to wait for the news on the rest.

sfenn1117

June 29th, 2005, 12:28 PM

oh my.....I....I.....I.....LOVE IT! Now that's a building! What an improvement, no, its not the same as what was there, but this is the best we are going to get, and we should be thrilled! My only complaint is that construction is still so far away. No steel until 2007. :( When they say construction starts in 2006 this time, they better mean 2006, not the silly cornerstone fiasco of last year. And the other towers too.....When is this entire thing going to be done, 2015? I dunno I'm just impatient.

Great design though. You can bet I'll be one of the first to get to the top!

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 12:46 PM

Dont you guys at least read the articles that are been posted?

Construction on the tower is expected to begin next year with the goal of having it ready for occupancy by 2010.

pianoman11686

June 29th, 2005, 12:47 PM

A couple of small points to add on here: I'm optimistic about the base. I think we're already seeing that the base of 7WTC, which is very similar to the idea for this one, is going to be a creative and intriguing structure, and not so much a bunker fortification. I think they have a great opportunity to do some ornamental metalwork on the Freedom Tower base, reminiscent of the great Art Deco designs. That would really make the tower appear more like a work of art. Plus, there is mention of suspending glass over the southern entrance, which would make it more inviting to say the least. Again, the tower is a great improvement. I'm completely satisfied with Childs' work, and the spire looks great right now. As many people have said, I'll echo the "kudos to Stern" for making the prediction vis a vis the NYSE Tower. I think now, also with the new design and certain changes in the LMDC bureaucracy, this project should get moving close to schedule. As for the other four towers part of the master plan, I think the best solution is to have a separate competition for each one, giving world renowned architects the chance to design a building at the WTC. It would essentially be a continuation of a trend in other aspects of the site (PATH station, Performing Arts Center, etc). Libeskind's four sloped roof buildings certainly don't make the cut, and I think the planners will realize this in time. The most important part is realized - New York will have a grand tower to stand guard over the new WTC.

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 12:55 PM

I agree with you pianoman11686 on having a competition for the other WTC towers... That would just rule...

But I dont think they will let go of that privilage they so have on this development that easy to other developers. They seem to like to control things there fereciously. Ah what that hell, I dont know if I am making any sence now... hehehe... :)

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 12:56 PM

Oh I love this new tower so much now!!! It is such a relief of what was been propose before!

http://www.pbase.com/image/45476041.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/45477364.jpg

NoyokA

June 29th, 2005, 01:00 PM

All that's needed is a little tinkering with the spire, which is the case, and this building will be perfect.

hey19932

June 29th, 2005, 01:05 PM

now that i look at it closly ..i do like it ...2bad for that terible base ..it looks like a bunker

pianoman11686

June 29th, 2005, 01:08 PM

It's amazing how something as simple as a design change can have such a profound effect on the overall morale concerning this site. A few days ago, most of us were fearing the worst, and unsure if anything that was being considered for the site up to now was worth pursuing. Now, with the new tower, it seems the entire site has a clearer vision, and progress will be made.

NYatKNIGHT

June 29th, 2005, 01:12 PM

Memorial Plaza:
http://www.glasssteelandstone.com/Images/US/NY/NYC/WTCMemPlazaRendering-001.jpg

RandySavage

June 29th, 2005, 01:22 PM

Wow. 3+ years and who knows how much money and we end up back at the beginning: Memorial Plaza

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 01:24 PM

Oh my... Memorial Plaza indeed... But better renderings... ;)

JBC3

June 29th, 2005, 01:25 PM

That rendering doesn't show the the proposed and cancelled NYSE tower, and it is not shown on the Broad Street site! The NYSE tower was to be a big box.

NYatKNIGHT

June 29th, 2005, 01:30 PM

http://www.pbase.com/image/45477364.jpg

Overall, I like it, though I wanted to love it. The base looks like a bunker and gives the overall tower a squat look, for its height. The tower is too short, IMO, it will look shorter than the original twins with the lower roof height and a bulkier antenna reaching about the same height. The spire will look great all lit up, though as acknowledged, it needs work. And yes, it is a vast imporvement upon what we had, though I wish that wasn't the criteria to base it on.

hey19932

June 29th, 2005, 01:32 PM

i like the waterfall memorial... :)

NoyokA

June 29th, 2005, 01:39 PM

The tower is too short, IMO, it will look shorter than the original twins with the lower roof height and a bulkier antenna reaching about the same height.

Its the same roof height.

krulltime

June 29th, 2005, 01:39 PM

Hahaha... Now that I look back I was sort of mad at the police request to move the tower back from the street...

Was that was set this new change of redesign or it was another thing comming that I miss all together?

BrooklynRider

June 29th, 2005, 01:41 PM

I think the base will work quite well as a backdrop for the memorial, partucularly in the evening. I think it would be surreal to be visiting a site where a building was destroyed and have people glancing down on you from 2nd and 3rd story windows.

I am extremely pleased and I'm glad, as others have noted, to have a worthy successor in New York's progression of skyscrapers. I am certainly glad it is solid with mass and not over designed like Asian skyscapers. I think the shaved corners work extremely well. I like the spire, but we can anticipate further design changes. Much smarter to build something that evokes the ESB, than the Lady of the Harbor. I think it is an inspred design.

I look forward to seeing this Ratner's Beekman Tower and the Calavatra Tower rising together.

The sooner they rename it "One Fulton Street" - the better.

billyblancoNYC

June 29th, 2005, 01:44 PM

NYatKNIGHT

June 29th, 2005, 01:50 PM

Its the same roof height.Thank you for answering that question - so the obs deck is on the roof, I wasn't sure. Okay, I like it better now.

ryan

June 29th, 2005, 01:52 PM

I think the base will work quite well as a backdrop for the memorial, partucularly in the evening. I think it would be surreal to be visiting a site where a building was destroyed and have people glancing down on you from 2nd and 3rd story windows.

That's a great point. I think the base could be quite nice in context - the space will be mostly open with very sculptural buildings (calatrava's station, the "freedom" [sic] museum) so I think this base could add a lot if well done. It's not like it would be a bunker built on 5th ave that detracts from the street life...

pianoman11686

June 29th, 2005, 01:53 PM

What does everyone think about this idea for a different spire?
Instead of supporting the spire with exposed cables, why not build up a mini-structure on the roof of the building, enclosing all of the cables, and having the spire punch through further up? If I sound a little dense, just think of the New York Life Insurance Building. Have a pyramid structure rise on the roof, and cap it with a spire. The inside of the pyramid can contain powerful lighting that will give the structure various colors to glow in. Also a possibility, is making this structure conical, if keeping the circular base for the spire was a priority. Any comments?

NoyokA

June 29th, 2005, 01:57 PM

NoyokA

June 29th, 2005, 02:01 PM

Thank you for answering that question - so the obs deck is on the roof, I wasn't sure. Okay, I like it better now.

As I understand it. The indoor observatory will be at the height of the shorter Tower 2 and the taller Tower 1 will be marked by the rooftop observatory.

JMGarcia

June 29th, 2005, 02:01 PM

Here's my official day 1 take on the building:

First, David Childs has done what he does best which is play politics and get things done in this most difficult of cities. He has managed to get low-end Larry to break his height limit (with a little help from the NYPD). If I were a betting man I would bet the NYPD was told to reject the first design and in such a way as to give Silverstein no choice but to go up.

I can't stress what an important achievement breaking the height limit is. Not only is this the single factor that will sell this building (regardless of design) to a lot of people but also raises the limit of the other buildings in the spiral by 200 feet each. Only good things will come of this.

Finally, he has basically put the lid on all the fringe groups demanding rebuilt towers by replicating the height of the original WTC. The "fear", "terrorists have won", and other hackneyed slogans have completely lost their teeth. The rebuilders simply have no argument left that carries any weight at all. This is the final nail in their coffin.

As for the design itself, Childs smartly backed away from any sort of cutting edge design which, frankly, is just not his forte. He has stuck with his more corporate vernacular and done a decent building of that type. Its strong point is its tapering shape and spire which suits NY much better than a box. NY is a city of setbacks and spires and this is a good modern interpreatation of just that while at the same time echoing the original tower.

It is weakest at its base because of the "security concerns". There is going to be some pretty dull plaza space down there now. The actual base of the building could turn out quite well though even though it is a bunker. I will wait to see how the base of 7 WTC works before passing final judgement but it could be quite good. The materials, play of light, and lighting effects at night will make or break it.

Where this building really stands out is the spire. I for one think it is brilliant in its current form. How it stands in a ring, the cables that taper up to it, and the helix design and heftiness of the spire itself are all a perfect top off IMO. Add to this the lighting effects promised and you've really got an instant landmark at night.

The overall simple shape of the building also works well IMO, especially for something meant to be iconic but it is really the roof ring, cables and spire that will make it instantly recognizable. Its the rare building that can be drawn in silohuette and still be recognized by millions. Without this spire the building is really not in the same class as it is with the spire. Childs wants the spire to be a huge piece of public art and it is. My greatest fear is they will dumb it down too much in the final design.

All in all, I am thrilled with the new design, thrilled with the height statistics, and thrilled with the spire. My expectations have certainly been lowered but still, this is going to be the iconic building we all wanted.

As a piece of architecture it is not cutting edge brilliance. But as an icon and skyline element in NY it will succeed and for this I can call it a great building, if not brilliant architecture.

pianoman11686

June 29th, 2005, 02:14 PM

Sounds good. I don't know if its what you're thinking of, but I proposed such a solution a couple of pages back.

It looks rather similar to this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/skyscraperrot/boaatl02.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/skyscraperrot/boaatlnight.jpg

I personally would like to see some renderings of the new Freedom Tower with the supporting for the spire completely enclosed, but ideally, using some kind of translucent material that is easily permeable by light. While I think the spire right now is way better than the previous off-center one, I also think that it deserves some experimentation in design to be sure we'll get the best possible cap off. In the end, this is what will contribute most to the iconic nature of the tower.

NoyokA

June 29th, 2005, 02:22 PM

Early indications show that the restore the skyline crowd is happy. The building should also have an easier time finding tenants now that it no longer looks like a skeleton and has a clearer identity.

Jason L. Miller:

Exciting news from New York City today as a new design for the city's Freedom Tower, the successor to the demolished World Trade Center, was made public. For the patriot in all of us, it will stand at 1776 feet, making it the second tallest building in the world, and a symbol of American resolve.

The design, the third to be presented, was provided by Chicago architect, David Childs, and commissioned by Governor George Pataki after police criticized an earlier design as being too susceptible to truck bombs.

The building, to be further discussed in a press conference later today, will be the center of a $12 billion rebuilding effort.

At a more secure 90 feet from West Street, the Freedom Tower will stretch 69 stories from a fortified base to an observation deck at 1,362 feet, and a glass parapet at 1,368 feet, making the height at that point equal to the heights of the twin towers, according to Bloomberg.

From there, the building will rise above where the fallen buildings once stood. A spire supporting TV broadcasting antennas will lift the height to 1776 feet, symbolizing the year the United States of America declared independence from Britain.

The spire will emit light, evoking the Statue of Liberty's torch and serving as a "beacon of freedom," as worded in the plans.

"The Freedom Tower will not only be a tremendous icon, it will also be an economic engine generating thousands of jobs for New Yorkers,'' said Governor Pataki.

"This new design reflects a soaring tribute to freedom and a bedrock commitment to safety and security.''

The tower will have 200-foot by 200-foot base, the same as the twin towers. The base, with "shimmering metal surface" rises 200 feet with a 80-foot-high public lobby with 2.6 million square feet of office space towering 69 stories above.

The square format includes eight "tall isosceles triangles," the cross section of which forms a perfect octagon.

"This spectacular addition to our skyline will be a commanding architectural symbol while addressing the security concerns we face in today's world,'' said NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"For generations to come, the Freedom Tower will be a symbol of New Yorkers' resolve and a powerful beacon of freedom to people around the world.''

The architect of the skyscraper explained what the building meant to him.

"Freedom Tower is a bold and simple icon that acts as a marker in the sky for the memorial below,'' Childs, said. "While the memorial, carved out of the earth, speaks of the past and of remembrance, Freedom Tower speaks of optimism and the future as it rises into the sky.''

And it's fine with this reporter if the tower serves as giant middle finger to the architects of death who sought its destruction. The skyline will be rebuilt, and built better, a symbol of the resolve of our compatriots, a promise that we will not be defeated. We're still mad about it. We won't forget.

TallGuy

June 29th, 2005, 02:32 PM

My idea for the base:

Create a mural etched in metal commemorating the history of NYC from the native indians to Washington's inauguration to the industrial revolution, immigration, first skyscrapers, sports, civil rights, the Bicentennial, etc., culminating in the rebirth of lower Manhatten. This would wrap around the base, and with the murals 150ft tall or so, would be a dramatic image to those visiting the site, and a reason to walk around the whole area.

DougGold

June 29th, 2005, 02:38 PM

Thank God, Thank God, Thank God. We really dodged a bullet here--this new design really does look like a world-class building that we can be proud of as opposed to that world-class joke we were facing before. Rediculous lattice-work? Gone. Silly off-center spire? Gone. Height of occupy-able space is up there where the Twin Towers used to be. It would have been nice to have the tallest building in the world, but I'll take it. Now, if only we can get Goldman Sachs to build an exact twin of this tower on Site 26...

DougGold

June 29th, 2005, 03:04 PM

Now that my euphoria is winding down, I'm left with two questions in my mind. First, didn't the broadcasters want an antenna of at least 2000' in order to broadcast in High Def? And Second, since this new design doesn't have a sloped roof, are they still going to insist that the architects of the other WTC towers design sloped roofs to go with the original look of the plan, or is that all dropped now? I'd prefer it dropped myself, to give people freedom to design what they want...

Clarknt67

June 29th, 2005, 03:09 PM

I agree with you pianoman11686 on having a competition for the other WTC towers... That would just rule...

Who's going to be building the other towers? Am I right that they are on PA land?

Regardless, the competitions for the site plan and the memorial have been such disasters I think more competitions are a bad idea. Just give the PA approval over architect choice and be sure someone with intelligence & good taste is the one rubber-stamping.

Opening up a competition just invites input from so many warring factions, it invites disaster.

londonlawyer

June 29th, 2005, 03:10 PM

Is this building taller to the roof than the earlier one (not incl. the bird cages)? It seems like it must be.

kz1000ps

June 29th, 2005, 03:12 PM

Awesome. I love love love the fact that I can see the resemblance to the originals so clearly at the top (when viewing from the right angle). No stupid assymetry; when you're the only object occupying the stratosphere, you need a design with a clear center, otherwise your eyes wander elsewhere. The base, eh well I think it should be stone. Glass and metal are objects that leave you feeling cold (look at Jersey City's skyline), and although they are en vogue right now I think the entire site needs to be balanced out, "temperature" wise. If not stone then some kind of engraving/sculpture, something like what TallGuy suggested. Overall though I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel to find complaints......I can't wait to see this make downtown's skyline complete again. It'll get the job done and then some!

chris_rgbg

June 29th, 2005, 03:34 PM

http://www.pbase.com/image/45468226.jpg

I like it too. It seems to me like it´s a counterpart (I hope it is the right word. Had it from my dictionary ;) ) to Midtown with the Empire State Building, as we see it at the picture a little bit. It also fits in the skyline of Manhattan.

One question: Is it allready fix, that this buidling will be build? Or is it just one more proposal?

Greetings from Germany

chris

pianoman11686

June 29th, 2005, 03:42 PM

Who's going to be building the other towers? Am I right that they are on PA land?

Regardless, the competitions for the site plan and the memorial have been such disasters I think more competitions are a bad idea. Just give the PA approval over architect choice and be sure someone with intelligence & good taste is the one rubber-stamping.

Opening up a competition just invites input from so many warring factions, it invites disaster.

As far as I know, Larry has the final say on what gets built on the site. Stern posted an article in the World Trade Center Developments thread that talks about the Port Authority trying to buy out some of the buildings' sites to put up retail/residential/hotel. It's all up to Larry.

I have to respectfully disagree with your comment on the competition aspect. I think the memorial has turned out okay, and the cultural center is certainly a great building. The problem in the past few years has been that a lot of the competition winners have their plans selected not by the public but by people like Larry and Pataki. Remember, Libeskind's master plan only won because of Pataki's personal opinion. And the Memorial and Cultural Center have already been changed because of money/space/aesthetic considerations. The Freedom Tower is where I think we got lucky, in that Larry actually chose a competent architect who was given a second chance to come up with something of high quality. Now, just imagine if we invited a select group of architects to come up with a design on one building at a time, ie Tower 2, 3, 4, 5. I would like the site to be architecturally diverse and dazzling, and I think the only way of doing that is to get a different world-class architect to work on every building, instead of adhering to the boring sloped-roof Libeskind towers. If we invite talent, and offer the prestige of designing a building for one of the most public plots of land in the world, I think we'll get some good designs. I'm sure that between even a relatively small pool of architects, such as Pelli, Piano, Gehry, Foster, Richard Rogers, Calatrava, and de Portzamparc can together produce 4 very beautiful and distinctive towers.

NoyokA

June 29th, 2005, 03:50 PM

As far as I know, Larry has the final say on what gets built on the site. Stern posted an article in the World Trade Center Developments thread that talks about the Port Authority trying to buy out some of the buildings' sites to put up retail/residential/hotel. It's all up to Larry.

I have to respectfully disagree with your comment on the competition aspect. I think the memorial has turned out okay, and the cultural center is certainly a great building. The problem in the past few years has been that a lot of the competition winners have their plans selected not by the public but by people like Larry and Pataki. Remember, Libeskind's master plan only won because of Pataki's personal opinion. And the Memorial and Cultural Center have already been changed because of money/space/aesthetic considerations. The Freedom Tower is where I think we got lucky, in that Larry actually chose a competent architect who was given a second chance to come up with something of high quality. Now, just imagine if we invited a select group of architects to come up with a design on one building at a time, ie Tower 2, 3, 4, 5. I would like the site to be architecturally diverse and dazzling, and I think the only way of doing that is to get a different world-class architect to work on every building, instead of adhering to the boring sloped-roof Libeskind towers. If we invite talent, and offer the prestige of designing a building for one of the most public plots of land in the world, I think we'll get some good designs. I'm sure that between even a relatively small pool of architects, such as Pelli, Piano, Gehry, Foster, Richard Rogers, Calatrava, and de Portzamparc can together produce 4 very beautiful and distinctive towers.

I agree. Silverstein supposedly following the WTC attacks took a year long architectural tour with David Child’s. The enlightened Silverstein came back with a super-star roster of architects, among them Foster, Maki, and Nouvel, who were asked to design the other towers along with David Child's.

212

June 29th, 2005, 03:51 PM

Childs says a design for the spire on top isn't worked out yet. Well, here's an idea: a mooring mast for the Hindenburg II, the freedom blimp.

Though the latest design is less muddled, the project is still absurd. What else to say about a "Freedom Tower", unbound by any market demand whatsoever, where people are scared to work? And with a giant bunker at the base? What's next, tanks out front? Machine gun nests in the metalwork?

As Childs himself puts it: "It subtly recalls, in the sky, the tragedy that has happened here." Well, what other Class A office tower in the world is supposed to memorialize a horrible disaster (not to mention symbolize freedom)? Why on earth should the dominant symbol at Ground Zero be an office building where tens of thousands are expected to spend their ordinary working lives, shuffling papers, trading stocks, writing reports, flirting with co-workers, making travel reservations, watching the clock, fetching coffee, playing office politics?

I don't know if the office tower is more of an injustice to the living or a sacrilege to the dead, but it doesn't seem right to me.

Gulcrapek

June 29th, 2005, 03:57 PM

Nifty. I still think it looks a little too short but I suppose I can't complain now.

pianoman11686

June 29th, 2005, 03:57 PM

I agree. Silverstein supposedly following the WTC attacks took a year long architectural tour with David Child’s. The enlightened Silverstein came back with a super-star roster of architects, among them Foster, Maki, and Nouvel, who were asked to design the other towers along with David Child's.

Sounds promising. I had no idea about this, so thanks for filling us in. It's little details like these that make this forum such a great resource.

MidnightRambler

June 29th, 2005, 04:04 PM

It's a vast improvement on the last design, but it doesn't fill the void like the Foster buildings would have. Downtown still looks empty in those renderings.

TonyO

June 29th, 2005, 04:12 PM

It's a vast improvement on the last design, but it doesn't fill the void like the Foster buildings would have. Downtown still looks empty in those renderings.

I liked the Foster design also, but it always seemed "hunched over" a little to me. This latest FT seems more powerful.

Daniel Kuzminski

June 29th, 2005, 04:23 PM

I think the new revised design looks way better, I also thought that the previous building looked hunched over. And I also very much agree that this building does look more powerful.

hella good

June 29th, 2005, 04:48 PM

much better design

STT757

June 29th, 2005, 04:49 PM

Clarknt67

June 29th, 2005, 04:53 PM

The Port Authority selected an architect and design for the new PATH station by themselves and did a fantastic job!

yes, that was my point.

I guess I'm just afraid if a different world-class architect is selected, we'll end up with a hodge-podgy landscape of disparent styles, all fighting with one another for attention. Remember these architect's egos are not build for collaboration (remember Childs & Libeskind?).

BPC

June 29th, 2005, 04:55 PM

OK. The design is good enough. Four years have passed, and I am tired of living next to a giant hole in the ground. Let's build it already!

A couple of questions:

1. How can a 69-story building reach the same height as the former 110-story WTC towers?

2. Why are all the graphics so fuuzzy? I can't really tell what the final building will actually look like. Does anyone know if there are images based on an actual scale model instead of these ridiculous cartoons?

And one comment:

1. If the building is really going to give off as strong a beacon as shown in the animation, I will never get a full night's sleep again.

JMGarcia

June 29th, 2005, 05:02 PM

1. How can a 69-story building reach the same height as the former 110-story WTC towers?
Its 69 of office, 82 in total counting mechanical, broadcasting and public spaces. Add in modern height figures per floor compared to the rather low-ceilinged originals and you've got it. 88 Story building in Asia are higher than this.

2. Why are all the graphics so fuuzzy? I can't really tell what the final building will actually look like. Does anyone know if there are images based on an actual scale model instead of these ridiculous cartoons?
Bad resizing on the part of the poster. They're very clear in the official ones at www.renewnyc.com

1. If the building is really going to give off as strong a beacon as shown in the animation, I will never get a full night's sleep again.

Hopefully it'll go over your head. Are you really that high up? ;) Can't be much brighter than the ESB or Times Sq. IMO.

NoyokA

June 29th, 2005, 05:04 PM

And the Reviews begin....This particular one a crap shoot, especially since he likes the former which was universally reviled and is often rumored to be redesigned as much for aesthetics as for safety.

Newsday:

Review: Tower still needs work
BY JUSTIN DAVIDSON

June 29, 2005

Buffeted by politics, constrained by cost, shaped by fear, hurry and the profit motive, the redesign of the Freedom Tower is better than many expected and not nearly good enough. Instead of proclaiming "Here is what we are capable of," the new tower mutters "It's the best we could do, under the circumstances."

If built as planned, Gov. George Pataki's legacy will be this: that he pulled back and prodded at all the wrong times, resulting in a building that is eminently practical, deeply rational and elegant enough, but hardly the muscular symbol he demanded.

The first version, co-designed by the unhappily paired team of David Childs and Daniel Libeskind, twisted in an abstract echo of the Statue of Liberty's kinetic stride. On its shoulders stood a latticework of wind turbines, a bold statement of environmental aspiration. The antenna, like Liberty's torch, rose from a corner of the asymmetrical composition. For all its problems, and there were many, it was a skyscraper that worked to earn its name.

Windmills, asymmetry, Libeskind, the Liberty twist – all are gone, and in their place is a slender glass obelisk resting on a steel-skinned cube. Those in need of uplifting metaphors will have to make do with the one numerological vestige left over from Libeskind's original plan: The antenna will still reach the 1,776 foot mark in the sky.

For the rest, this is fundamentally a conventional office building sitting on the most traditional of Manhattan units: a 200-by-200-foot city block. Its very squareness sends a comforting signal to companies hesitant about moving into downtown's unknowns. Even the cladding has a subliminally corporate message: The thick glass panes will be held in place by vertical steel mullions, which from a distance will look like pinstripes glinting on a field of palest grey.

On any other site, or in any other city, the classical poise and proportions of Freedom Tower 2 would deserve applause. In an interview, Childs said he wanted the building to be "handsome," and it is, especially at the top, where the antenna is housed in a lovely halo of cables. He and his team at Skidmore Owings and Merrill have solved some intricate problems with characteristic simplicity.

In answer to the police department's insistence that the tower be defensible against the largest truck bomb, Childs whittled 20 percent of the square footage off the footprint, leaving room for a wedge-shaped public plaza along West Street. Extra-strength concrete supports are tastefully veiled, and the ground-level blast wall will be a decorated surface just inside the main doors. The offices start about 14 floors up, above the virtually windowless pedestal, which is sheathed in perforated metal panels.

Whether this lower chunk of the building will look like a squat refrigerator or have a textured, animated surface will depend on details that have yet to be worked out. (The sole advantage of a rush job is you get to say: "We'll tell you about that part later.") The police demanded a solid base instead of an airy glassed-in lobby. Childs looked to the model of the Renaissance palazzo, a gracious fortress walled with rectangular blocks of stone. The modern version of stone, he felt, is titanium or steel, which would allow the panels to be thin, angled and full of holes to let in light and air.

But the relevant precedent here is not so much Florence as the Caltrans District 7 Headquarters in Los Angeles designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne. For that building and others, Mayne developed facades made up of moving, winking metal shingles and screens, and the results he gets can be magical. If Skidmore Owings and Merrill can borrow deftly enough from his ideas, the base has a chance of looking safe but not forbidding.

In the glass tower above, triangular segments of two walls lean towards each other as they go up, giving the tower a gentle taper and creating an octagon about its middle. The whole form would fit neatly into one of the original World Trade Center towers, since it shares the same 200-foot square footprint, the same height of the roof (1362 feet) and even the same dimensions of the lobby. From certain angles, and in certain light, it will seem as if Donald Trump got half his way and one of the twins has risen again.

But it's the other, westward view that will be on the postcards, the one that gives the building a sleek, slightly pyramidal look. Childs said that the archetype he had in mind was the ancient Egyptian obelisk or the Roman victory column, a vertical declaration of pride and accomplishment sitting on a massive pedestal. But what sort of accomplishment? The bulk of Egypt's obelisks were plundered by Roman generals, shipped to the capital and raised onto new stone bases as emblems of imperial might. Without meaning to, I'm sure, Childs has based his design for Freedom Tower on a symbol of conquest over the Arab world.

It gets worse. In modern Europe and the United States, the obelisk acquired another unfortunate layer of meaning: as a funerary monument. The World Trade Center will already be getting a vast below-ground memorial. The last thing it needs is a quarter-mile-high tombstone.

JMGarcia

June 29th, 2005, 05:09 PM

To Washington Monument-ish for him hey? ;)

BrooklynRider

June 29th, 2005, 05:24 PM

I don't know if the office tower is more of an injustice to the living or a sacrilege to the dead, but it doesn't seem right to me.

But, you don't tell us what you would have.

If the building is really going to give off as strong a beacon as shown in the animation, I will never get a full night's sleep again.

Well, then think of your bedroom as a tanning salon.

NoyokA

June 29th, 2005, 05:26 PM

Elevation.

Citytect

June 29th, 2005, 05:29 PM

It's no work of art, but it works well in the skyline and fits in with the surroundings better than the last design.

The base doesn't bother me. There's so much going on at the site that a nice blank canvas is needed to put emphasis where it belongs - the memorial and perhaps cultural centers. This building's purpose is to fill the skyline not to get attention at street level. It does that now.

Please, no murals. Bad idea. Too much going on at the site already. We don't need a history of NYC next to the 9-11 memorial and Freedom Center. It would be tacky and a bit redundant.

People seem most pleased with the spire element on the buliding. But for me, it's the weakest part. The ring and cables attached to the spire have no relation to the rest of the building. I looks like someone set a little (big) niknak on the roof. Up to that point on the building everything is angles and facets (planes, as in flat surfaces). Then suddenly we get curves and cables (flowy lines). There should be a nicer transition from building to spire.

However, I like that the spire is centered - symmetry works well from all points of view in the skyline. And I also like the "beakon of light" shining into the sky.

On the topic of the rest of the WTC buildings and their designs, I have to wonder if we're going to muddle up the site with too many distinct styles that rarely relate to one another. Already we have the Freedom Tower, Freedom Center (although it will be altered some), memorial, and PATH station designs. None of them do much to provide a cohesive feel to the site. They don't play well with others. All these brand name architects are only children in the family. Their buildings end up fighting one another for attention and overwhelming the site.

michelle1

June 29th, 2005, 05:32 PM

Good improvement :) but the base????

Scraperfannyc

June 29th, 2005, 05:32 PM

1. How can a 69-story building reach the same height as the former 110-story WTC towers?

There is a 200 hundred foot base below the 69 story office tower. Above the office towers, there are mechanical rooms, restaurants and an observation room at the TOP.

THe key here is you can eat and observe NYC at the same height as the previous twin towers. The last bird cage design robbed NYC from this.

michelle1

June 29th, 2005, 06:39 PM

NEW YORK (CNN) -- New York officials released the latest design for the signature building at the World Trade Center site Wednesday after revising it to make the tower more secure.

Gov. George Pataki ordered the design changes because police were concerned that the tower's placement adjacent to West Street, a major thoroughfare along the west side of Manhattan, would make it vulnerable to a truck bomb.

Instead of being 25 feet from West Street, the tower will be set back 90 feet, and its 200-foot base will be a reinforced concrete wall covered in steel and titanium.

"I think it's simpler and at the same time a lot more elegant," Pataki said in an interview with CNN. "The footprint is smaller, which leads to more open space and it doesn't quite dominate over the memorial ... It's not about doing it today, it's about doing it right for tomorrow."

"The Freedom Tower," will retain the height of the earlier design -- at 1,776 feet, symbolizing the year the United States declared its independence.

But it will also include reminders of the twin towers it will replace.

The roof above the public observation deck will be at 1,362 feet, the height of old South Tower, while a glass wall will rise 1,368 feet, the height of the old North Tower.

"In subtle but important ways this building recalls what we lost," said architect David Childs.

The building will bear a spire that will emit light at night to echo the Statue of Liberty's torch.

The tower will be also more slender and occupy a smaller footprint in the northwest corner of the 16-acre site -- a footprint the same size as the old twin towers' base, 200 feet by 200 feet.

The revised tower design takes up the same amount of commercial space, one-quarter of what was lost on September 11, 2001, and many of the same features.

Above an 80-foot lobby and 120 feet of floors housing mechanical equipment, there will be 69 office floors, the highest at 1,120 feet.

The new construction timetable calls for the steel frame to rise above street level in 2007 and be topped out in 2009, with the tower ready for occupancy in 2010. That's two years later than originally planned.

"The new Freedom Tower design incorporates standards the police department had sought to protect the building against bomb blasts, which our counterterrorism experts agree present one of the greatest threats to such iconic structures," said NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, in a written statement.

Real estate developer Larry Silverstein said the tower will have a solid concrete core and state-of-the-art fireproofing on its steel beams.

Silverstein, who leased the Trade Center six weeks before it was destroyed, said he embraced the recommendations of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which found that the dislodging of fireproofing material when the hijacked planes crashed into the towers contributed greatly to their collapse.

The tower was originally conceived by architect Daniel Libeskind, whose master site plan was chosen in February 2003 to guide the rebuilding process.

Libeskind later was forced to collaborate with Childs, hired by Silverstein, to refine the design, which was unveiled in December 2003.

The 2003 Freedom Tower model featured a torqued glass-and-steel design with a steel cable netting. It had 2.6 million square feet of commercial space, including more than 60 floors for offices, an indoor observation deck above and a sky restaurant to replace Windows of the World.

A cornerstone was laid July 4, 2004.

No tenants, other than the governor and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the transportation agency that owns the site land, have expressed interest in moving offices into the tower.

Childs said the tower is "bold and simple" and would be a "marker in the sky for the memorial below."

The memorial, Reflecting Absence, featuring two reflecting pools where the towers stood, will occupy 4.5 acres and will be the first project completed on the site.

Groundbreaking will take place early next year, with construction scheduled to be finished in September 2009.

212

June 29th, 2005, 07:18 PM

But, you don't tell us what you would have.

If all the office space must be rebuilt (and must it?), then I miss the winning Libeskind proposal, which has been diluted beyond recognition into windmill hell and now this. In the original plan, the tallest element was not office space at all, but a "vertical gardens of the world," an affirmation of life in the vertical city and a striking counterpoint to the memorial below. Office buildings (including the tallest one, attached to the gardens) were kept in the background.

Now, instead of a new wonder, we have a same-old office building (uber alles) that would be perfectly at home in Shanghai, the emerging London, or our own city if the market actually supported it -- and it's sitting on a 20-story decorated bunker. I admit that it's comforting to see something tall in that space on the skyline, but only to a point: it's so derivative, it's as if one tower had survived as the other fell.

You might consider an office tower an affirmation of life if people actually wanted to be there. So do they? Well, here's a timely poll question from today's NYT:

84. Would you be willing or not willing to work in one of the higher floors of a new building at the World Trade Center site?
Willing: 43%
Not willing: 52%

Bob

June 29th, 2005, 07:44 PM

An initial review from yours truly, who considers himself one of the biggest proponents of full-scale rebuilding of the original Twin Towers. This new building is TERRIFIC. Build it!

And, someone earlier in this thread noted that the new design has some hints of art deco. I agree. How fittingly New York! Art deco rules!!

My favorite part: the top of the building, just below the observation deck. Looks just like either of the original twin towers. F A N T A S T I C !!

Build this building!

TonyO

June 29th, 2005, 08:34 PM

Channel 2 (CBS) has a special this Sunday at 12 noon called "The Struggle for Ground Zero".

NYguy

June 29th, 2005, 08:36 PM

I've had more time for the design to sink in, I here's my take on the Freedom Tower and skyscraper construction in NY in general.

Firstly, as someone said earlier, we dodged a bullet. Clearly there are going to be other towers built in NY taller than 1,150 ft. To have the occupied space end there only to be surpassed by other towers in NY would have just shown the shortsightedness of those involved. On the other hand, occupied space equal to and specificly recalling the height of the original Twin Towers is a nice touch. Whether or not you want to call it a 1,776 ft building is another issue, but it is what it is.

I'm no longer convinced the Freedom Tower has to be New York's tallest building - in occupied space or even the spire itself. Maybe the torch has already been passed to the Westside. There were proposals for taller buildings before the WTC got destroyed. That will return as well. But we won't have that "empty" space hanging over the skyline as a reminder of what went wrong at the WTC site.

Meanwhile, we have an occupied tower ready to be built on the WTC site as high as the Twins, and who knows how tall Tower 2 will be as a result?

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/45494412/large.jpg

NewYorkYankee

June 29th, 2005, 08:41 PM

I am so excited! This building is wonderful! I LOVE IT! New York is coming back in skyscrapers, I know it.

TallGuy

June 29th, 2005, 08:42 PM

Not to nitpick, but did they forget to take out the Deutsche bank Building in the above photo? :)

NYguy

June 29th, 2005, 09:22 PM

Not to nitpick, but did they forget to take out the Deutsche bank Building in the above photo? :)

Its not visible...

TomAuch

June 29th, 2005, 09:23 PM

That's One Liberty Plaza they left in.

TonyO

June 29th, 2005, 09:45 PM

Newsday photos and graphics:

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2005-06/18249166.jpg

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2005-06/18247071.jpg

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2005-06/18248949.jpg

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2005-06/18249554.jpg

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2005-06/18248905.jpg

gonzea

June 29th, 2005, 09:56 PM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/8e8c5ae4.jpg

londonlawyer

June 29th, 2005, 09:58 PM

Is the top "triangle"/crown on the new FT supposed to be glass or wire/cabling? I don't like the crown. It looks half-assed.

czsz

June 29th, 2005, 10:12 PM

To chime in with a late-in-the-day assessment:

Monumentally bulky, but in a way that's traditionally New York- not the sort of New York which emerged from the roaring twenties, that New York of fog-enswirled spires, but the New York which produced the vast, blocky Equitable Building and the MetLife Building on Park Avenue. It's hardly controversial, and in a way that's a bit disappointing- the tower won't stand as a testament to ingenuity and true defiance as the Eiffel Tower once did. While some of the bolder proposals during the original competition made the attempt to approach that apex of creativity, at every step David Childs has become more involved the likelihood of such experimentation at the site has proven less and less certain. Perhaps it is just as well- Manhattan could use a strong anchor at its southern tip as the island is beset by architecture both elegant and gaudy but certainly alien and anomalous- of which Calatrava's South Street Tower to rise nearby will be the epitome.

I tend to agree with the sentiment that the mediocrity, the normality of an office tower seems inappropriate as a testament to the emotionally-charged nature of the place. Nevertheless, it is what the unfortunate reality of political and business interest have prescribed, within the narrow boundaries of which one should be thankful the building is rather more dull than disastrous, at the very least. Liebeskind's hopes could never truly take root on this side of the Atlantic anyway; Americans prefer triumphalism to reflection, and the sheer, uninterrupted virile thrust of the new tower could hardly be a testament to less. If it speaks a metaphor, it is hardly Freedom (oddly, the open lattice of the previous design seemed to connote that in a far more effective manner) but Power. It is the Trajan's Column of the Empire that marched into Central Asia's mountains and Mesopotamia's sands, insouciantly (some would say impetuously) remaining there. It is a tower which speaks of obstinance, of intransigence.

Its base clearly reflects the inherent philosophy underscoring the overall design, acting as not cornerstone, but impregnable anchor. Where Fort Amsterdam once guarded New Netherland this latest redoubt will assume command. What is lost in the gamble is transparency, streamlined verticality, those hallmarks of optimism and democracy which Modernism once advocated. While aesthetically disjointed from the tower's glass sheathes, the base more than completes the conceit of stalwart hulkingness which defines the structure completely. While from afar it is the blunt shape which intimidates, from near and below it is the stark unfriendliness of cold stone and the unease of vulnerability which must have greeted many a besieging soldier at the base of a city's walls.

The spire is the one incongruous element. In apparent defiance of every other design feature it appears to one spindly, fragile, tentative, transient. It appears not to grow out of the stumpy, stalagmitesque mass of the structure but alight gently atop it, the surrounding cables granting it a nautical appearance, as if the massive tower were about to set off upon the harbour powered by a spectacularly undersized mast and sails. Certainly the ponderous, disruptive, potentially dissenting, iconoclastic nature of this feature renders it the most susceptible to alteration. No doubt Mr. Childs will prefer a swaggering Nelson atop his Column to a delicate crow's nest.

NoyokA

June 29th, 2005, 10:15 PM

Another negative review, I wonder if Child's cares or if he'll just let the Freedom Tower act as his middle finger....

New York Times:

A Tower of Impregnability, the Sort Politicians Love

June 30, 2005

By NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF

The darkness at ground zero just got a little darker. If there are people still clinging to the expectation that the Freedom Tower will become a monument to the highest American ideals, the current design should finally shake them out of that delusion. Somber, oppressive and clumsily conceived, the project suggests a monument to a society that has turned its back on any notion of cultural openness. It is exactly the kind of nightmare that government officials repeatedly asserted would never happen here: an impregnable tower braced against the outside world.

The new design by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is a response to the obvious security issues raised by the New York Police Department, specifically the tower's resistance to car and truck bombs. The earlier twisted-glass form, a pastiche of architectural visions cobbled together from Daniel Libeskind's master plan and various Skidmore designs, lacked grace or fresh ideas. The new obelisk-shaped tower, which stands on an enormous 20-story concrete pedestal, evokes a gigantic glass paperweight with a toothpick stuck on top. (The toothpicklike spire was added so that the tower would reach its required height of 1,776 feet.)

The temptation is to dismiss it as a joke. And it is hard not to pity Mr. Childs, who was forced to redesign the tower on the fly to meet the rigid deadline of Gov. George E. Pataki. Unfortunately, the tower is too loaded with meaning to dismiss. For better or worse, it will be seen by the world as a chilling expression of how we are reshaping our identity in a post-Sept. 11 context.

The most radical design change is the creation of the base, which will house the building's lobby and some mechanical systems. Designed to withstand a major bomb blast, the base will be virtually windowless. In an effort to animate its exterior, the architects say they intend to decorate it in a grid of shimmering metal panels. A few narrow slots will be cut into the concrete to allow slivers of natural light into the lobby.

The effort fails on almost every level. As an urban object, the tower's static form and square base finally brush aside the last remnants of Mr. Libeskind's master plan, whose only real strength was the potential tension it created among the site's structures. In the tower's earlier incarnation, for example, its eastern wall formed part of a pedestrian alley that became a significant entry to the memorial site, leading directly between the proposed International Freedom Center and the memorial's north pool. The alley, flanked on its other side by a performing arts center to be designed by Frank Gehry, was fraught with tension; it is now a formless park littered with trees.

The interior, by comparison, holds a bit more promise for the hopelessly optimistic. Visitors will enter from north and south lobbies, where they will have to slip around an interior partition set just beyond the revolving doors - yet another concession to security concerns. If the configuration of windows could somehow be improved, one could imagine, with some effort, a sealed cathedral-like room with heavenly light spilling down.

But if this is a potentially fascinating work of architecture, it is, sadly, fascinating in the way that Albert Speer's architectural nightmares were fascinating: as expressions of the values of a particular time and era. The Freedom Tower embodies, in its way, a world shaped by fear.

At a recent meeting at his Wall Street office, Mr. Childs tried to deflect this criticism by enveloping the building in historical references. The height of the tower minus its spire (1,368 feet) matches the height of the taller of the former World Trade Center towers and is meant to re-establish a visual relationship to the nearby World Financial Center, which was exactly half that height. The fortresslike appearance of the base was partly inspired by the Strozzi Palace in Florence, the relationship between the base and the soaring tower by Brancusi's "Bird in Space" sculpture.

But the tower has none of the lightness of Brancusi's polished bronze form, let alone its sculptural beauty. And the Strozzi Palace's rough stone facade is beautiful because it is a mask: once inside, you are confronted with a courtyard flooded with light and air, one of the Renaissance's great architectural treasures. What the tower evokes, by comparison, are ancient obelisks, blown up to a preposterous scale and clad in heavy sheaths of reinforced glass - an ideal symbol for an empire enthralled with its own power.

This obsession with symbolism extends all the way up to the tower's spire. Mr. Childs has long been itching to reposition the original spire, which, as Mr. Libeskind envisioned it, had to be set at the edge of the tower to echo the outstretched arm of the Statue of Liberty. In the new version, the spire rises out of the center of a tension ring mounted atop the building, an abstract interpretation of Liberty's torch and a concept that, like Mr. Libeskind's, has more to do with pandering to public sentiment than with any big architectural idea.

All of this could be more easily forgiven if it were simply due to bad design. But ground zero is not really being shaped by architects; it is being shaped by politicians. Soon after the new security requirements were announced, it became clear that the entire building would have to be redesigned. That could have been seen as a last chance to repair what had become a confused master plan, one that had little connection, except in the minds of Mr. Libeskind and Governor Pataki, to the original. Instead, the quality of the master plan has been sacrificed to the governor's insistence on preserving hollow symbolic gestures.

Absurdly, if the Freedom Tower were reduced by a dozen or so stories and renamed, it would probably no longer be considered such a prime target. Fortifying it, in a sense, is an act of deflection. It announces to terrorists: Don't attack here - we're ready for you. Go next door.

Jake

June 29th, 2005, 11:06 PM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/8e8c5ae4.jpg

This is what I dreamed of.

but I'm completely content with the current design. It gives me back exactly what I wanted because to me the top resembles the north tower very closely. The base is odd looking, maybe, so was the one of the WTC, besides maybe it will look great in real life. If the spire will really do what it shows in the animations then it will be the coolest looking building ever. Criticize all you want, I'm satisfied. With only one tower our sjyline will be forever scarred but at least reestablished.

The ONLY thing that I don't like is these stupid renderings, the buiding is surrounded by towers that have no designs whatsoever, they should've just put the design in with seven, the PATH and the buidlings presently built becasue that's the way it will look for a while.

Building is supposed to start in early 06 so we should begin to see the hole dissapearing (the sooner the better). I pray there will be no more delays and this will be all built before we notice half a decade passing.

lofter1

June 29th, 2005, 11:18 PM

Wow. 3+ years and who knows how much money and we end up back at the beginning: Memorial Plaza

No ... Memorial Plaza was a clunky & awkward version of what Child's has done, plus it has those four dominoes, like in "Empire Plaza" in Albany...

http://lachlan.bluehaze.com.au/usa2003/october2003/24oct2003d/dscf0127.jpg

lofter1

June 29th, 2005, 11:30 PM

Not to nitpick, but did they forget to take out the Deutsche bank Building in the above photo? :)

Don't think so...

The two dark rectangular existing buildings to the left are One Liberty Plaza and The Helmsley Building on Broadway.

BPC

June 29th, 2005, 11:45 PM

You might consider an office tower an affirmation of life if people actually wanted to be there. So do they? Well, here's a timely poll question from today's NYT:

84. Would you be willing or not willing to work in one of the higher floors of a new building at the World Trade Center site?
Willing: 43%
Not willing: 52%

So what? Silverstein does not need 100% of the New York Times' readership to rent space in his new FT. The statistic is meaningless. I am sure that similar percentages of Times readers would not want to work on one of the higher floors of the of the Empire State Building or one of the higher floors of the Sears Tower. Does that mean those floors lie fallow? No; they are fully occupied. There will be plenty of people who want to work on the upper floors of the FT as well. The worry-warts do not get to dictate New York architecture from this point forward.

pianoman11686

June 30th, 2005, 12:20 AM

A Better Tower

Published: June 30, 2005

In almost every respect, the new design for the so-called Freedom Tower, which was presented to the public yesterday, is better than the one it replaces. Above all, it will be safer, less vulnerable to terrorist attacks from the ground, thereby easing the New York Police Department's basic concerns about security, which sent the architect David Childs back to the drawing board only a few weeks ago. This building - like the preceding design - will also set rigorous new standards for protecting its occupants and guaranteeing a safe exit in case of disaster.

Because of the insistence of Gov. George Pataki and Daniel Libeskind, the master planner of the site, the design still incorporates a meaningless numerical coincidence - an overall height of 1,776 feet at the top of the antenna. Far more important is the fact that this new design will make it easy for us all to remember the scale of the World Trade Center. The altitude of the observation deck will be 1,362 feet, with a parapet that rises six feet higher. Those were the heights of the twin towers.

So much for the good news. The bad news is that the original design was in a state of deconstruction even before the Police Department voiced its security worries. Many of the features that would have made that building environmentally and architecturally distinctive had been stripped away at the insistence of Larry Silverstein, the developer who held the lease on the World Trade Center and who has received several billion dollars in insurance proceeds following its destruction.

Plans are all well and good. But the basic question raised by this new design is the same one raised earlier. What will Mr. Silverstein actually build?

New Yorkers had reason to watch the public presentation of this new design yesterday with some skepticism. We have seen so many designs, so many models. We know now, unhappily, that the final plans, whatever they are, will likely be hammered out in private.

But this was at least a public reckoning of sorts, an opportunity to see, for a moment, inside the working relationship between Mr. Childs and his client, Mr. Silverstein. Ordinarily, the private evolution of building plans between a developer and his architect would be nothing unusual. But this is not ordinary. Mr. Silverstein holds the insurance money he won in court in trust for the public. He is building on public ground, with public oversight from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. While there is no question that even this new design for the Freedom Tower will evolve over time, this project can never be seen as a normal private business deal.

Every question about the commercial redevelopment of ground zero comes back to a question about the instincts of one man, Larry Silverstein. He has claimed that he has the city's interests at heart - he eagerly acknowledges the moral obligation that 9/11 placed upon him. But his own pocketbook speaks every bit as loudly. Every politician, including the governor, dances around him. His cost cutting is as much the architect of the tower that will eventually be built as Mr. Childs is. The new design for the Freedom Tower is impressive. What matters, though, is not what we make of it, but what Mr. Silverstein will.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

pianoman11686

June 30th, 2005, 12:23 AM

A Design Wins Praise, but Some Want More

Published: June 30, 2005

"This building is an improvement on the last, and it works very well with the memorial. Its redesign is another surprising bounce-back, like the last-minute save of the Olympic bid."

Kent L. Barwick, president, the Municipal Art Society

of New York

"It looks fine, and it fits right in to my Assembly district. But the contents are more important than the wrapper. It's time to get it done and bring the people back."

Sheldon Silver, New York State Assembly speaker

"We're glad the governor and the mayor have addressed the safety and security issues of the Freedom Tower, but we hope that now they will address the issues of the memorial itself. Its single-ramp design is not safe, and beyond that, the memorial needs to be more prominent, and the Freedom Center needs to be off the site."

Monica Iken, founder of

September's Mission, whose husband, Michael, died in the south tower

"The claims of being 'the safest building in the world' pale at the realization that these buildings are nevertheless exempt and immune from all New York City building codes and fire codes, because of the Port Authority's exemptions."

Monica Gabrielle and Sally Regenhard, co-chairwomen

of the Skyscraper Safety

Campaign, who lost family members in the attack

"Generally, I find it a little cold. But I like it that way. The era of fanciful skyscrapers is long past. Cold is functional, and it is modern. And it is fitting because of what has happened since 9/11. Three years later, we try to hold on to the symbolism of 9/11, but we are bombing people halfway around the world. Cold is how people are viewing us from abroad."

Rudi Eilers, a native of

Germany now living in

Brooklyn who was visiting ground zero yesterday

"Nothing is going to please everybody. But it is time, and this looks like a nice memorial building to me."

Doug Bishop, a high school teacher from Yucca Valley, Calif., who was visiting

ground zero for the first time

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

212

June 30th, 2005, 12:27 AM

So what? Silverstein does not need 100% of the New York Times' readership to rent space in his new FT. The statistic is meaningless. I am sure that similar percentages of Times readers would not want to work on one of the higher floors of the of the Empire State Building or one of the higher floors of the Sears Tower. Does that mean those floors lie fallow? No; they are fully occupied. There will be plenty of people who want to work on the upper floors of the FT as well. The worry-warts do not get to dictate New York architecture from this point forward.

Eventually, 7 World Tra -- um, 250 Greenwich Street -- will start filling up. It has to, right?

And maybe we'll even see Goldman come back with its tower.

But the Freedom Bunker? Maybe for the first few years, it could be rented out at a discount to artists or something ...

BrooklynRider

June 30th, 2005, 12:27 AM

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/45494412/large.jpg

Ratner's tower will obliterate this view. Also, those other Liebskind buildings look totally out of place - no context - as mentioned by folks earlier.

pianoman11686

June 30th, 2005, 12:37 AM

I hope this wasn't posted yet, but as far as I can tell, it's not in the thread:

Redesign Puts Freedom Tower on a Fortified Base

By DAVID W. DUNLAP and GLENN COLLINS

Published: June 30, 2005

Gov. George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg unveiled a radical redesign of the Freedom Tower planned in Lower Manhattan yesterday: a 77-story glass-clad skyscraper that would sit atop an almost impermeable 200-foot concrete and steel pedestal, sheathed in ornamental metalwork, overlooking the memorial intended to honor those who died at the World Trade Center.

The redesign was worked up in a matter of weeks after an embarrassing setback for the trade center redevelopment, when the New York Police Department deemed the first version of the Freedom Tower too vulnerable to attack by car or truck bomb.

The newly configured building would have no occupied space other than the lobby for its first 200 feet. It would be set at least 40 feet farther away from West Street-Route 9A, a heavily trafficked state highway. Many of its windows would be tempered, laminated and multilayered for extra protection against explosions.

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said in a statement released after the unveiling that the "new design provides for a level of bomb blast mitigation consistent with the N.Y.P.D.'s report on the Freedom Tower and adequate to the threat" described in federal safety guidelines.

Though it is by the same architect, David M. Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the Freedom Tower shown yesterday is a far cry from the version that captured worldwide attention when it was unveiled in 2003 and became the new image of ground zero. Gone are the torqued form and asymmetrical spire recalling the Statue of Liberty, the parallelogram floor plan and the open-air superstructure laced by cables and filled with energy-producing turbines.

In their place is a structure whose scale, proportions and details - a central antenna, cut-away corners and pinstripe facade - evoke the twin towers that were lost on Sept. 11, 2001. The roof of the Freedom Tower would match 2 World Trade Center in height (1,362 feet) and its rooftop parapet would match No. 1 (1,368 feet). The antenna would bring it to 1,776 feet.

Making their announcement in an elegant Wall Street catering hall, government officials and the developer, Larry A. Silverstein, declared that a better building had emerged, still laden with stirring symbolism but now far more secure from attack.

"I think it will be very safe," Governor Pataki said. Indeed, he said, if one of his children were hired by a Freedom Tower tenant, he would "be confident in their safety."

However, the building will not be completed until 2010, a year or two later than first planned. The history of large-scale development in New York suggests that the road ahead for the Freedom Tower will be tortuous, particularly at a site where so many competing interests and emotions reign. Further modifications are almost inevitable. Even now, it is not clear how much the redesign will add to the estimated $1.5 billion budget nor who would pay for the security enhancements.

Though Mr. Silverstein reported "some fascinating discussions with respect to very large block users," no prospective tenants have been publicly identified, except for the governor's office.

(Asked in a New York Times poll this month whether they would be willing to work in one of the higher floors of a new building at the trade center site, 52 percent of the city residents surveyed said they would not and 43 percent said they would. That is less resistance than was shown in an August 2003 poll, which found 62 percent unwilling to do so and 31 percent willing.)

About the revised Freedom Tower, Kenneth J. Ringler, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the trade center site, said, "There is no question that it is a more secure building." And Mr. Silverstein said the recent safety recommendations made by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in response to the collapse of the original trade center towers, "have been embraced very significantly" in the redesign.

Elevators, sprinkler systems and electrical conduits in the new structure will all be protected in a central core of especially dense concrete, further strengthened by tons of steel reinforcing bars. And an extra stairway will be provided for rescue workers to enter the building even while tenants are escaping.

The original setback from West Street-Route 9A was 25 feet, which the police said was inadequate to protect the building from a large truck bomb. The new tower has been moved 65 feet back from West Street at its Fulton Street side, and 125 feet from the highway at Vesey Street.

Among the elements lost in the redesign is the asymmetrical spire. This was envisioned by Daniel Libeskind, the master planner of the trade center site, as an evocation of the upraised arm of the Statue of Liberty. However, Mr. Libeskind said yesterday that he discerned Liberty's torch in the sculptural enclosure planned for the antenna.

"The tower we have now is even better than the tower we had before," he said, congratulating Mr. Childs, with whom he famously quarreled two years ago over the first Freedom Tower design. "It asserts what the site is all about. The tower relates to the memorial, and rises in a symbolic way."

At its base, the Freedom Tower would be 200 feet square, like the twin towers and the two voids that are to be created in their place as part of the memorial. Michael Arad, one of the architects of the memorial, said the revised tower was "a quieter and simpler form" that "doesn't compete with the memorial."

Like 7 World Trade Center, under construction across Vesey Street, the Freedom Tower would essentially be two buildings in one: a utility-filled concrete pedestal topped by an office tower with a glass curtain wall.

The first 30 feet of the 200-foot-tall pedestal would be completely solid. The next 50 feet would have some openings, allowing light to be brought into the lobby from above. The rest of the base would be occupied by four floors of mechanical equipment. Stainless steel, titanium or aluminum panels would mask the concrete wall.

Office tenants would enter the building from the north or south, through lobbies on Fulton and Vesey Streets. Visitors headed to the indoor and outdoor observation decks would arrive across a plaza on the west side of the building. Diners going to the restaurants, directly under the observatories, would approach from a plaza on the east.

The main shaft of the Freedom Tower would begin as a square. As it rises, the corners would be cut away, creating an octagonal floor plan through the middle of the building. ("And eight corner offices," Mr. Childs noted.) Toward the top, the plan would assume a square shape again.

Depending on the viewer's perspective, the structure might appear rectangular or sloped like an obelisk. Each of the eight surfaces in its main facade would be an elongated isosceles triangle that would catch and reflect the light from a different angle.

The only externally visible separation between the windows would be vertical stainless-steel elements known as mullions, creating a pinstripe effect.

Mr. Childs said the redesign was intended to preserve as much as possible of the foundation design that had already consumed a year and a half of work. This includes threading the tower's underground columns among the looping outbound tracks of the World Trade Center PATH station.

Given those requirements, and the goal of maintaining the building's overall 2.6 million square-foot floor area, the redesigned Freedom Tower almost naturally assumed some dimensions of the twin towers, he said. "The building is simpler, architecturally," Mr. Childs said of the revised design. "It is unique, yet it subtly recalls, in the sky, the tragedy that has happened here."

Mr. Childs emphasized that the 408-foot spire and its setting had yet to be fully designed. He said he saw the building summit as "a functional piece of sculpture, a piece of civic art of an unusual scale."

The architects are working on a distinctive silver or white structural wrap for the spire that would enclose the television antenna with fiberglass or carbon, substances that would not interfere with emanating radio waves.

The spire is to be braced with guy wires - also woven from fiberglass or carbon - that would be anchored to a circular crown atop the observatory. The entire structure will be lit from within and programmed with shifting patterns of lights, or even a single heavenward beam.

"I hope," Mr. Childs said, "this can answer those who were worried that this would be a foreboding building."

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

pianoman11686

June 30th, 2005, 12:42 AM

Some more random photos:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/29/nyregion/tower.583.1.jpg
Anyone else think Libeskind's face in this photo is hilarious?
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/29/nyregion/20050630_tower_graphic.gif
Another view of the entire site plan.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/29/nyregion/20050630_appraisal_graphic.gif
Old Freedom Tower vs. New

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

ZippyTheChimp

June 30th, 2005, 01:20 AM

I am sure that similar percentages of Times readers would not want to work on one of the higher floors of the of the Empire State Building or one of the higher floors of the Sears Tower.
Let's not stick our heads in the sand. We did that in 1993, and look what happened.

The FT is not the ESB or Sears. For the foreseeable future, it will be the number one terrorist target in the US. The politicians bluster about freedom and defiance, while at the same time, they deny Target access to the site - because they know the reality.

That reality is that the 09/11 attack was not an assault on freedom, or our way of life, or an attempt to bring down the country. The purpose was to get our attention and draw us into a Middle East conflict - a complete success despite the wrong country.

That war cannot be won conventionally, so it becomes a conflict of symbolic acts. If Bin Laden wants to inspire the masses of proto-terrorists to wire themselves with explosives, what better symbolic act then to bring down the building that replaces the one you destroyed. It's the reason the FT will have a bunker and the NYT tower will not.

No one knows if the FT will be commercially successful, but what is known is that business hates uncertainty. It hinders planning. Whatever the level of uncertainty there exists in Midtown or Chicago, there is more of it at the WTC.

kz1000ps

June 30th, 2005, 01:48 AM

Thinking about comments from earlier, I gotta agree with whoever said the antenna is wrong for the tower because of its shape. The round, WWII-era bomb/rocket look is completely out of character with the precise jagged feel of the body; To me it makes it look like a clumsy late '50s proposal. But as I said before, I definitely like what the body has become, more essential and easy to appreciate.

Derek2k3

June 30th, 2005, 02:05 AM

Unfortunately, the design is too dull to be despised this time.
This could be dumped anywhere that accepts vision-less crap.

Fabrizio

June 30th, 2005, 03:44 AM

"Unfortunately, the design is too dull to be despised this time.
This could be dumped anywhere that accepts vision-less crap."

I´ll take cool, elegant, restraint....

ddny

June 30th, 2005, 07:12 AM

Finally...a real 1,000 footer in terms of roof height for NYC. The base needs to improve.

ZippyTheChimp

June 30th, 2005, 08:22 AM

NEW LOOK FOR GROUND ZERO'S FREEDOM TOWER

Too much fortress, not enough beauty

Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin says the latest proposal for the WTC site has dignity but fails to synthesize armor and aesthetics

Blair Kamin, Tribune architecture critic

June 30, 2005

NEW YORK -- Great skyscrapers, especially in this city of party-hat towers, meet the sky and the ground with unforgettable aesthetic flourish. But the redesigned Freedom Tower at ground zero, which likely will be the nation's tallest skyscraper and surely will be its most heavily fortified, falls short of the towering standard set by the exuberant Chrysler Building and its more dignified skyline partner, the Empire State Building.

Unveiled Wednesday at a Wall Street news conference a few blocks east of ground zero, the revised design became necessary after the New York City Police Department raised fresh concerns in recent weeks that the original plan would leave the tower's occupants vulnerable to a vehicle-delivered bomb. Yet for all the design's appealing clarity and simplicity, it does not turn out to be a persuasive synthesis of armor and aesthetics.

The skyscraper's heavily fortified concrete and metal base would rise a forbidding 200 feet above the adjoining memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and would have far fewer windows than a typical office building to reduce the risk of deadly flying glass.

And the building's spire-topped silhouette, while certainly an improvement on the bloated, torquing form of the Freedom Tower proposal made public two years ago, or the monolithic blocks of the original twin towers, nevertheless seems monumentally ordinary, hardly the sort of iconic shape that makes the heart beat faster.

Despite the fact that no commercial tenants have signed leases for the 82-story tower, developer Larry Silverstein, who holds the lease to the World Trade Center site, said Wednesday that construction would begin next year and be completed in 2010, a year later than originally planned. It is unclear how the changes will effect the building's estimated $1.5 billion cost.

If Silverstein's vision and that of his architect, David Childs of the New York office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, become reality, the Freedom Tower would rise to the symbolic height of 1,776 feet, 326 feet taller than Chicago's Sears Tower, the nation's tallest building. That is one of the few elements it would retain from architect Daniel Libeskind's competition-winning 2002 ground zero master plan.

Veers from predecessors

Otherwise, the proposal is notably different from both the master plan and the 2003 Freedom Tower design, which was the awkward offspring of a shotgun marriage between Libeskind and Childs. The pairing was arranged by New York Gov. George Pakati, the prime political mover behind the redevelopment of the 16-acre site.

Among the shifts:

- The tower's footprint would be a 200-foot square, not a parallelogram as in the earlier plans. That would match the footprints of the original World Trade Center towers and result in larger setbacks meant to blunt the impact of a curbside car- or truck-bomb. Security experts consider such an attack the most likely threat even though the twin towers were brought down by hijacked jetliners.

- Instead of twisting as it rose, the skyscraper would taper inward from the corners, creating a series of six triangles that will make it appear, from some angles, like an obelisk. Above an 80-foot-tall public lobby, to be lit from above in a manner recalling Grand Central Terminal, would be 69 occupied floors with 2.6 million square feet of office space. The uppermost occupied floor would be at 1,100 feet.

- There are no more energy-generating windmills, enclosed in a network of cables reminiscent of the Brooklyn Bridge, near the tower's summit. Now the tower culminates in a rooftop observation deck at 1,362 feet, the height of the destroyed south tower, with a glass retaining wall at 1,368 feet, the height of the destroyed north tower.

- Rather than an off-center spire designed to evoke the upraised arm of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, the design calls for a symmetrical, cable-supported communications antenna sheathed in a trellislike sculpture. This spire, which would be bathed in light at night, would refer to the Statue of Liberty's torch, not its upraised arm.

Slender and elegant

As Libeskind observed Wednesday, Childs' design markedly improves on the earlier Freedom Tower. It is more slender and thus more elegant. Its crystalline shape recalls Libeskind's original plan and should relate well to the shorter, slice-topped office buildings that are supposed to spiral upwards to the Freedom Tower. And the skyscraper still calls out to the harbor and the Statue of Liberty, making a connection to the broader landscape and to the idea of freedom.

Yet there are problems aplenty. They begin with the fortresslike base and Childs' idea that the skyscraper, with its office tower perched atop its pedestal base, can take its formal cues from ancient victory columns, such as Trajan's Column in Rome, a roughly 100-foot-tall marble column set on large pedestal. The enormous expansion in scale, from modest-size column to monumental skyscraper, renders that comparison ludicrous.

True, the base's glistening metal panels (they may be titanium or stainless steel) would conceal the massive concrete walls behind it. But this "drapery," as the architects call it, will not mask the building's startling lack of transparency at ground level. Glassy entrances for the offices, the observation deck and a new restaurant, which will replace the twin towers' Windows on the World, will help, but only so much. There would be no windows in the first 30 feet of the base and only small windows above. The design does not achieve a satisfactory balance between security and openness.

And despite Libeskind's praise, the Freedom Tower's skyline presence is dignified, but hardly stirring. While the tower's triangular facets should create a constantly shifting presence in the light, its summit seems awkwardly plopped atop the tower's shaft, like a World's Fair folly set incongruously above a sober skyscraper. The spire itself is a pale echo of the mighty Art Deco mooring mast atop the Empire State or the dazzling stainless steel arches that crown the Chrysler.

Jazz Age exuberance was rightly out of the question for such a solemn site, yet the tower's silhouette remains undistinguished. It leaves one to wonder whether Childs has been caught in a trap of his own making by following the geometry and the height of the original twin towers so reverently. His plan is good, but the circumstances call for great.

- - -

New design emphasizes security

The new design for New York's Freedom Tower echoes certain aspects of the original World Trade Center towers and includes many safety features.

BUILDING FEATURES

Office space: 2.6 million square feet over 69 floors

Other floors: Include observation decks, restaurants, Manhattan Television Alliance facilities and mechanical floors

Footprint: 200 feet by 200 feet the same size as each original World Trade Center tower

Height: 1,368 feet without antenna; 1,776 with antenna

SAFETY/ANTI-TERRORISM FEATURES:

- The setback from West Street has been increased from 25 feet to an average of 90 feet.

- The building's base will be constructed of blast-resistant concrete walls, and those walls will be sheathed in stainless steel or titanium.

- Chemical and biological filters will be installed in the airsupply system.

- All safety systems (stairs, elevators, sprinklers) will be enclosed in a 3-foot-thick concrete core wall.

- A staircase dedicated for firefighters' use will be built.

PREVIOUS DESIGNS

The new design is more slender than the 2003 design and features a symmetrical antenna instead of an offcenter spire.

Original Libeskind design Unveiled December 2002

Libeskind-Childs design Unveiled December 2003

Sources: Lower Manhattan Development Corp., Silverstein Properties Inc., Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Chicago Tribune

----------

bkamin@tribune.com

Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune (http://www.chicagotribune.com/)

Ninjahedge

June 30th, 2005, 09:23 AM

I think the base is a wee bit excessive too.

The standoff is what gives it the most protection. The walls will only act as a shield for those inside the tower (being that Glass turns to Shrapnel when any size charge is placed near it).

So if the standoff is the best protection, why the hell are we sticking it out on the corner of the site? If everyone is screaming about symmetry, why is it all the way over on the side? Why is the Museum the centerpoint, rather than on the edge where people can see it when they drive by?

I think the design itself holds promise, but we are still capitulating to all the Mosoleum people that want the entire site to somehow represent "Freedom" and "America". As soon as you use such esoteric ephemeral statements as that to describe a project, you will get 900 different opinions on what they really represent.

We need to stop looking at the childishly named "Freedom" tower as being a symbol for everything and ignore what it is replacing.

A HUGE SET OF OFFICE TOWERS.

So, here we are, with an ironically named "freedom" tower that is enslaved to the will of the people and designed under the gaze of fear.

As soon as we drop the posturing, maybe we will get what we really need down there and not what everyone else things we need.

AmeriKenArtist

June 30th, 2005, 10:49 AM

I saw an AP photo of the latest design in the morning newspaper. Considering all things, I like it.

Schadenfrau

June 30th, 2005, 10:52 AM

I think the new proposal is more appropriate for the area. The first version looked a bit like that televangelist's Crystal Cathedral.

billyblancoNYC

June 30th, 2005, 11:28 AM

The more I see the master plan, the more it seems like the cultural center should not be next to the footprints. The area would have a better flow if it was moved to the site of Tower 5, maybe even at it's base.

ryan

June 30th, 2005, 11:36 AM

I think the bunker base on the "freedom" tower is sadly symbolic of the compromise of civil rights our country seems to be making (gitmo, patriot act). Does childs do irony?

TonyO

June 30th, 2005, 11:59 AM

NY Sun
June 30, 2005 Edition

New Freedom Tower Will Be 'Great Mural of Light'

BY JULIA LEVY - Staff Reporter of the Sun
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/16300

Governor Pataki stood before hundreds of business and civic leaders in Lower Manhattan in April 2003 and pledged that the Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site would be completed by the start of 2008.

No more. After haggling, redesign, warnings by the Police Department about the building's susceptibility to terrorist attacks, and more redesign, the governor stood again in Lower Manhattan yesterday to unveil a revised plan for the Freedom Tower. Now the tower isn't expected to be ready for occupancy until 2010.

Other than its height of 1,776 feet, the new structure will bear little resemblance to the original tower designed collaboratively by the World Trade Center site planner, Daniel Libeskind, and a noted architect with the firm Skidmore Owings and Merrill, David Childs, who works for the site's developer Larry Silverstein.

It will be located 90 feet, rather than 25 feet, from West Street. The 400-foot cable structure in the original structure, meant to echo the Brooklyn Bridge, has disappeared. While there is still a spire at the top, it will now be centered over the tower, rather than resting asymmetrically in an attempt to evoke the torch of the Statue of Liberty. The new, more safety-conscious skyscraper will also have a 200-foot-high base, built with the densest concrete money can buy, and shielded by a wall of reflective metal, which Mr. Childs said would create a "great mural of light."

The officials and architects who gathered at the old National City Bank Building on Wall Street yesterday morning said the major revisions had made the scheme better than the original.

"A few months back, we received a setback, and we were required for appropriate security concerns to rethink the design of the soaring element of this massive site plan, the Freedom Tower," Mr. Pataki said. "But as Mayor Bloomberg said, New Yorkers aren't daunted by challenges. We just roll up our sleeves, go to work, look at what has to be done, and then do it."

The governor said he isn't an architecture critic but the design looks better to him. He also said it's safer: "There's no question it's going to be built to the highest standards of any high-rise ever in the United States of America. I think it will be very safe. In fact, if one of those giant corporations that Larry lures to the Freedom Tower occupies the top floors and wants to hire one of my kids, I'd be honored to have them working there."

Mr. Silverstein said the tower, which will be built to the same standards as American embassies, "is ready to proceed" with the blessings of the New York City Police Department and the Port Authority. He said construction would start in early 2006. Steel will be visible above ground in 2007.

Mr. Silverstein said a number of private corporations had expressed interest in renting space at the new tower, but he would not name names. So far, no one has signed a lease to move into 7 World Trade Center, the first building to be rebuilt after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

TonyO

June 30th, 2005, 12:18 PM

NY Post
6/30/05

A FORTRESS OF FREEDOM

By TOM TOPOUSIS

Here it is — the safest skyscraper in the world.

Gov. Pataki yesterday unveiled the hastily redesigned Freedom Tower and declared that key changes make the enormous structure so secure, he'd let his own kids work there.

"If one of those giant corporations . . . occupies the top floors and wants to hire one of my kids, I'd be honored to have them working there and be confident in their safety," Pataki said at a press conference announcing the new design.

Sent back to the drawing board two months ago after the Police Department raised concerns about dangers from truck bombs, the new Freedom Tower is set back further from West Street and sits atop a 200-foot-tall base of concrete sheathed in metal.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the new design has addressed all of his department's concerns.

"The new Freedom Tower design incorporates standards the Police Department had sought to protect the building against bomb blasts, which our counterterrorism experts agree present one of the greatest threats to such iconic structures," Kelly said in a statement.

Developer Larry Silverstein, who holds the lease on the World Trade Center site and the right to rebuild 10 million square feet of office space there, said the new Freedom Tower's security is on a par with federal standards for super-secure U.S. embassies overseas.

"When you look at the building from the exterior, you will not see the massiveness of the protection and the structure that is going into the base of this building," Silverstein said, explaining that a steel-reinforced concrete core will rise to the top of the tower.

Inside the 3-foot-thick walls of the core will be all the building's safety features, including wider stairwells than the Twin Towers had and one stairwell to be used by firefighters so they won't have to compete for space with people fleeing in an emergency.

"It is constructed from the standpoint of the core as no other building has been constructed," Silverstein said.

Both Pataki and architect David Childs said the Freedom Tower would be the world's safest high-rise.

The latest 1,776-foot design by Childs departs from the earlier version developed in conjunction with Ground Zero planner Daniel Libeskind in dozens of other ways, including the relocation of an off-center spire to the middle of the building's roof.

Gone is the 400-foot-tall cage of steel and wires at the top of the tower that would have held power-generating wind turbines. The new, more slender tower pushes the same amount of office space higher into the sky.

Childs called it "serendipity" that the new design produced a building with a top floor at the same height of the old Twin Towers, 1,368 feet. The Freedom Tower will rise another 408 feet with its "beacon of light," which will also serve as a TV antenna.

Childs took great pains to defer to Libeskind, whom he fought bitterly over the earlier design, even referring to his old rival yesterday as "Danny."

"We've created a building that I believe that has given us a chance to respond in a meaningful way to the great plan for the memorial, to fill out the objectives of Daniel Libeskind's master plan," Childs said.

The Freedom Tower also copies the Twin Towers by taking up the same-sized footprint on the ground — about 50 feet smaller in width than the original Freedom version, in order to create a wider security buffer from West Street.

Silverstein, who has yet to line up a tenant for his nearly completed tower across the street at 7 World Trade Center, said he's already had some "preliminary" conversations with potential tenants interested in large blocks in the Freedom Tower.

Work will begin with construction of footings for the building early next year. The steel skeleton will begin to rise in 2007, with topping off of the tower expected in 2009. Silverstein said he expects the tower to open in 2010.

Libeskind, who attended the ceremony, credited Childs for coming up with a design that meets security needs but also defers to the memorial slated for Ground Zero. And he gave no hint of the past animosity between the two that landed them in court.

"I think the tower that we have now, after all the efforts, is even a better tower than we had before," Libeskind said, adding later that the new version is actually closer to what he had envisioned when he drew up the site's master plan.

Mayor Bloomberg said the tower "will be a spectacular addition to the city's skyline."

"Its construction will climax the greatest comeback in the history of our city," Bloomberg said, before departing the ceremony early to attend another event.

Pataki said he prefers the new look of the tower.

"I really think this is a better design. I'm not an architectural critic, I'm just a citizen, but I like it better," he said.

BPC

June 30th, 2005, 12:27 PM

So if the standoff is the best protection, why the hell are we sticking it out on the corner of the site? If everyone is screaming about symmetry, why is it all the way over on the side? Why is the Museum the centerpoint, rather than on the edge where people can see it when they drive by?

Good questions. Here is one more. If the standoff is the best protection, why are we reopening Fulton Street to traffic through the site, which will bring a potential truck bomb closer to the building than it would have been able to reach from West Street even under the old configuration?

ZippyTheChimp

June 30th, 2005, 12:36 PM

Why are we even calling it Freedom Tower?

I think something more politically nonndescript, like Vesey Plaza or Fulton Plaza, would ease the tension as to terrorism.

lofter1

June 30th, 2005, 01:19 PM

Why are we even calling it Freedom Tower?

I think something more politically nonndescript, like Vesey Plaza or Fulton Plaza, would ease the tension as to terrorism.

How about One World Trade Center?

Also, we've been hearing for weeks how the NYPD security concerns would require the new building to have a buffer zone of 90' from West Street. This has been repeated over and over in the press:

"It will be located 90 feet, rather than 25 feet, from West Street." (NY Sun, 6.30.05)

"Instead of being 25 feet from West Street, the tower will be set back 90 feet" (CNN, 6.29.05)

But the presentation on 6/29 clearly showed that the building will be 65' from West Street (see below).

What's up with that?

I'm beginning to think that JMGarcia's remark from 6.29( http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=55398&postcount=2150 ) was right on the mark: "If I were a betting man I would bet the NYPD was told to reject the first design and in such a way as to give Silverstein no choice but to go up."

As for Fulton Street: Notice that the main south entry to the Tower is ~ 25' from the street curb. IMO Fulton Street will never be an open street in the normal sense -- allowed onto this stretch of Fulton west of Greenwich Street will be black cars, limos, taxis (big maybe on taxis) and that's about it. I'm all for NO cars at all on that portion of Fulton.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/29/nyregion/20050630_tower_graphic.gif

STT757

June 30th, 2005, 01:33 PM

Why are we even calling it Freedom Tower?

I think something more politically nonndescript, like Vesey Plaza or Fulton Plaza, would ease the tension as to terrorism.

I like One World Trade Center.

BrooklynRider

June 30th, 2005, 02:01 PM

Why are we even calling it Freedom Tower?

I think something more politically nonndescript, like Vesey Plaza or Fulton Plaza, would ease the tension as to terrorism.

Let's just call her "Frida".

pianoman11686

June 30th, 2005, 02:07 PM

How about One World Trade Center?

Also, we've been hearing for weeks how the NYPD security concerns would require the new building to have a buffer zone of 90' from West Street. This has been repeated over and over in the press:

"It will be located 90 feet, rather than 25 feet, from West Street." (NY Sun, 6.30.05)

"Instead of being 25 feet from West Street, the tower will be set back 90 feet" (CNN, 6.29.05)

But the presentation on 6/29 clearly showed that the building will be 65' from West Street (see below).

What's up with that?

The statement that it will be located 90 feet is meant to describe its average distance from West Street, which as you can see, decreases from 125 feet to 65 feet as you go south. I've heard a lot of reports say something to the tune of, "It will be located at least 40 feet further away from West Street."
I agree about the name change. I could go for 1 World Trade Center, but I also like One Fulton Street, as someone here mentioned a few pages ago.

Its crystalline shape recalls Libeskind's original plan and should relate well to the shorter, slice-topped office buildings that are supposed to spiral upwards to the Freedom Tower.
I hope this article is wrong in this statement. I was pretty sure the other four towers were going to be individually redesigned. Hopefully, we'll have a few different architects working together to produce some high quality buildings.

NYguy

June 30th, 2005, 02:50 PM

I hope this article is wrong in this statement. I was pretty sure the other four towers were going to be individually redesigned. Hopefully, we'll have a few different architects working together to produce some high quality buildings.

They are. But until those designs come out, Libeskind's towers will be the "place holders", as we have seen in the renderings time and time again. Whatever idiot wrote that article should know that already.

NYguy

June 30th, 2005, 02:53 PM

The new and improved Freedom Tower will join the Jin Mao tower as my favorite new skyscraper.

Yes David, its tall all right...

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2005-06/18248825.jpg_http://www.thecityreview.com/skyter2.jpg

http://www.arnona.co.il/magazine/vol-16/sky/JinMaoTower.jpg

http://www.mitsubishi.or.jp/e/monitor/0204/PHOTO/china_tower.jpg_http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2005-06/18247145.jpg

http://hep.itp.tuwien.ac.at/~ipp/imagestravel01/P058c%20DSC00012.jpg

JMGarcia

June 30th, 2005, 02:53 PM

Let's just call her "Frida".

I prefer Blanche. But ya are Blanche, ya are. ;)

I think its more fitting considering the verbal bullying and abuse this building is gone to get.

Clarknt67

June 30th, 2005, 04:02 PM

I hate the name Freedom Tower, and the whole lighting idea at the top.

I've always hated the name Freedom Tower too, it recalls all that silliness with "freedom fries" and whatnot. Beside, Bushies are always reminding us the terrorist's "hate us for our freedom" so it does seem logical they would try to strike at our "Freedom Tower."

1 Fulton Street is great.

Fabrizio

June 30th, 2005, 04:12 PM

It sounds evangelical: "....broadcasting from the "Freedom Tower" on the campus of Oral Roberts University...."

Ninjahedge

June 30th, 2005, 04:14 PM

It sounds evangelical: "....broadcasting from the "F Tower" on the campus of Oral University...."

Or Catholic.......

:eek:

fioco

June 30th, 2005, 05:11 PM

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this: From the LMDC web site Freedom Tower Fact Sheet (http://www.renewnyc.org/content/pdfs/freedom_tower_fact_sheet.pdf)

WORLD TRADE CENTER TOWER ONE

FREEDOM TOWER

MrShakespeare

June 30th, 2005, 05:37 PM

NYguy

June 30th, 2005, 05:59 PM

That is incredible news, Fioco! Thanks for posting - that made my day! :)

The sooner the towers are identified in this manner - by their proper, WTC name and number - the better. ....It is good to see that the PA has figured this out, even if the Governor is stuck with his "Freedom Tower" moniker.

The Freedom Tower has always been mentioned as tower 1. That's just a fact, not an official name. It would probably be given the 1 WTC designation anyway.

Like it or not, the Freedom Tower name is here to stay, especially if Silverstein wants to take "WTC" out of the names anyway.

BrooklynRider

June 30th, 2005, 06:02 PM

The Freedom Tower has always been mentioned as tower 1. That's just a fact, not an official name. It would probably be given the 1 WTC designation anyway.

Like it or not, the Freedom Tower name is here to stay.

Well, I'm calling her "Frida Towers". Sounds like a movie star.

Johnnyboy

June 30th, 2005, 08:05 PM

I hate the name Freedom Tower, and the whole lighting idea at the top.[/QUOTE]

I hate the Freedom Tower name too but the light on top I believe is beautifull. To me its very unique. Its something that will make the tower very special thought the world. If it is like shown on the video gallery in Skidmore Ownings and Merill's Website, Its a wonderfull sight. It gives it more a sence of importance.

americasroof

July 1st, 2005, 12:57 AM

20 Stories of Fear at Ground Zero
http://911memorials.org/?p=237

andifonly

July 1st, 2005, 05:53 AM

http://photos18.flickr.com/22787820_829e370d4c.jpg
.

kz1000ps

July 1st, 2005, 11:02 AM

Ha! Where's Alex when you need him....

BPC

July 1st, 2005, 12:35 PM

20 Stories of Fear at Ground Zero
http://911memorials.org/?p=237

This guy gives blogs a bad name.

NYatKNIGHT

July 1st, 2005, 12:37 PM

Well, I'm calling her "Frida Towers". Sounds like a movie star.Much better.
Or how about "Fortress of Freedom".

ZippyTheChimp

July 1st, 2005, 01:18 PM

If they can't rent it, they can get permission from Superman for

the Fortress of Solitude.

aural iNK

July 1st, 2005, 01:48 PM

This thing will really tower over downtown once finished considering buidings 2-5 won't be complete for quite some time. I like.

Clarknt67

July 1st, 2005, 02:08 PM

Well, I'm calling her "Frida Towers". Sounds like a movie star.

If the movie is "The Birdcage," maybe. Sounds like a drag queen to me.

JMGarcia

July 1st, 2005, 02:34 PM

If the movie is "The Birdcage," maybe. Sounds like a drag queen to me.
"The Birdcage" was the last design. ;)

NYguy

July 1st, 2005, 02:54 PM

We've already mentioned the NYSE design for Trump's tower. Inevitably, there will be comparisons to other skyscrapers...

NY POST

BUILT OF 'STEAL'

By CHRIS WILSON

July 1, 2005 -- Talk about Twin Towers!

Famed New York architect Robert A.M. Stern says David Childs' new Freedom Tower looks just like one of Stern's never-realized designs for the Comcast Center in Philadelphia.

"I'm aware of the resemblance and I'm surprised and flattered," Stern, dean of Yale's prestigious School of Architecture, said in a terse statement to The Post yesterday.

Staffers say Stern, who designed his tower in July 2001, hit the roof when he saw what Childs had created.

Stern's proposed 1,030- foot skyscraper, which would have been the tallest in Philly, rose from a square base whose corners cut away as the building rises, forming an octagonal floor plan through the middle of the tower — a distinctive feature that's just like Childs' Freedom Tower.

Both buildings also have a top square that is twisted 45 degrees from the bottom square.

One of the only obvious differences is the spire on top of the new Freedom Tower.

Stern's tower design, which was one of several that he submitted to Comcast, appeared in the monograph, "Robert A.M. Stern: Buildings and Projects 1999-2003."

Aides to Stern said he was livid when Childs' Ground Zero plans were unveiled on Wednesday by Gov. Pataki.

"It came into everyone's mind who was familiar with the scheme," said one Stern staffer.

"We were like, 'Oh, my God. This looks like our design.' Everyone was familiar with that design was struck by it."

Elizabeth Kubany, a spokeswoman for Childs, shot back, "I don't think we have any comment. I can say with almost 100 percent certainty that David Childs has never seen this design."

This isn't the first time that Childs has been accused of copying someone else's work — it also happened with his original Freedom Tower design.

Last November, Massachusetts-based architect Thomas Shine filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit against Childs accusing him of plagiarizing a project Shine designed while he was a master's student at Yale's School of Architecture.

Shine claimed in his lawsuit that he presented the project to Childs in the fall of 1999, and the Freedom Tower designer wrote him a note:

"It is a very beautiful shape. You took the skin and developed it around the form — great!"

Child's spokesman called the suit "specious" at the time, adding, "While Mr. Shine's building and Freedom Tower share some common design elements, most of these elements have been industry standards for decades."

Two months ago, Childs was forced to scrap his original tower design — which featured a dramatic, twisting shape and exposed wind turbines — because of security concerns raised by the NYPD.

NYguy

July 1st, 2005, 02:58 PM

I think its a stretch to compare the two...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/45571288/large.jpg

BrooklynRider

July 1st, 2005, 03:42 PM

Silverstein Properties web-site still displays the old version of Frida Towers. Makes one wonder what's really going on. You'd think that would be plastered all over their site.

krulltime

July 1st, 2005, 05:09 PM

oh please there is not alot to compare except the corner walls a little I guess... but going in a different direction.

ablarc

July 1st, 2005, 05:21 PM

.

A tower of light…

http://66.230.220.70/images/post/freedom/00.jpg

…like the one in Shanghai…

http://66.230.220.70/images/post/freedom/01.jpg

It’s tall…

http://66.230.220.70/images/post/freedom/02.jpg

…like the one in Shanghai…

http://66.230.220.70/images/post/freedom/03.jpg

And it sits on top of an impregnable cube…

http://66.230.220.70/images/post/freedom/04.jpg

http://66.230.220.70/images/post/freedom/05.jpg

…like the one in Mecca…

http://66.230.220.70/images/post/freedom/06.jpg

That one even has twin towers…

http://66.230.220.70/images/post/freedom/07.jpg

Throngs come from near and far to pay homage…

http://66.230.220.70/images/post/freedom/08.jpg

Security’s guaranteed…

http://66.230.220.70/images/post/freedom/09.jpg

At the center of it all, the pilgrim’s goal…

http://66.230.220.70/images/post/freedom/10.jpg

Touching or kissing the Black Stone has a profound impact on the faithful as it is suppose to count in their favor on judgment day. The great Muslim traveler from Valencia, Ibn Jubayr (1145 - 1217) describes the emotion he felt on touching the stone; The stone, when one kisses it, has a softness and freshness which delights the mouth, so much so that he who places his lips upon it wishes never to remove them. It suffices, moreover, that the Prophet said that it is the Right Hand of God on Earth.--http://www.toursaudiarabia.com/kaaba/kaaba-3-high.html.

BPC

July 1st, 2005, 07:29 PM

The allegations of "stolen" designs are imbecilic. There are only so many ways to design a glass skyscraper. Other than the but-ugly original design of the Freedom Center, there was little Childs could come up with which would not resemble a hundred other buildings.

americasroof

July 1st, 2005, 10:55 PM

Maybe all this is just a simple negotiation move.

The concrete block draws universal condemnation. The public clamors for glass and steel and tells the police to butt out. Silverstein gets 20 more floors of rentable space and is called a hero.

Nothing is ever what it seems at Ground Zero.

MidnightRambler

July 2nd, 2005, 12:14 AM

is there any good reason why this building can't be taller?

pianoman11686

July 2nd, 2005, 12:30 AM

It depends on what your definition of "good" is.

MidnightRambler

July 2nd, 2005, 02:00 AM

well, the only two reasons i could think of would be space and safety. any increase in office space could be offset by fiddling with the other towers, so that only leaves the safety question. as you can see in the renderings, the tower is already much taller than everything around it - god forbid someone should try to fly a plane into it, they wouldn't have any trouble at its current height. an increase in size wouldn't make it any more of a target. why not enhance the aesthetic value and build something new yorkers can be truly proud of?

pianoman11686

July 2nd, 2005, 05:50 PM

You've got to take up the height issue with Silverstein. Most people are surprised that Childs even allowed office space to go up as high as in the previous WTC, without much objection from Larry. And, none of us want height just for height. If there's nothing in the tallest portion of the building (as was the case in the previous Freedom Tower) then it's a senseless building. There's still a lot of people unwilling to work that high, and Silverstein's not gonna push the limit further. As for aesthetics, I think the building is fine. It is in the classic, simple style of most New York buildings. Your point about how risk doesn't increase with height is definitely rational; people will try to destroy the WTC or the Freedom Tower for what it represents, not for how tall it is. However, the perception still is, unfortunately, that the taller the building, the more of a target it will be to terrorists. That's something that probably won't be overcome at the WTC, but I think New York will build many more spectacular highrises in the future, even taller than this one.

PHLguy

July 3rd, 2005, 09:35 PM

It says 82 floors and 69 office floors.

But the base is like 10 floors I think so does that mean offices reach the 79th?

Because it sure doesnt look like there 13 floors of emptyness. I just hope this is built, i never trust this site, for all we kno this is going to get scrapped and w'ell get anopther redesign, although this building is awesome I must say, In a sillouette it would look exactly like the north tower, same dimensions.

expose05

July 4th, 2005, 05:13 PM

I love this new building. (1 trade center). I don't care about how many floors there are as long as the 82nd floor is at basically around 1362 feet. So floor 82 is basically is floor 110. :p

Johnnyboy

July 5th, 2005, 09:32 AM

Archit_K

July 5th, 2005, 12:13 PM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/8e8c5ae4.jpg

This is what I dreamed of.
yesss this would be a done deal. everyone would be happy even trump!

Scraperfannyc

July 5th, 2005, 12:46 PM

I love this new building. (1 trade center). I don't care about how many floors there are as long as the 82nd floor is at basically around 1362 feet. So floor 82 is basically is floor 110. :p

I'll post this one more time.

First: Base = 200 foot concret enforced base.

Second: 69 floors of office space (topping at about 1100-1200 feet)

3rd: Mechanical rooms, restaurant and observation deck (topping
at 1362 feet)

JMGarcia

July 5th, 2005, 01:33 PM

I'll post this one more time.

First: Base = 200 foot concret enforced base.

Second: 69 floors of office space (topping at about 1100-1200 feet)

3rd: Mechanical rooms, restaurant and observation deck (topping
at 1362 feet)

The base includes a number of mechincal floors above the 80 foot lobby.

The top office floor is at 1120.

Above the office space there is space for the broadcasters in addition to the mechanical, restaurant, obs deck you already mentioned.

MrShakespeare

July 5th, 2005, 02:59 PM

yesss this would be a done deal. everyone would be happy even trump!

Thanks for re-posting this incarnation of new FT twins, and Gonzea for putting it together in the first place. I missed it the first time, as it was lost in the deluge of posts concerning Childs's new design. I would have done that, too, if I had the photo-editing talent. Good work.

...You know, if only they would move the cultural center, and build an FT2 in it's place, the perspective of such towers would be almost identical to - if not better than - the landmark vision that was lost four years ago. ;) A dream, perhaps, but a sincere one.

gonzea

July 5th, 2005, 04:43 PM

Why shouldn't they build the like in my pic? All the cultural center is going to do is bring people who weren't around for the real twin towers on the site thinking they know about the original wtc. I think a huge museum would be better than a cultural center. The people running NYC have REALLY let me down in the last 4 years! We will never see the twin towers or two new freedom towers together. Instead the "fright" tower with a 200 foot concrete base!

Clarknt67

July 5th, 2005, 05:11 PM

You've got to take up the height issue with Silverstein. Your point about how risk doesn't increase with height is definitely rational;

I'd point out that's not necessarily true. An 800 foot tower can be evacuated more quickly and efficently than a 1,300 or 2,000 foot tower. Evacuations are down by foot.

expose05

July 5th, 2005, 05:32 PM

Does anyone have that stacking picture of the freedom tower? I found it on two websites but they are just two small to look at. I tried to zoom in but it was all blurry. :)

PHLguy

July 6th, 2005, 12:50 AM

Maybe thats why alot of people love the new Freedom Tower.

well yea, I love it too, it kicks the shit outta the old one, I just hope it gets built and doesnt get changed again, which you can never rely on these days,

PHLguy

July 6th, 2005, 12:52 AM

The base includes a number of mechincal floors above the 80 foot lobby.

The top office floor is at 1120.

Above the office space there is space for the broadcasters in addition to the mechanical, restaurant, obs deck you already mentioned.

from the looks of it the top office floor is at about 1300, The 69 floors is not including the 10 floor 200 foot base, in the renderings it shows what look like office floors till the last 3 from the top, 80-81-82 which are the observatories and stuff. The the top office is probably the 79th because there are no offices in the base which is about 10 floors

lofter1

July 6th, 2005, 01:45 AM

Why shouldn't they build the like in my pic?

The existing lay out of the site (PATH tubes, etc.) have to be taken into consideration.

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/gallery/photos/wtcsite-4-20-05-c.jpg

Also, I don't think it's feasible to build a huge tower on the Museum site.

Plus consider this: if it were possible to build a tower where you place the 2nd tower then the base would be right at the edge of the voids in Arad's Memorial design (granted, this could have an incredible amount of visual power for those at the Memorial).

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/43640895/original.jpg

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/05/18/arts/19wtc_slide8.jpg

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/gallery/photos/freedom_tower_4.jpg

The twins are gone and their likes will never be re-built at the WTC site.

JMGarcia

July 6th, 2005, 09:07 AM

from the looks of it the top office floor is at about 1300, The 69 floors is not including the 10 floor 200 foot base, in the renderings it shows what look like office floors till the last 3 from the top, 80-81-82 which are the observatories and stuff. The the top office is probably the 79th because there are no offices in the base which is about 10 floors

My figures are correct. They are directly from the press release and info sheet on www.renewnyc.com.

BrooklynRider

July 6th, 2005, 10:14 AM

Why shouldn't they build the like in my pic? All the cultural center is going to do is bring people who weren't around for the real twin towers on the site thinking they know about the original wtc.... We will never see the twin towers or two new freedom towers together.

They shouldn't build it like your picture for the same reason they shouldn't build every other post that took a single tower design and superimposed a second tower. The "twin towers" were attacked and destroyed. Thousands were killed in them. They represent a moment in history that we recover from and learn from to move ahead. The masterplan does not allow for the construction of twin towers. Lofter1 has given you an example of why it can't be done.

It has been four years now. The same people who claim that everyone is stuck in fear mode and "giving in to the terrorists" by not rebuilding twin towers can be accused of being stuck in a state of total delusion if they continue to ignore the factual information of what happened on that day and why the WTC was targeted in the first place.

TallGuy

July 6th, 2005, 12:25 PM

Until Freedom Tower is topped out, no one knows what will become of the other buildings. All we have is the equivalent of masking tape on the ground to mark where ground has been allocated to them. As the dominant feature to the redeveloped site, FT will be object to which additional buildings will have to complement. Look how much the dialogue has changed regarding height, design, etc. in less than 4 years. One can only imagine what will be the attitude of developers in 8 or ore years. It is quite possible we will get another occupied building equal in height to FT, and that will be it. We might not. But right now, this is speculation less grounded than even baseball's hot stove winter fantasy discussions.

BrooklynRider

July 6th, 2005, 01:54 PM

Until construction starts and steel rises, all bets are off as to what we might see. All we got was a pretty picture.

BPC

July 6th, 2005, 06:15 PM

architecture
Design by Committee
The latest version of the Freedom Tower is the best yet.

By Witold Rybczynski

Posted Wednesday, July 6, 2005, at 4:26 AM PT

Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg recently unveiled the latest design of the proposed Freedom Tower, planned for the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. This is the third version. The first was part of Daniel Libeskind's winning entry in the 2002 competition; the second, unveiled in 2003, was the result of an uneasy collaboration between Libeskind and David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, who is the architect hired by Larry Silverstein, the leaseholder of the site. The current design, which is entirely the work of Childs, is far from perfect but it is the best of the three.

Contrary to the impression sometimes given by the media, which describe modifications to competition-winning designs as unwanted interferences, great architecture does not spring entirely from the imagination. It took Robert Venturi three years and five different versions to arrive at his influential Vanna Venturi house. Louis Kahn worked his way through several alternatives on the way to designing the Kimbell Art Museum, considered by many his masterpiece. Buildings are not sculptures; it takes time to iron out the contradictions between aesthetics and practicality. The story of the inspired napkin sketch is almost always apocryphal.

The 77-story Freedom Tower has benefited greatly from its most recent redesign. Gone are the Libeskind signature elements: the off-center spire—a clumsy visual echo of the Statue of Liberty—the trapezoidal plan, the crystalline form. The tower now has a square footprint (set well back from the street), and a graceful, tapering shape. The gimmicky open-air structure at the top of the tower (which was to have housed wind turbines, of all things) is gone, too. What Childs has produced instead is a simple obelisk, an appropriate shape for a building that is, at least in part, a memorial.

The latest version of Freedom Tower was the result of last-minute security demands by the New York Police Department, and the rushed redesign has left two important parts of the building unresolved: the bottom and the top. The building sits on a blastproof 20-story-high pedestal of steel and concrete. The first three floors of this base are completely solid; those above it have few openings. Securing the base is a challenging design problem, but there are many examples of beautiful massive buildings, such as the Pantheon in Rome, or the Lincoln Memorial, so it is not an insurmountable one. The base of Freedom Tower, however, needs a lot of work. At the moment it is a masonry cube tentatively supporting a tall glass shaft. The two parts need to be integrated. By making the shaft more solid and the base more glassy, Freedom Tower could celebrate its impregnability, not hide it.

The current design has a 408-foot antenna atop the building. It is obviously an architectural addition to bring the total height of the building up to 1,776 feet, making it the tallest in the world. There are two famous New York skyscrapers that had masts added to their original designs to increase their height—the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building—but in both cases, the vertical extension was integrated into the overall design. That is not the case with the Freedom Tower. Childs has said that the design of the antenna is not final. One hopes that he is not irrevocably wedded to this concept. His handsome obelisk doesn't need a spike on its top.

Witold Rybczynski is Slate's architecture critic.

Article URL: http://slate.msn.com/id/2122006/