Revised WTC Freedom Tower Design Unveiled

[Headache in a Suitcase]

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The Freedom Tower, proposed to restore Lower Manhattan's skyline, will still be one of the world's tallest buildings, according to a revised model unveiled Friday by the architects collaborating on its design.

The tower, designed to be a centerpiece of the rebuilding plan for the World Trade Center site, will rise 1,776 feet -- a nod to the year the United States won its independence. The height stays as originally proposed a year ago by architect Daniel Libeskind, since designated the site's master planner.

The downed 110-story Twin Towers of the World Trade Center site were once the world's tallest structures but ranked about fifth before the attacks.

The tower's angular shape and appearance has been altered as a result of Libeskind's work with David Childs, the architect for real estate developer Larry Silverstein, the trade center leaseholder. Silverstein hopes to replace all 10 million square feet of commercial space lost in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Center.

The intentional crashes of hijacked passenger jets leveled the Twin Towers and five smaller buildings, killing 2,752 people.

Libeskind and Childs, forced to work together by rebuilding officials, were asked to submit a final design this week by New York Gov. George Pataki, who wants to break ground on the building before the Republican National Convention next August.

The new building design, unveiled at Federal Hall, the site of President George Washington's first inaugural, includes 70 floors topped by a column of energy-generating wind turbines. The tower is encased from top to bottom in a steel cabled netting that designers likened to cables on a suspension bridge like the Brooklyn Bridge.

A broadcast antenna brings the structure's total height above 2,000 feet. The building includes 2.6 million square feet of commercial space.

There will be 63 floors of office space capped by an indoor observation deck, a restaurant above that, and a vent space on top. The glass tower has a twisted shape which designers say is meant to echo the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?g=events/ts/121903freedomtower&tmpl=sl&e=1

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

It's a nice idea and I'm sure it will be beautiful, but I just don't think it should be a tall tower like that

It's not for me to say of course..the most important opinion is that of the survivors and those who lost loved ones

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i disagree completely... from the day it happened on, i always thought they should rebuild it and rebuild it taller. the only thing we have to fear is fear it's self... fdr said it, and i believe it. to not fix the new york skyline with a building(s) of equal stature to that of what was lost because of fear that it might be targeted again would be a victory for the terrorists. this is a skyline the terrorists stole from new yorkers, we're stealin' it back.

 

[verte76]

I like it. More power to the Big Apple!

 

[mmmBono]

i think it's awesome!

when are they going to build it already?

i can't wait to go back to new york

 

[nbcrusader]

i always thought they should rebuild it and rebuild it taller.

1776 feet up. A new jewel for the Manhattan sky line.

 

[verte76]

1776 feet up. A new jewel for the Manhattan sky line.

Yeah, I think the number is pretty cool.

 

[GARY#2]

Why do all these postpostmodern compositions have to exhibit torque? As a reveal within certain contexts it can be an interesting applique, but in most cases its just a function of the easily seduced mind of the designer (and their limited exploration of linguistic quality). And the raised exoskeleton reflecting the image of the towering hand of lady liberty? Is there no justice?

A nice gesture... I wish they would have taken it further than rendering a tall, nostalgic, and plagiarized, rendition of freedom.

Injustice

 

[melon]

I think it is more symbolic of modernism--and, most importantly, modernism's tendency to futurism--than postmodernism, which the original WTC epitomized.

But I argue that from a philosophical POV. I'll let the architects duel over where it should fall under in the architectural definitions of the terms.

Melon

 

[beegee]

it's pretty!

(and their limited exploration of linguistic quality)

explain please.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

I like it. And I can't wait to visit it.

 

[GARY#2]

I think it is more symbolic of modernism--and, most importantly, modernism's tendency to futurism--than postmodernism, which the original WTC epitomized.

But I argue that from a philosophical POV. I'll let the architects duel over where it should fall under in the architectural definitions of the terms.

Melon

Most agree that in architecture, officially, modernism (with a Capital M) ended with the destruction of Yamasaki's Social Housing Project. A designer with only two production credits in his resum?, that both saw life ending in tragedy. Of course the other building that he created was, coincidentally enough, the World Trade Center... (Which most would argue was a Modernist construct).

But anyway, I used the term postpostmodernism, which really doesn't exist... just to categorize the current iteration of architectural design. Contemporary architecture, or what you might label as modernism (with a lower case m), is infatuated with a somewhat futurist ethic (but far removed from the Italian Pre-Rationalist Fascist days of yore) like you say, but the language is repetitive and almost devoid of human quality. The machine aesthetic with organic form, a blatant Corbusian extrapolation, seems content on creating renderings that are simply rectalinear shapes that are "torqued". In this particular design for the new freedom tower, the same tired set of architectural linguistics is applied, stealing the light-capturing brilliance of a Tadao Ando, ripping off the protrusional geometry of a Zaha Hadid, and revealing an idea through Venturian nostalgic regurgitation (not a modernist duck, but almost a rather postmodern sign-waving "hey I'm liberty enter here" type of feel).

In my opinion I see this building becoming kitsch through the pass of time... because of both the language of the style, and the nature of the project. It was a difficult commission to design for, but I expected a less literal formation than what is being proposed. However, at the very least it satisfies the ideals that were set forth by the community... it will be interesting to see the global interpretation, and it's transcendance (or lack thereof) in the future...

~GARY#2