Following on from previous blogs about my trip to New York
and the World Trade Center site, it was good to hear that One World Trade Center has become New York's tallest building.
The installation of a column on the 100th floor of the once
named Freedom Tower, makes the structure 1,271ft (387m) high, overtaking the
Empire State.
This date comes a day before the one-year anniversary of the
operation that killed Osama Bin Laden.
Another reminder of the building's significance to all New
Yorkers, along with the other symbolic architectural references of the building’s
final height and the square water features below. A memorial to all the people that
died, in the same location as the original 2 buildings.
The finished building will be 1,776ft high making it
temporarily the second tallest building in the world, after the Burj Khalifa in
Dubai at 2,723ft (830m)
As mentioned before the building doesn't win any awards for me on an architectural footing, as the design has been compromised for security
and simplicity.
Some of the other buildings proposed for the site have tried
harder to progress the skyscraper as a building type with ideas and forms that
will be new to the city.
One World Trade Center is basically a chamfered block,
however it does win on height and symbolic references, which it has the
original concept work by Daniel Libeskind to thank.
You may also be interested in my blog on The Shard vs Le Tour Hermitage. A comparison of two of Europe's newest Architectural heavyweights.
Images courtesy of Google images
Architecture and Design
The World Trade Center
