Redesign yields heavily protected New York City Freedom Tower

Albany Democrat-Herald ^ | 6/30/05

[Libloather]

In this computer generated rendering released by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation Wednesday, June 29, 2005, the redesigned Freedom Tower by architect Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP rises above the lower Manhattan skyline, as seen from New York Harbor. Rendering created by dbox. (AP Photo/dbox)

This photo released by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation in New York Wednesday, June 29, 2005, depicts a model of the redesigned Freedom Tower by architect Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, as seen from the southwest. (AP Photo/ESTO, Jock Pottle)

Architect David Childs speaks at the unveiling of the updated design for the 'Freedom Tower' for the World Trade Center Site in New York, June 29, 2005. The centerpiece building was redesigned due to security concerns presented by the New York police department. REUTERS/Chip East

A model is displayed at the unveiling of the updated design for the 'Freedom Tower' for the World Trade Center Site in New York, June 29, 2005. The centerpiece building was redesigned due to security concerns presented by the New York Police Department. Photo by Chip East/Reuters

This artist rendering shows an aerial view from East River of the updated design for the 'Freedom Tower' for the World Trade Center Site in New York which was unveiled on June 29, 2005. The centerpiece building was redesigned due to security concerns presented by the New York Police Department. (REUTERS/Courtesy of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP)

A model showing the redesigned base is displayed at the unveiling of the updated design for the 'Freedom Tower' for the World Trade Center Site in New York, June 29, 2005. The centerpiece building was redesigned due to security concerns presented by the New York Police Department. (Chip East/Reuters)

Graphic shows Freedom tower redesign. (AP Graphic)

[Txsleuth]

Sorry, I didn't even read the article....

I don't like it---I am one of the ones that thinks the Twin Towers need to be built back.

[Roccus]

. JUNK

[ARCADIA]

A better idea; why don't we just spare the money and build a large 5 story municipal parking lot on the WTC site? I am sure that the Wall Street crowd would love it, the city would make money, and we wouldn't have to build this latest version of a POS.

[silent_jonny]

I'm with you. The towers should be rebuilt exactly as before except much stronger and a full story higher.

[thoughtomator]

Ugly, and out of place. If they're going to build it, they might as well change the name of the city to Houston.

[DTogo]

They can build what they want, so long as it's funded by the private sector.

[Para-Ord.45]

It Sucks !

I`m with the Donald, K.I.S.S.,

Keep It Simple Stupid and rebuild the originals,except stronger,add beams that would shear off and cut anything that slammed into it.Coat ALL the beams with asbestos,don`t stop at the 64th floor this time.

[montag813]

I think we should build a large mosque on the site, to show the peaceful Muslims that if we offended them with our foreign policy, that we are very sorry, and please don't attack us again.

[Petronski]

Build two and I'd say not bad.


But the Trump plan is better.

[lepton]

So...um...the bottom 20 stories won't have any windows?

[Diddle E. Squat]

I like it. A vast improvement over the initial proposal. And no matter what was proposed, the same knee-jerk whiners would be moaning about it.

[Originalist]

Built back, but bigger. (How's that for alliteration.)

[pabianice]

Main Entrance

[Txsleuth]

Much better than, Great Taste, Less Filling!!!

[stripes1776]

The original design had a twisting, asymmetrical shape that was meant to evoke the outstretched arm of the Statue of Liberty

Why does it have to evoke anything? Just build a building that doesn't try to be something it isn't..

Like the World Trade Center, the tower will reach 1,362 feet into the sky. But an illuminated spire, meant to evoke the Statue of Liberty's torch

Something tells me this will be incredibly ugly.

[Arkinsaw]

I liked the original Freedom Tower design a whole lot better than this syringe. The old one at least matched well with the Statue of Liberty. This one looks like any other skyscraper anywhere except its got a "we are scared" strip along the bottom of it.

[robertpaulsen]

3-foot-thick concrete walls, 200 feet straight up.

It should survive any exterior explosion just fine -- any interior explosion will be successfully contained, blasting 1576 feet of skyscraper 4 miles into the air.

[Tax Government]

Is it economically profitable? Why build it at all?

Has a workable plan been approved to destroy the building safely at the end of its useful life?

[Alberta's Child]

The Twin Towers couldn't possibly be rebuilt. For one thing, they wouldn't meet the safety standards discussed here in terms of their setback from the highway.

More important than that, though, is that there simply is no market in lower Manhattan for that much office space. In fact, I'll be very surprised if the building described in this article is completed by 2010. Larry Silverstein, the developer who owns the rights to build on this site, is in the process of re-building 7 World Trade Center -- the 52-story building at the north end of the site that also came down on 9/11. He has yet to sign a single tenant to a lease in that building.