WTC Tower One - by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

**Citytect** · September 13th, 2006, 07:23 PM

Originally Posted by lbjefferies

It is subtle.

Same height, same width, same profile. Not so subtle.

**pianoman11686** · September 13th, 2006, 07:51 PM

^You're only correct in one of those three (the height).

Width changes as you go higher due to the chamfering, so that at the rooftop, the tower is some 25% (someone correct me if I'm wrong) less wide.

Profile will only be the same from certain angles. Again, it's because of the chamfering.

Another similarity that hasn't been mentioned yet is a (very subtle) pinstripe glass facade.

It's subtle, but I think I've really changed my view on Freedom since the other towers were unveiled: it would be good if Childs added a few touches to break up the monolith-ness of it.

**lbjefferies** · September 13th, 2006, 08:03 PM

Originally Posted by Citytect

Same height, same width, same profile. Not so subtle.

Not so subtle...

Subtle...

**Citytect** · September 13th, 2006, 10:33 PM

Originally Posted by pianoman11686

^You're only correct in one of those three (the height).

Width changes as you go higher due to the chamfering, so that at the rooftop, the tower is some 25% (someone correct me if I'm wrong) less wide.

Profile will only be the same from certain angles. Again, it's because of the chamfering.

I'm aware of all of these details. I guess putting them so literally makes them more subtle to you? The point is that FT references the dimensions of either of the twins. It seems very blatant to me, just my opinion.

The Trump et al proposal was about recreating the WTC basically as it was. It's a copy of the original (practically - let's not nitpick). If you have to copy something before a reference becomes unsubtle, then by all means, FT is amazingly subtle.

But this debate of subtlety is becoming too tedious for me, so I'm going to leave it at that.

**Chaos17** · September 13th, 2006, 11:37 PM

Hello everyone, there is a video at www.wtc.com called "COMPLETING THE VISION" I think everyone should take a look at it and tell me what you think about that video. I think its great. Cheak it out!. . .

**Vengineer** · September 13th, 2006, 11:45 PM

It's already been cheaked out.

**lofter1** · September 14th, 2006, 12:13 AM

It was good to see the vid once but I, for one, am so done with seeing "fly-over" videos.

I want to see CGI showing how a project will look at street level (and not how it would look if I were lucky enough to fly about NYC in a helicopter). Show me the way the building will interact with the street -- what view corridors will look like -- and how the sunrise will appear when standing at Liberty + West St. and looking across the Memorial Plaza.

These God's Eye views from on high are pretty to look at -- but are really just promotional BS.

I'm aching for these buildings to rise ...

**Chaos17** · September 14th, 2006, 12:27 AM

yes I see what you mean lofter1 you have a point. I cant wait to see these towers go up too, I am also thinking of moving to newyork when im done school (college). Mabe one day ill work in one of the buildings but for now videos, pictures, writing is all I got to work with right know.

**lbjefferies** · September 14th, 2006, 07:28 PM

Originally Posted by Citytect

FT is amazingly subtle.... I'm going to leave it at that.

I'm glad you came to your senses.

**NYCDOC** · September 14th, 2006, 09:39 PM

I just watched the video . . . . to be honest, I was excited when I first saw the images of the new buildings, but the more I look at them I am less and less impressed. Two main things . . .

First, there really is no sense of continuity to the towers. For a project that was supposed to be assembled with a master vision, the final result certainly doesn't give that impression. I think this is most obvious to me in terms of the tops of the bulidings. Foster's is great, Roger's looks like it was taken from Chicago, and Maki as everyone here seems to agree is an embarressment and hardly an icon. I really wished they all had angled tops following Foster's lead.

Second, in the animations I really miss a feeling of the skyline being bold and strong. No rendering that I've seen shows a skyline with massive towers that complete it. Do you think thats just b/c the renderings aren't effective or does anyone agree that these towers just aren't as strong/bold elements in the skyline as the original WTC?

**TREPYE** · September 14th, 2006, 10:07 PM

i don't mind the different styles as much. Foster's tower is great we all pretty much agree on that. Roger towers is really nice also but those masts should be made to look a lil more substantial just to give it a good finish, the way it looks now with those thin rods is just not doing much for me.

One thing I did get about the video is how ultra dense DT is gonna be. Unfortunately DT will no longer have the worlds tallest tower thanks to that .... Silverstein which is especially sad when in the history of DT it has had at least 5 buildings that where the worlds tallest at one point. The one thing that will be unchallenged is the dense collection of scrapers in a limited area. I cant think of anywhere in the world where there is this many high-rise buildings tightly packed together.

**tone99loc** · September 15th, 2006, 01:50 AM

Nice video but it would be awesome to see video renders of the buildings/area lit up at night - with the beautiful goldmans sacks building and /PATH entrance, a nearby Fulton St. Hub, and the memorial fountains visible as well -- Also in 5-6 years, there will also be a real surge of residences downtown with a completed and accessible WTC area serving as bridge between Battery Park residents and all those living in 10 barclay, 20 pine, FultonHuas, and others...
Goldman Sachs Headquarters
if there are 50,000 people wokring there and some living there, the street life will be improving each month

**Alonzo-ny** · September 15th, 2006, 08:43 AM

the reason it doesnt seem complete is because we can all imagine what should be there. what i felt from the video was like 1 wtc is back with 2 wtc with the top cut off and the additional towers are additional. overall i like it

**NYguy** · September 15th, 2006, 08:51 AM

Originally Posted by lofter1

It was good to see the vid once but I, for one, am so done with seeing "fly-over" videos.

I want to see CGI showing how a project will look at street level (and not how it would look if I were lucky enough to fly about NYC in a helicopter). Show me the way the building will interact with the street -- what view corridors will look like -- and how the sunrise will appear when standing at Liberty + West St. and looking across the Memorial Plaza..

Those videos that featured the Hudson Yards developments along the new boulevard there were from street level. Worth checking out, even though there are no actual designs for the towers.