Freedom Tower: Encyclopedia II - Freedom Tower - Design

Freedom Tower - Design

Many remaining vestiges of the concepts drawn from the 2002 competition have been discarded. The Freedom Tower will now consist of simple symmetries and a more traditional design intended to bear comparison with selected elements of the existing New York skyline. There will now be a central spire drawing from precedents such as the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building rather than an off-center spire intended to echo the Statue of Liberty.

The Freedom Tower will not have the "skeletal frame" of latticework and wind turbines: these have been abandoned. Wind turbines are generally not suited for urban environments because of turbulence created by other nearby buildings; however, the singular height of the proposed tower would have presented a unique opportunity in this context. The latticework would have constituted nearly 30% of the building's height. The turbines were expected to generate 20% of the building's power.

Because there will no longer be a frame of latticework above the habitable space, the observation deck will now be higher than the previous design. Instead of 1100 feet (335 m), the new deck will allow views from 1362 feet (415 m), the ceiling height of the previous Tower Two. This will be higher than the destroyed Twin Towers observation deck, and also slightly higher than the observation Skydeck of the Sears Tower in Chicago.

Like the World Trade Center, there will be a large public lobby, with 80 foot (24 m) ceilings, and a restaurant. However, owing to security concerns, the first 30 feet (9 m) up will now lack windows and will rely instead on artificial lighting and openings from 30 to 80 feet (9 to 24 m) high to illuminate the area. The next 120 feet (37 m) immediately upward will also lack windows, containing only mechanical floors to fill out the massive cubic base of the building. The exterior of this base will be encased in reflective sheet metal cladding, likely stainless steel and titanium. Interlocking reflective sheets of these materials along the facade will illuminate in turn as the sun moves across the sky above it.

Other new safety features will include 3 foot (90 cm) thick walls for all stairwells, elevator shafts, risers, and sprinkler systems; extremely wide "emergency stairs"; a dedicated set of stairwells exclusively for the use of firefighters; and biological and chemical filters throughout its ventilation system. The building will no longer be 25 feet (7.6 m) away from West Street—with the redesign and smaller base (the same width and length now as each of the previous towers), the Freedom Tower will average 90 feet (27 m) away from the street. At its closest point, West Street will be 65 feet (20 m) away. The windows on the side of the building facing in this direction will be equipped with specially tempered blast-resistant plastic, which will look nearly exactly the same as the glass used in the other sides of the building.

"Ultra-clear" glass, as opposed to reflective or tinted glass, is proposed for the fenestration generally. This will benefit internal daylight propagation; however, at this stage it is unclear how the corresponding issue of solar heat gain will be addressed. Although the roof area of any tower is comparatively limited, the building will implement a greywater recycling scheme involving rainwater collection.

On top of the spire, the antenna may, pending design finalization, be the new broadcasting system to various New York television channels and radio stations, replacing the antenna on top of the North Tower of the former World Trade Center complex.

Also atop the spire will be an intense beam of light that will be lit at night and will likely be visible over a thousand feet (300 m) into the air above the tower. New York City is a suitable place to set such a light pointing towards the sky without complaints of light pollution by astronomers, as the night sky in locations near New York City is already far too bright for serious astronomical observations.

Freedom Tower - Security redesign

Security concerns outlined in April 2005 by the New York Police Department "have set off a serious reassessment of plans for the World Trade Center site. People involved in the rebuilding effort say that the revisions that need to be made to the site's most prominent feature, the Freedom Tower, could delay the start of construction from several months to a year." [1]

In May 2005, it was announced that a redesign was being done to provide for security from ground level bombs. "The building itself, except for the first 150 to 200 vertical feet (46–60 m), will be the same," said Port Authority Vice President Charles Gargano. [2] The redesign is said to entail a smaller ground footprint, and it is not known if this means office space in the building will be reduced, or upper floors will be made larger or more numerous to compensate. As of May 2005, no structural steel had been ordered.

Upon the redesign, announced and revealed on June 29, 2005, the upper building design did actually change, and significantly. Above the first 150 to 200 feet (50 to 60 m), the redesign may be as much a result of popular opinion and dissatisfaction in New York City with the previous design, or perhaps the growing popularity of the Twin Towers 2 movement, as with the concerns of safety. The new redesign much more closely resembles the character of the previous towers than did the original plans. "It is a rare moment when new is better," said Design Partner David Childs, "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." [3]

Freedom Tower - Height

The World Trade Center's North Tower featured an occupied floor at 1355 feet (413 m). Though not occupied by office space, the Freedom Tower's observation deck is set to be higher, at about 1,362 feet (415 m). The Sears Tower, Taipei 101, and other buildings currently have occupied floors higher than the Freedom Tower. Union Square Phase 7 and the Shanghai World Financial Center will have roofs and floors higher than Freedom Tower's highest roofs and floors.

If the spire and antenna height (the criteria of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat) are included, the Freedom Tower might, when completed, qualify as the tallest office building in the world, if no other rival towers are completed first. Emaar, the builders of the Burj Dubai tower, are keeping the final height of their building secret, but speculation is that it will surpass all existing structures at a height of over 2,300 feet (700 m) when it is finished in 2008, two years before the Freedom Tower. The height of the Freedom Tower will probably not be increased before completion, due to the symbolism of having an exact height of 1,776 feet (541 m).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Design", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki