New Freedom Tower plans unveiled - Front Page

Art in America, Feb, 2004 by David Ebony

Despite widely reported disputes between architects David Childs and Daniel Libeskind over the design of the so-called Freedom Tower, the collaborators recently unveiled new plans for the building to be located at the World Trade Center (WTC) site. For the past year the press has portrayed Libeskind, master planner for the WTC redevelopment, as being at odds with Childs, of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, who was retained by site developer Larry A. Silverstein to "realize" Libeskind's vision. Some insiders claimed that Childs was in the process of drastically altering Libeskind's original plan, which was selected by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), the organization overseeing the project, in a competition last winter [see "Front Page," Feb. '03].

Pressed by a mid-December deadline, the two architects seem to have set aside their differences. Accompanied by New York governor George E. Pataki, New York City mayor Michael M. Bloomberg, Silverstein and LMDC representatives, the architects presented on Dec. 19 a model and digital renderings of the 1,776-foot-high structure that appear to include many salient features of Libeskind's original scheme.

The $1.5-billion building, which would become the world's tallest, is proposed as a tapering, glass-and-steel skyscraper featuring windows arranged in a diagonal grid along all sides. The skin of the lower floors would be made of blastproof glass panels. Two lower-level concourses would house restaurants, retail stores and transportation connections. Above these, 70 stories of offices could provide a total of some 2.6 million square feet of commercial space. Rising above the 70th floor, up to 1,500 feet, is a proposed structure supported by a lattice of tension cables similar to those of the Brooklyn Bridge. This part of the tower would contain a system of wind turbines providing the building with 20 percent of its energy needs. On top of the truss at 1,500 feet, a dramatically lit spire would rise another 276 feet. The spire is intended as a luminous beacon, corresponding to the Statue of Liberty's torch.

The building would incorporate state-of-the-art security systems that go far beyond the requirements of the New York State building code. Among these features are extra-strong fireproofing, biological and chemical filters in the air-supply system, concrete-encased stair and elevator cores, and concrete protection for all sprinklers and emergency risers. Also proposed are additional stairwell exits, providing numerous passages to the street.

A ground-breaking ceremony for the Freedom Tower is set for later this year, on Sept. 11, the third anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, soon after the Republican Convention takes place in the city. Responding to press queries, Pataki has denied that there is any connection between the two events.