How Freedom Tower Was Redesigned

If you've ever wondered how the highest profile skyscraper in the world was redesigned, wonder no more: The NY Times published a look at how architects cranked out the new design, with political officials peering over one shoulder, an anxious developer at the other, and the expectations of the NYPD looming. Besides enjoying the fact that Skidmore Owings & Merrill architects would turn to Lombardi's for their pizza runs ("three meals in a row, straight - 8 to 10 pies" according to the project mananger), Gothamist found this bit about the Freedom Tower's chief architect, David Childs, and the tower's original architect, Daniel Libeskind, fascinating:

:Mr. Childs and the architect Daniel Libeskind, who created the site's master plan, said that they never approached the level of contention they had reached while working on the original tower. As Mr. Childs and his team slaved away, [John] Cahill and [Stefan] Pryor made it their mission to keep Mr. Libeskind in the loop, and ultimately he called the design "even better than the tower we had before."

To Mr. Cahill, "the redesign would not have been a success without Daniel's involvement."

For more about the new deisgn, go to Skidmore Owings & Merill's own Freedom Tower site. Gothamist on the varying states of having a Freedom Tower.