Official Freedom Tower Thread

[Allan]

I still don't like the design of the twin towers. Never have, never will. Two giant boxes. How boring is that?

[turlough]

I kinda liked the orgainal towers but it's beacuse it has gorwn on me and almost every picture you see of new york there in the picture.

[Cotuit]

High Anxiety

By JAMES GLANZ March 14, 2004

Right now, the designers of the Freedom Tower are struggling to master three colossal forces that are at work in the stark, empty sky above the World Trade Center site: gravity, wind and, perhaps most formidably, fear.

New York Times slideshow | Building Confidence

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP

The Freedom Tower may serve as a test case for a new generation of buildings that try to make statements on their skylines while ensuring safety.

Any architect or engineer who works on a tall structure is morally and professionally obligated to become something of a safety obsessive. The steel and concrete of every Manhattan skyscraper has to resist hurricane-force winds, for example, as well as the downward pull of the Earth. But only the Freedom Tower will rise over a patch of ground that is forever shaken with the terror and paranoia of the worst building catastrophe in the history of the planet. As with the very first generation of skyscrapers, the work will have to be so visibly solid, so secure, that it will convince an anxious public to step into the building. After all, those who enter will not only be haunted by what occurred at the site in the past; they will also be apprehensive about what could happen again.

Last December, the twisting, tapering outlines of the building were unveiled: 70 occupied floors topped by a cable superstructure and a spire reaching 1,776 feet. At the ceremony, David M. Childs, the architect and consulting partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill who is leading the design team, said it would "probably be the safest building in the world."

In an attempt to live up to that very public promise

[NYguy]

Newsday..

Freedom Tower groundbreaking set for July 4th

The Associated Press

May 5, 2004

Developers of the Freedom Tower will break ground on the 1,776-foot skyscraper at the World Trade Center site on July 4, Gov. George Pataki said Wednesday.

Pataki, speaking at a business luncheon near ground zero in lower Manhattan, announced the start date of the construction on what is promised to be the world's tallest building.

"On July 4, as we commemorate the founding of our nation, we lay the foundation for our resurgence," Pataki said. "On July 4, as fireworks burst in the sky, ephemeral reminders of our liberty, we will begin to reclaim our skyline with a permanent symbol of our freedom." The July 4 date is well ahead of Pataki's stated goal of breaking ground by late summer.

"America and the world will witness as our plans go from paper to steel," he said.

The Freedom Tower will be built on the northwest part of the trade center site, not on the footprints of the vanished twin towers.

The plan calls for a cable suspension structure that creates an open area above the building's 70 floors of office space, and houses windmills to generate energy.

The governor said a Con Edison substation located in 7 World Trade Center, a building under construction, is expected to begin service by the end of the month, replacing equipment destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

And the badly damaged Deutshe Bank building, overlooking the southwest corner of the trade center site, will be dismantled beginning this year as the project moves forward, Pataki said. It should be completely torn down by next year, he said. The governor did not provide specific dates.

In another move aimed at reviving the neighborhood, Pataki said a feasibility study indicated a $6 billion tunnel beneath the East River was the better option for a rail link between lower Manhattan and Kennedy International Airport.

The proposed option would give commuters a "one-seat" ride from downtown to the airport. The East River tunnel was preferred to a Brooklyn tunnel that currently serves the M, N and R subway lines.

Using the existing Montague tunnel would cost $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion.

Pataki announced several other dates in the redevelopment timetable at the trade center site, including that a complete design of the memorial, "Reflecting Absence," would be finished by the end of the year and construction starting in 2006.

Private donors will need to raise money to build the memorial, which is budgeted for at least $350 million. Major League Baseball, the Baseball Players Association and the Baseball Tomorrow Fund are joining to donate $1 million to the fund, Pataki said.

[NYguy]

Build it, and they will come.......(Daily News)...

PR firm taking a flier as Freedom tenant

The Freedom Tower got a vote of confidence yesterday from a pair of young entrepreneurs who plan to be the building's first private-sector tenants.

Ronn Torossian and Adam Brecht committed to rent a 35,000-square-foot floor for their midtown firm 5W Public Relations at the 1,776-foot skyscraper at Ground Zero. "What happened on 9/11 was a terrible thing," Torossian, 29, told the Daily News. "We want to stand up and say we're not afraid of terrorists."

The gesture may help ease worries that developer Larry Silverstein will have trouble leasing the world's tallest building. So far, the only takers for space are the Port Authority and Gov. Pataki.

"This has a profound psychological impact. It gives us a tangible example of a private company willing to commit to a project that's still on the drawing board," said Kevin Danehy of real estate brokerage CB Richard Ellis.

[wolfdawg54]

I actually like the Libeskind design. I beleive that it will be a great addition to the New York skyline. It's hard to replace the WTC, but I think that it is a worthy replacement.

[NYguy]

NY Times...

This Is Not a Traditional Groundbreaking

By DAVID W. DUNLAP

June 3, 2004

HOW do you break ground on ground that has already been shattered? And how do you break ground when there really is no ground to break?

With yesterday's approval of a general project plan by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, redevelopment of the World Trade Center site is set to go. Gov. George E. Pataki intends to lose no time, having promised a groundbreaking for the Freedom Tower a month from tomorrow, on the Fourth of July.

Anywhere else, the governor might turn over a few shovels full of dirt. But this is not just anywhere. In the eyes of many survivors, every cubic inch of stone and concrete is hallowed soil, imbued with the memory - at least - of the 2,749 people who died there.

Then there is the fact that the ground floor of the Freedom Tower is 70 feet above the trade center foundation. The intervening volume will contain a substructure with stores, truck docks, PATH tracks and parking, mechanical and storage spaces.

Add one more complication. Construction of that substructure will require tearing out the largest architectural remnant of the original complex: the ruined six-level parking garage - its columns still color-coded blue, yellow and red - that was under the United States Custom House at 6 World Trade Center.

Against the vastness of the trade center foundation, where PATH cars look to be HO scale, the jagged garage floors may not seem that big. But the structure has about 190,000 square feet of floor area, as much as there is in the Flatiron Building.

Before demolition begins, the smoke-scarred garage may serve as an imposing backdrop for the July 4 ceremony, since it now appears that the groundbreaking will occur within the foundation, on the floor of the great concrete bathtub. That plan may change but one thing about the ceremony is certain.

"It can't be traditional," Lisa Dewald Stoll, the governor's communications director, said yesterday. "I don't envision commemorative shovels."

Preparing a site for the Freedom Tower, which is being developed by Silverstein Properties, clearly exposes the tension between the officially stated goals of remembering 9/11 while rebuilding Lower Manhattan.

"This is an emotional example of striking that balance," Ms. Stoll said. "We needed to plan an event that was more than the traditional groundbreaking, with shovels and hard hats." After long discussions of many different ideas, the order of the day is still not entirely set. It is not even clear that the event will be open to the public.

"It's a challenge, to break hallowed ground," Ms. Stoll allowed.

Demolition of the garage is scheduled to begin after the groundbreaking and to be completed in December. The structure did not last this long because of its historical significance but rather because it helped brace the surrounding foundation walls.

Many remaining columns need bracing themselves and some floors are unstable, said Irene Chang, a vice president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which is working on the demolition plan with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Tishman Construction Corporation and Voorsanger & Associates Architects.

"What exists there now is not sufficient to support the Freedom Tower," Ms. Chang said.

Almost the entire floor slab from Level B4 will be saved because it happens to double as the ceiling over the PATH tracks. And the Port Authority has agreed to salvage at least three elements to convey something of the scope of destruction on Sept. 11, 2001. All come from the B2 level, just below the concourse.

One is Column J4/12, the bottom of which is almost unscathed and the top of which is deathly black, as is the ceiling above it, a part of which will be salvaged. Another is Column J3/10, on which paint was blistered by heat into a marbleized pattern that would almost be beautiful if the circumstances of its creation were not so awful.

The third piece to be salvaged is part of a smoke-stained wall on which the words "Yellow Parking B2," in Helvetica type, are still plainly visible.

PRESERVATIONISTS wonder what else might be worth saving or recording.

"Our position is not one of preserving the ruins of 6 World Trade Center in place," said Anthony Gardner of the Coalition of 9/11 Families, whose brother, Harvey Joseph Gardner III, died in the attack. "We're saying proper evaluations should be done and that they should take the time necessary."

"It's unfortunate," Mr. Gardner said, "that it's being driven by the need for a July 4 photo opportunity."

Last week, the Lower Manhattan Emergency Preservation Fund, which includes the World Monuments Fund, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the New York Landmarks Conservancy, urged further evaluation and documentation of the site.

They suggested Tito Dupret, a Belgian photographer whose wraparound images of endangered architectural monuments seem to place the viewer within a sphere that can be rotated in any direction. (A digital exhibition can be seen at www.wmf.org/wht.html.) Ms. Chang said the development corporation intended to explore that possibility.

She also said the Port Authority had agreed to consider salvaging other objects as demolition proceeded, if it were "possible or meaningful" to do so. Of course, in this setting, even a blue or red garage column is freighted with meaning, particularly if it has been blackened by smoke or blistered by heat. And especially if it has survived.

[NYguy]

(Daily News)

WTC arts pick down to wire

By MICHAEL SAUL

Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Pataki plan to announce this week which cultural institutions will be included at the World Trade Center site, a major breakthrough following months of contentious debate, the Daily News has learned.

Six institutions remain in the running for space there, sources familiar with the negotiations told The News.

The finalists are the New York City Opera, the Joyce Theater, Signature Theater, the Drawing Center, Freedom Center and the New York Hall of Science.

Depending on which institutions are selected, anywhere from two to four of the finalists could get space at the site, a source said.

A consensus has emerged on the final selection, sources said, and within the next few days officials from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the city and the state are expected to make the decision.

"The group charged with decision-making is enthusiastic about the dynamic mix of institutions being formed for the World Trade Center cultural complex that will benefit downtown and New York City as a whole," said a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A short list of 15 institutions was announced in February. The LMDC started out with 113 institutions vying for a location on the site.

[Cotuit]

I think it would help to have institutions that were interesting to a broad range of people (i.e. I think the Opera may not be the best fit). The cultural institutions need to draw people downtown to utilize downtown restaurants and bars. Sure the WTC site and memorial itself will continue to be a draw, but that is more of a see it and go thing. The cultutral institutions need to grab people's attention and make them want to spend time downtown.

[NYguy]

Spend a day at the World Trade Center....the towers are long gone, but now more than ever this virtual tour reminds us of the two towering icons that defined the New York skyline. Look up at the towers from the plaza, or gaze out from the outdoor observation deck at the top of the towers.....

http://www.newyork.com/vny/panorama/tour3a.html

[Spartan]

That's pretty cool. Its too bad that the new tower won't have the observation deck at 1776ft.

[wolfdawg54]

I am in awe right now! Those are some incredible views. It is a sad thing that they are gone now, but hopefully New York will recover when the new tower is built.

[NYguy]

The old outdoor deck was at 1,377 ft. One of the few things the Freedom Tower gets better is the observation decks. If you look at the virtual WTC deck, you can see that the outdoor deck of the FT will be a magnificent view of the tri-state area. Meanwhile, the lower deck will bring a view closer to the towers of Downtown, which I think will be an improvement over the earlier views. This is acceptable because we have the 1,500 ft deck. Also, there will be a glass elevator between the two decks, so it should be very interesting.

Just looking at these pics, I can hardly wait to get up there...

nylocations.com

[NYguy]

[monsoon]

[Delta]

Ah, beautiful pic posts guys. It's fun to see people having a bit of fun up there. They of course bring back wonderful memories (silly me didn't take any pics on my visit).

Does anyone know the height above ground of the observation deck for Freedom Tower?

[NYguy]

As we approach the beginning of construction for one of New York's most significant redevelopment projects, I'll post some information on the construction for what could be a dramatic rise of the Freedom Tower....(from the WTC redevelopment GEIS)

Project Schedule

For the purposes of impact assessment, and in the absence of a formal construction plan, a conceptual construction schedule has been developed for all construction activities on the Project Site.

Most construction activities are expected to commence in September 2004. Prior to any major construction commencing on site, a comprehensive program of utility relocation would be undertaken that would require removal of the street surfaces on Church, Vesey, and Liberty STreets and Broadway.

By the end of 2005, the full build out of the sub-grade space of the site would have commenced; this would involve the construction of sub-grade retail, concourse, and utility space in all areas of the site except the area beneath the temporary PATH concourse (which would be excavated following the construction of an alternative temporary exit to Church Street for PATH passengers). As part of this work, the foundations and core of the Freedom Tower would be constructed early. For the purposes of impact assessment, it is assumed that the building would be built using a rapid floor-to-floor cycle and that interior fit-out may lag well behind installation of the structural steel. The topping out of the Freedom Tower up to the 70th floor, exclusive of the iconic top, is anticipated in the 3rd quarter of 2006. Approximately in mid-2006, the fit-out and istallation of the curtain wall for the Freedom Tower would commence.

High-rise Office Tower Construction

The Proposed Action includes the construction of five high-rise commercial office towers that would reinstate over 10 million square feet of office space on the Project Site. Of particular relevance to this analysis would be the construction of the Freedom Tower, as schedule constraints would require this building to be constructed at an accelerated pace. As such, this discussion would make reference to this structure.

It is expected that the towers would be founded directly on to rock and that piled foundations would not be used. Dependent upon the final structural design, rock anchor bolts may or may not be used to provide lateral stability to the core and external columns. Rock anchor bolts are installed with a drilling rig that embeds a permanent anchor deep into the rock strata. As the base of the excavation is cleared, large spread concrete footings are constructed to support the base of the external and core columns.

It is expected that the primary structure of the building would be comprised of structural steel columns and beams, with in-fill concrete floors. The core (the structural spine of the building that usually encases the elevator shafts, mechanical, HVAC, and other services) would be constructed of reinforced concrete. In high-rise construction, the installation of the structural steel precedes the pouring of the concrete floors by six to eight floors. It is anticipated that these would be installed in tiers of approximately two stories. The sequence of construction below the structural steel erection level is anticipated as follows:

1. Two to four floors below the point of initial erection, the building structure would be plumbed, bolted and metal deck pourstops and shear studs installed;

2. Five to six floors below - concrete on metal deck floors would be placed;

3. Seven to eight floors below - the reinforced concrete core would be placed;

4. Nine to 10 floors below - concrete slabs within core structure (elevator landings etc.) would be placed;

5. 11 to 12 floors below - spray-on fireproofing would be installed; and

6. 13 to 14 floors below - curtain wall installation and fit-out would commence. Note: due to concerns regarding axial deflection of the strcture due to its self-weight, this activity may be delayed by as much as 20 floors (four months minimum).

This process is repeated up to the top of the building including the roof deck. After each concrete floor is poured, work would be started on the underside of the deck. This would include the installation of hangers for and the hanging of HVAC ductwork, piping, plumbing, fireprotection, electrical condits and other above ceiling systems as well as systems that penetrate floor to floor. At the same time, the operations stairs platforms and concrete block wall enclosures would be constructed.

In typical high-rise construction, the installation of the pre-fabricated curtain wall would lag about three months behing the pouring of the floor decks. In the case of the construction of the Freedom Tower, this activity may be delayed due to the schedule considerations that place priority on completion of the structural steel, and due to structural considerations related to the axial deflection of the steel fram due to the building's self-weight. After the curtain wall is connected to the structure, the fit out of the interior systems and architectural installation would commence.

If construction were to be accomplished on a fast track basis it is anticipated that two sets of two construction passenger elevators, two construction freight elevators and four tower cranes would be utilized. During the first 14 months of construction, it is expected that the tower cranes would be constantly employed erectiing structural steel. Structural steel would be delivered to the Project Site and either immediately hoisted and installed, or stored temporarily on site until needed.

Freedom Tower Construction Phasing

2nd quarter 2005 - 3rd quarter 2006.......Freedom Tower structural framing

2nd quarter 2006 - 3rd quarter 2008.......Freedom Tower fitout and curtain wall

[Neo]

Great news about the ground breaking and a good pick for a start date too! Though I'm not 100% sold on the design this will be a great project to watch go up just because of what it is.

[BrandonTO416]

I hope to someday visit the new building and memorial site. New York is a resilient city.

[NYguy]

NY Times...

From 20-Ton Granite Block, Freedom Tower Will Rise

By DAVID W. DUNLAP

June 20, 2004

Rather than breaking already broken ground at the World Trade Center site on July 4, Gov. George E. Pataki will instead preside as a cornerstone is laid for Freedom Tower - more than 20 tons of garnet-flecked granite from the Adirondacks.

As the tower rises atop this five-foot-high block at its southeast corner, the stone will disappear from view, finally to be obscured entirely by the underground structure filling the 70-foot-deep foundation. But it is not likely to be forgotten there.

"The cornerstone will serve as a reminder for years to come that we marked this July Fourth with a tribute to our city's resolve and rebirth," said Lynn Rasic, a spokeswoman for the governor. "It's truly fitting that this cornerstone will be made out of New York stone because this is the bedrock of New York City's future."

That rock traveled some 200 miles last week from upstate to the yard and factory of Innovative Stone Inc. in Hauppauge, on Long Island, where it is being cut, honed, polished and inscribed. Then it will be trucked into Lower Manhattan.

(The exact text of the inscription is not yet decided, Ms. Rasic said.)

The stone is a mix of black and gray, from feldspar and hornblende; pale green and white, from quartz and also from feldspar; and brownish red, from deposits of garnet as large as a half-dollar coin, said Karen Pearse, the founder and chief executive of Innovative Stone. When the sun hits the garnet facets, she said, "It's dazzling."

This particular granite, which Ms. Pearse has named the "Freedom Stone," was chosen in part because garnet is the official gem of New York State.

The block will sit atop a 14-by-16-foot foundation of concrete and steel bars at the base of Freedom Tower, which will be the tallest and most symbol-laden of the six office buildings planned on and around the trade center site.

"It's literally the first piece of the foundation of the building," said Janno Lieber, the trade center project director for Silverstein Properties, the developers of Freedom Tower and 7 World Trade Center, which is already under construction across Vesey Street.

Last month, Governor Pataki ended a speech on Lower Manhattan with a rhetorical flourish. "On July Fourth, as fireworks burst in the sky - ephemeral reminders of our liberty - we will begin to reclaim our skyline with a permanent symbol of our freedom," he said. "On July Fourth, 2004, we will break ground on the Freedom Tower."

But the sanctity and rawness of that ground, where the incision of a ceremonial spade would have been regarded by some as the reopening of an awful wound or the desecration of a cemetery, compelled state officials to devise another kind of ceremony.

"With some persistence and hard work," Ms. Rasic, the governor's spokeswoman, said, "the builders are going to be able to prep the site in time to lay the cornerstone."

Innovative Stone was chosen by David Worsley of Silverstein, who worked with Ms. Pearse on the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle when he was at the Related Companies. Innovative donated the granite block, worth about $14,000, which weighed 24 tons when it was quarried and measured 67 by 119 by 47 inches.

"This is the opportunity of a lifetime," Ms. Pearse said in a telephone interview on Friday. "I've done many projects all over the world, but nothing comes close to the significance of being able to donate this block."

The 23-year-old company, formerly Innovative Marble and Tile, has installed stonework in the Henri Bendel store and the Essex House Hotel in Manhattan, and in the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. It supplies granite countertops to Home Depot stores.

The paradox is not lost on Ms. Pearse that her most important commission will one day be the least visible. She does not sound at all troubled by that.

"For us," she said, "it will live on forever."

[NYguy]

(Newsday)

Granite cornerstone to set Freedom Tower foundation

By FRANK ELTMAN

June 24, 2004

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. -- The cornerstone of the new Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site will be a 20-ton slab of New York granite that will become the first piece of the skyscraper's foundation, Gov. George E. Pataki announced Thursday.

The laying of the garnet-flecked stone from the Adirondack Mountains on July 4 will be the highlight of the scheduled groundbreaking ceremony for the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower. Pataki, who had announced last month that crews would "break ground" for the tower, decided the occasion called for a more symbolic beginning to rebuilding at the 16-acre site.

The governor, celebrating his 59th birthday Thursday, visited about 65 workers of Innovative Stone, the company that is polishing the stone and preparing an undisclosed inscription for it.

"The fact that the Freedom Tower will have as its cornerstone New York granite from the Adirondack Mountains with New York garnet, the gemstone of New York, flecked throughout it, and that it is being finished and inscribed here in New York by New Yorkers I think is important," Pataki said in front of the stone, which sat on a flatbed truck in a storage yard in back of the Long Island plant.

Lynn Rasic, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Pataki had wanted to make the groundbreaking more about renewal and the city's resoluteness.

The stone will be shipped to lower Manhattan sometime next week. Although officials had said construction wouldn't begin before July 4, workers at the site began pouring concrete last week to lay the foundation for the cornerstone, state officials said.

The cornerstone will be set in place at the southeastern corner of the 70-foot deep foundation, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New Jersey, which owns the site.

The stone will eventually disappear from view as the building is constructed.

Innovative Stone, which has installed marble and other stone in the new Time Warner Building at Columbus Circle and at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, is donating its work on the project, reshaping the rectangular stone, buffing and inscribing it.

State officials said they had not yet decided what the inscription will say and do not plan to make it public until July 4.

posted at skyscraperpage forum

[NYguy]

NY Post...

CORNERSTONE OF FREEDOM

By TOM TOPOUSIS

July 4, 2004 -- On the 1,027th day after terrorists ripped a hole in our hearts by killing 2,752 people and destroying the World Trade Center, Gov. Pataki today will lay the cornerstone for Twin Towers' replacement

[NYguy]

Newsday photos...

[it's just dave]

Although not a New Yorker, this site means a lot to me as an American. My first trip to the top of the WTC was in 1980. My second and last trip to the outdoor deck of the Tower's top was Sept. 2, 2001, a short nine days before the landscape of Manhattan and the innocence of our country was changed forever.

I consider this Nashville boy very fortunate to have been there Sunday, July 4th as the stone was set. The scene was surreal, the symbolism unmatched.

My thoughts on the design of the buildings are not important. I find the renderings fascinating. More importantly, the sensations I felt while standing on the overlook will not be forgotten.

[NYguy]

It must have been an experience to be there. It won't be that long (4 yrs) before the tower is completed, and we'll all remember the Freedom Stone that was laid that day...