NEW YORK | One World Trade Center | 1,776' Pinnacle / 1,373' Roof | 108 FLOORS

[jd3189]

It's always dangerous building skyscrapers. But that is part of the legacy of the human spirit. We keep going no matter what. I wish him the best as well.

[alan88]

Originally Posted by Silverfox

"Construction Worker Injured After Fall At 1 World Trade Center"

http://gothamist.com/2012/08/11/cons...ed_at_1_wo.php

At least it wasn't life threatening. I wish him the best.

A lather working in a cell at 100, fell about 1 floor, PAPD/FDNY did hi angle rescue and brought him up to 100 in stokes basket and then brought down in hoist and taken to bellevue. He had shoulder and ankle injury was was alert the whole time. Very lucky.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by TheCitySkyline72

@NYGUY I'm sorry but youre wrong, I noticed that too and Traynor is right, the symbolism of the Statue of Liberty's torch was part of the old design when the spire was designed to be offset from the center, representing her arm raising it up to te sky.

I'll say it again for those that are confused. There were only two mandates for the tower's design. 1. that the building have a spire reaching 1,776 ft and 2. that the tower be aligned with the slurry wall along West Street.

David Childs original design chose to interpret the "Liberty" concept in his own way, with his twisting tower. It was indeed aligned along West Street with the slurry wall. Libeskind's vision of the asymetrical spire wasn't included, and over a lengthy battle, the governor agreed - the spire was crucial to that aspect of the site plan. David Childs maintained that they were having trouble with the asymetrical aspect of the spire in that form, but tried to work it anyway. However, what killed that particular design was the West Street mandate - the NYPD concluded that the tower was too close to what is basically a highway. The tower was streamlined, pushed back from the street, but the spire - now centered on top - was still a part of the site plan. Even if there were no broadcasters guaranteed to need or want an antenna up there, the spire was to represent the Statue of Liberty's upraised torch. It's also why they were planning the lighted beacon at the top. That's been the centerpiece of the plan for this tower, always has been, and always will be - even with the crappy antenna they now plan to place on top.

Otherwise, David Childs would never had designed a tower to feature a spire, and the plan for broadcasters to return to the building would have featured a traditional looking antenna mast.



http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/28/ny...pagewanted=all

Revised Design for Freedom Tower Unveiled

By DAVID W. DUNLAP and GLENN COLLINS
June 28, 2006

Eager to avoid creating a fortress that overshadows the World Trade Center memorial, the architects of the Freedom Tower unveiled a new approach today. They would clad its 187-foot-high, bomb-resistant concrete base in a screen of glass prisms rather than metal panels...In the first redesign last year, the base was to rise 200 feet and perhaps be clad in stainless steel, aluminum or titanium. Though Mr. Childs envisioned these panels as enlivening the almost windowless facade, others despaired about its monolithic quality. The phrase "concrete bunker" was tossed around.

The basic form of the building has not changed. It is an obelisk on which the corners are both tapered and chamfered, or cut away diagonally. The tip of its spire would still mark the symbolic pinnacle of 1,776 feet. It would be illuminated at night in an echo, however abstract, of the Statue of Liberty's torch.

The last 408 feet of the tower's height would be a white structure, clad in fiberglass composite panels, with a gentle convex curve in the middle. Designed in collaboration with the sculptor Kenneth Snelson, it would hide a bristling forest of antennas. As a champion of the idea that the Freedom Tower should pay architectural homage to the Statue of Liberty, Mr. Libeskind offered one criticism. "I think they should work to make the figure of the torch more apparent," he said. "Even if you illuminate the flame, it is very abstract right now."

Remembering the antenna with the spire...


http://archrecord.construction.com/p...ade-center.asp

A spire extending 408 feet above the roof parapet of the 104-story One WTC will make the building 1,776 feet tall — an elevation set in the Ground Zero master plan. For the building’s architects, the element is more than a tactic for helping the tower achieve a symbolic height. “It is critical to the nature of the design,” says David Childs, SOM consulting design partner. He explains that it visually completes the tower, much the same way a capital completes a column.

Too bad we won't be seeing the building as it was intended, but we'll always have renderings.

[TouchTheSky13]

Went to the site and the memorial the other day and took some photos. It is even more amazing looking in person...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8478360...in/photostream

[NYguy]

Amy Neufeld









Mitch Waman









a.tanski

[Traynor]

Keep posting quotations all you want, but they are from architectural writers guessing/presuming that the Spire still represented Liberty's torch. NONE of them are quotations from SOM, Childs or Snelson.

And to reiterate: The reason the Spire was made sculptural and so significant to the design, was to maintain the 1776 foot height which Libeskind felt was so important. Not because it had to be Torch-like. Childs was charged by the PA and Silverstein to keep that symbolic number and so without building a much taller building which was cost prohibitive, he compromised and enclosed an antenna that would bring the height to 1776.

I realize sentimentality desperately wants Liberty in there somewhere, but wanting, guessing and presuming are not facts.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Traynor

Keep posting quotations all you want, but they are from architectural writers guessing/presuming that the Spire still represented Liberty's torch. NONE of them are quotations from SOM, Childs or Snelson.

And to reiterate: The reason the Spire was made sculptural and so significant to the design, was to maintain the 1776 foot height which Libeskind felt was so important. Not because it had to be Torch-like. Childs was charged by the PA and Silverstein to keep that symbolic number and so without building a much taller building which was cost prohibitive, he compromised and enclosed an antenna that would bring the height to 1776.

It's a basic concept, why you have so much trouble understanding is beyond me. It was planned from the beginning that the spire was to represent Liberty's torch. It was in no way supposed to be a duplicate or double - the spire itself was to represent the "beacon of freedom". Keep fooling yourself as you will, you can't change history, and you can't change the facts.

As far as keeping the 1,776 ft height, all they simply had to do was stick a giant spire - in any form - to achieve it. Don't portray yourself as being naive, as I'm sure you are aware of this.

[chris123678]

I wish Durst would stop being a moronic idiot and work with David Childs.

Honesty, I thought the orginal spire was to thick anyhow.
I'd love to see a thinner cladding.
The antenna is barley visible, it's so stripped down and bare. It's not even like the North Tower.

[jd3189]

Agreed. They have to modify it in some way. Get the open spire if they have to.

[1wtcspiresavor]

Originally Posted by chris123678

I wish Durst would stop being a moronic idiot and work with David Childs.

Honesty, I thought the orginal spire was to thick anyhow.
I'd love to see a thinner cladding.
The antenna is barley visible, it's so stripped down and bare. It's not even like the North Tower.

I just love how Durst claims they modified the spire and will put LEDs on it ... OH BOY BECAUSE EVERY KNOWS HOW EXPENSIVE LEDs ARE, you are a real big spender Durst!!!
It's the same dam thing to dot, just minus the radome!

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by NYguy

Amy Neufeld

Nice shot! The original WTC can never be replaced, but the skyline is taking back its old stature.

[Fluffybagel]

Just wondering, since I didn't see it in the other and newer renderings, are they still doing that lighthouse beacon thing?

[Silverfox]

Originally Posted by Fluffybagel

Just wondering, since I didn't see it in the other and newer renderings, are they still doing that lighthouse beacon thing?

They are keeping the beacon, except it will no longer flash 'N' (dash-dot) in Morse code. It will only shine solid horizontal beams, similar to a lighthouse--not vertical.

[CarlosV]

DSC_0049 copy by Ceva321, on Flickr

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DSC_0053 copy by Ceva321, on Flickr

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DSC_0056 copy by Ceva321, on Flickr

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DSC_0054 copy by Ceva321, on Flickr

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What a beautiful sight I have...I must say that I will miss shooting the skeleton and cranes.....hopefully i will never have to see them again once this building is completed.



DSC_0060 copy by Ceva321, on Flickr

[Traynor]

Originally Posted by NYguy

It's a basic concept, why you have so much trouble understanding is beyond me. It was planned from the beginning that the spire was to represent Liberty's torch. It was in no way supposed to be a duplicate or double - the spire itself was to represent the "beacon of freedom". Keep fooling yourself as you will, you can't change history, and you can't change the facts.

As far as keeping the 1,776 ft height, all they simply had to do was stick a giant spire - in any form - to achieve it. Don't portray yourself as being naive, as I'm sure you are aware of this.

You see, this is why you should never be a moderator... I have never gotten personal, but in your moderating you always attack the person directly, not the argument. Bad form.

You just can't wrap your mind arround the facts, yet you said it your own words:

"It was planned from the beginning that the spire was to represent Liberty's torch."

The key words "from the beginning". The holdover of the Torch theme was then just presumed by so many people, including yourself. Once again, that theme for the final Spire was never spoken of by anyone at Skidmore, Owings & Merril, David Childs or Kenneth Snelson.

"As far as keeping the 1,776 ft height, all they simply had to do was stick a giant spire - in any form - to achieve it."

To simply stick any spire in any form, goes to prove that you know nothing of the history of the design of this building nor its motivation. The building was commanded by the PA to hold a large antenna for possible transmission of broadcast signals (A vital source of revenue). The height of that antenna was dictated by the need to keep Libesind's magical 1776 foot height. Covering it in a sculptural paneling satisfied the criteria of the CTBUH in including it to the building's height.

Please just admit that you are presuming everything and have no hard evidence and we can be done with this silly pissing contest.

[Modulair]

hi people!

it's been two weeks since my last visit on the forum..

Could anyone please remind me what is the current situation?
i.e:
Tower topped out ?
if not, when is it expected ?

Thanks

[MadGnome]

The line that everybody seems to ignore is the one where the cladding was also meant to hide the "bristling forest of antennas". People look at the new mast and say "That doesn't look so bad. Well, it's not going to look like that. It's going to look worse that mess on the ESB once they fill it with customers. It will be hideous.

[-Filipe-]

who cares about the antenna spire like seriously can't you all just shut up about that and watch the building get completed, ffs a bunch of little whiners, get over it, if you like it or not it doesn't really matter, and the stupid debate whether its supposed to represent the liberty torch does it really matter like seriously if it was supposed to or not doesn't really matter, seriously

[Tru Bert]

Originally Posted by Modulair

hi people!

it's been two weeks since my last visit on the forum..

Could anyone please remind me what is the current situation?
i.e:
Tower topped out ?
if not, when is it expected ?

Thanks

It Seems The Tower Has Topped at the 105th Floor. The Communications Ring has Yet to be Started Still. Otherwise you didn't Miss Much!

[CarlosV]

Originally Posted by -Filipe-

who cares about the antenna spire like seriously can't you all just shut up about that and watch the building get completed, ffs a bunch of little whiners, get over it, if you like it or not it doesn't really matter, and the stupid debate whether its supposed to represent the liberty torch does it really matter like seriously if it was supposed to or not doesn't really matter, seriously

Agreed, take it to PMs


Anyways....another beautiful day in NYC, and they keep on working on top.....here comes the blimp



DSC_0061 copy by Ceva321, on Flickr