June 28, 2006
Freedom Tower Redesigned Again
We're up to Version 3.0: Architect David Childs revealed new designs for Freedom Tower, the centerpiece of the World Trade Center's redevelopment. The NY Times reports that the biggest change to the design is encasing the "187-foot-high, bomb-resistant concrete base in a screen of glass prisms rather than metal panels." When Childs revealed a redesign last year, one with a concrete base, people derided it for being like a "concrete bunker," albeit it one that would satisfy NYPD concerns.
Mr. Childs now proposes to cover the base in panels of laminated glass with a saw-tooth face made of prisms in a vertical array. "You know this from high-school physics class," Mr. Childs said. "The sun hits the prism and breaks into color."Nice, taking a chapter out of the Frank Gehry blinds people with the Disney Hall book.He said that full-scale mock-ups of this wall will be built in Kearney, N.J., to ensure that the fractured, reflected sunlight will not blind pedestrians or drivers.
Behind the glass would be concrete for the first 60 feet, then an open space known as a plenum, through which air is drawn to cool the equipment inside. At this point, there would be one- or two-foot spaces between the glass panels, backed by a protective aluminum screen.
Mr. Childs said that the base, made of high-density concrete (he would not specify the thickness of the walls, for security reasons), "does the job that the New York City police want it to do, in every respect."
Original Freedom Tower designer Daniel Libeskind (the master planner at Ground Zero) was pleased with the redesign, saying, "They have brought luminosity and a prismatic quality to the base and made the tower more crystalline." Childs' announcement was made at the AIA NY awards ceremony, which took place at the Childs-designed 7 World Trade Center. Today, Newsday calls 7 WTC a "marvel of craftsmanship."
The NY Times has a slideshow of the new designs.
Renderings of the new Freedom Tower from the LMDC
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You know what would really make this building amazing?
…If they changed the name to something else! Freedom Tower sounds horrible. It really does.
Right next to it they should build a FREEDOM library that’s stocked with only books about FREEDOM. While they're at it they can change the name of the street next to it to FREEDOM way. Why not change the name of the Hudson to FREEDOM river?
why would the united states spending millions and billions of dollars on defense and airport screenings and information homeland security, yet this this new building is still planned to be a veritable fortress?
isn't this a tacit denouncement of all the security we've invested in for the past 5 years?
or is it a PR move to make people feel safe working in the new building? i'm leaning towards the latter - but there's a clear issue regardless.
I rarely find myself in agreement with Donald Trump, but I, too, believe that the best and most fitting memorial and show of strength would be to rebuild the twin towers, right where they stood. What better way to give a defiant finger to terrorists and those who hate our country? I worked in Windows on the World and lost two friends there on Sept. 11, and would return to the rebuilt towers in a heartbeat.
I hate Frank Gehry. In 50 years his designs will be laughed at. It's too bad that his ego is going to leave a lasting scar on the city's landscape.
I hate Frank Gehry. In 50 years his designs will be laughed at. It's too bad that his ego is going to leave a lasting scar on the city's landscape.
Looks good. Now please build it.
pssst - I totally agree, but you do know that Gehry doesn't have anything to do with this project, right? Right?
Does anybody even read the posts on gothamist anymore before they post snide remarks?
It's still dumpy and looks like a frigid accountants idea of classy, but this looks like a big improvement. build it already.
NO!!! to the posted building design
Stop with the phallic symolism.
Why can't NYC build a urgonomical technologically intelligent structure.
The memorial should not be a factor. Many people have died in North America for the sake of political and religious freedom. It is sad that people died on 911. But please. Give them a statue or a placque like everyone else and move on to building the structure for Business purposes. That is what the land is ear marked for.
It would be nice if Bucky Fuller was alive. He would design something practical but beautiful and affordable. Maybe a geodesic dome should be placed there. One that can keep the toxic air that is still lingering,there out and house 100's of office space.
"corrections,"
I believe pssssssssssst was responding to the sentence in the Gothamist story that compared the prism design with Gehry.
Either Childs was misquoted, or he's not as bright as I'd hoped. Laminated glass won't break into tiny pieces "like automobile safety glass." Car windshields are laminated, and they like to stay together in one piece.
I still don't get this emphasis on maximum protection from truck bombs. The 1993 truck bomb couldn't take down the original WTC, despite horrendous damage. It took a big, nearly fully-fueled airliner to do that. Maybe if you had a semi full of explosives, but if you could do that kind of damage, there are much easier targets, like Penn Station at rush hour. Face it, if the terrorists really want to cause death and destruction, there's really not much you can do to stop them unless you can infiltrate them in the planning stages.
BTW, I kept getting errors while trying to post this. It kept saying "Movable Type
An error occurred
Rebuild failed: Building entry 'Freedom Tower Redesigned Again' failed: Build error in template 'Individual Entry Archive': Error in tag:"
Movable Type my ass. Movable Hype, indeed. Such buggy software.
It's definitely an improvement but I think the whole problem with the base is that it so bluntly meets the rest of the building. Even a metal base would look good if it integrated more smoothly with the rest of the building. I think the base of 7WTC proved that in practice metal bases can still be done without looking too brutal. Imagine what the building could be if it had a metal base that slowly dissolved into the glass tower as it went up the first 20 or thirty stories. It could be very graceful.
mh: please move back to Ohio immediately. Phallic symbols? Get a clue please. This is New York.
"NO!!! to the posted building design
Stop with the phallic symolism."
I'm all for boob symbolism.
Homey's right. You either get a park or a skyscraper. Though, a rounded ziggurat would be interesting, like an upside down Guggenheim Museum or something.
Please rebuild what was there before. It will restore the city skyline, be a fitting memorial and not look like a lamp you got at Ikea.
I hate Frank Gehry. In 30 years his buildings will be torn down wihout fanfare as they will finally be recognized for what they are - blight. Please return him to Canada where he can do something that is better suited to his skills of designing buildings - something like managing a Canadian Tire in Flin Fon or a Tim Horton's in Moose Jaw.
I am in agreement with those who want the towers rebuilt as they were. Perhaps stronger. But rebuilding them is the best way to nullify the terrorists doing.
I also agree that we should drop this "Freedom" tower bullcrap. What a horrible name. Maybe they can sell "Freedom Fries" in the lobby. Cheeeeeeesy.
The "Freedom" name is merely supporting false claim that the towers were attacked because they "hate our freedom" - so take THAT, terrorists! We are building a Freedom Tower! How about Anti-Evildoer Park below it?
[13] Posted by: Anon E. Mouse | June 28, 2006 05:27 PM
That was funny. However, no boobs.
The upside down Ziggurat is an idea. At least it is creative.
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That was a good one robin.g "Anti-Evildoers' Park" Now we are getting somewhere.