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

[genop]

you beat me to it. they also have an article in the post. http://www.nypost.com/seven/03262009/new...ity_doing_away_with_freedom_t_161457.htm

[CHAPINM1]

I'm glad the name "Freedom Tower" is being dropped. It was way too weird I thought. Plus, being known and officially named Tower 1 not only brings back the original feeling, but is also sounds the most professional, well at least to me anyway...

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by CHAPINM1

I'm glad the name "Freedom Tower" is being dropped. It was way too weird I thought. Plus, being known and officially named Tower 1 not only brings back the original feeling, but is also sounds the most professional, well at least to me anyway...

It's not that the Freedom Tower name is being dropped, the Port Authority is using the "official" or correct name for the tower. Silverstein has taken the opposite approach, branding his towers 200, 175, and 150 Greenwich Street. But they are still 2, 3, and 4 WTC.

[NYguy]

haustier

[MetroFanatic]

Sorry if this has been posted already. I don't come to this thread much, but Wired Magazine had a short article about the tower in this months issue.

http://www.wired.com/culture/design/magazine/17-03/dp_freedomtower

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by MetroFanatic

Sorry if this has been posted already. I don't come to this thread much, but Wired Magazine had a short article about the tower in this months issue.
http://www.wired.com/culture/design/magazine/17-03/dp_freedomtower

Hadn't seen it, but nice graphic there...



1 The Height
Libeskind's initial master plan stipulated that the skyscraper reach a height of 1,776 feet. That historically symbolic number makes for an extremely tall building—and an unprofitable one, since no tenant would want to be up that high. (It's just too scary.) The solution? Cheat. Reach the prescribed height by stretching out a 450-foot extension.

Of course, a giant bundle of antennas standing more than 1,300 feet off the ground presents its own challenges. Namely, it can't sway more than half a degree, because that would compromise the constant energy levels needed for clear digital TV transmissions. To help keep the spire stable, the architects placed a ring a quarter of the way up the central steel mast. A system of Kevlar cables attached to the ring will anchor the antennas in place. Meanwhile, a shield made of glass-reinforced resin composite panels will protect the spire from the elements.

2 The Base
The initial design, unveiled in late 2003, would have been far too vulnerable to threats like truck bombs. So SOM made two sweeping changes. First it squared up the base, formerly a parallelogram, to move the part of the building closest to the West Side Highway away from the road. It also added a 205-foot cube of protection: An interior layer of concrete provides brute resistance; glass prisms on the outside of the bunker make it look cool. Between the two layers, a quirky-looking grilled screen keeps birds from entering the mechanical systems. Right past the entrance will be a 62-foot-wide wall and blast barrier decorated with art.

3 The Trains
Libeskind positioned the tower over the tracks leading out of the Port Authority commuter train terminus, which raised concerns that rumble from the trains could possibly cause structural disturbance (and shake the chairs of tenants above), and the electromagnetic field generated by the high voltage could harm occupants. The tracks and platforms also interfered with some of the tower's supporting columns.

To minimize train rumblings and EMF exposure, SOM encased the building's steel supports in concrete. It isolated vibration by designing the joints between the concrete walls and steel columns to be flexible—connecting them like shoulder sockets, not like right-angled bookshelves. To keep the support beams out of the train tracks' way, SOM ran the columns diagonally away from the train paths and in one case split a load-bearing column over a single track.

[Nomadd22]

I've been wondering about the base. In renderings like this, it looks like it has a negative taper to it, but in others it doesn't.
The explanation of why the antennas can't move more than 1/2 degree is nonsense. There's no need for anything like a "constant energy level" for digital signals. Only a minimum one. And swaying wouldn't have any effect on energy level anyhow unless it could sway several million times a second.

[NYguy]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iK8_o9_6HlwVqkMlVV_GFEkG7WxQ

Outcry after new Ground Zero tower loses 'Freedom'

NEW YORK (AFP) — The owners of the skyscraper being built at Ground Zero ran into controversy Friday with the decision to strip the building of its patriotic unofficial name "Freedom Tower."

"No more freedom," read the front page of the Daily News, declaring in an editorial that the site's owner, the New York and New Jersey Port Authority, was "erasing history."

"Freedom is out of fashion at Ground Zero," rival tabloid the New York Post said.

Former New York Governor George Pataki, first to coin the name "Freedom Tower," reacted defiantly.

"The Freedom Tower isn't going to be One World Trade Center, it's going to be the Freedom Tower," he said in comments broadcast on NY1 television.

"I think One and Two World Trade Center are sacred names which should never be used again," said Pataki.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009...g_license_with_freedom_port_authori.html

Taking license with freedom: Port Authority is imperious in renaming Ground Zero tower

March 27th 2009, 4:00 AM

When you've broken your promises on everything else to do with redeveloping Ground Zero, it's no big deal to discard the name by which the public has come to know the iconic skyscraper at the heart of the plan.

When you've engaged in massive schemes to lie about costs and when you have failed to meet every solemnly pledged construction deadline, tossing a name like Freedom Tower is child's play.

You just do it. Because there's no need to consult the public. Because you're the mighty Port Authority - and you damn well say and do what you please.

So, when your marketing team says it prefers to sell the building to prospective tenants as 1 World Trade Center rather than as the Freedom Tower, you give them the green light.

Apparently, "Freedom" doesn't test-market very well when you're trying to draw tenants from all parts of the globe. Including from Communist China, an arm of which has just leased more than five floors of the building to house a "China Center." This is planned as a locus of Sino-American commerce.

The name Freedom Tower came into popular use on April 24, 2003, when then-Gov. George Pataki and the Port Authority established a timetable for Ground Zero construction.

The Freedom Tower would soar its full 1,776 feet by Sept. 11, 2005, and be ready for tenants by early 2008.

A permanent PATH train station would be open in 2006.

A new Fulton St. subway complex would be done by 2007.

There would be direct rail service from downtown to Long Island and JFK Airport by 2013.

None of that came true. None of that will be done for years, if ever. The Port Authority made a liar out of Pataki on every project it was responsible for. And now the imperious, unaccountable agency has dropped the last vestige of the past, as if erasing history.

It and its new tenant should be quite comfortable with each other.

[NYguy]

azimut400qon

[NYguy]

Philippe Saez

[QuarterMileSidewalk]

Originally Posted by NYguy

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iK8_o9_6HlwVqkMlVV_GFEkG7WxQ

Outcry after new Ground Zero tower loses 'Freedom'

Are these the same people who were calling it "Fear Tower" because of its truck-bomb-proof base?

Pataki was right, though, that the name "World Trade Center" is, in a way, sacred now, but it is also obsolete in the modern economy anyway. (Very few of the companies in the twin towers had anything to do with actual trade, if I recall correctly; most dealt with international finance.)

I really don't mind if they decide to call it "One New World Trade Center," or just "Tower One;" I agree that "Freedom Tower" sounded a little bit awkward and unimaginative, a tad too sentimental. Perhaps the name should more reflect the history of the site: "Memorial Tower," perhaps?

Or, if we insist on keeping "Freedom" in the name, how about something a bit more formal, like, "One Freedom Center" or "One Freedom Park?" Those particular formats could be applied to all the buildings in the site.

[tdawg]

Good news. Freedom Tower was a stupid name. I am, however, in favor of Gawker's suggestion of "The America is Awesome Tower."

[ThisSideofSteinway]

Originally Posted by tdawg

Good news. Freedom Tower was a stupid name. I am, however, in favor of Gawker's suggestion of "The America is Awesome Tower."

It's back...

The ‘Freedom Tower’ Name Roars Back

By David W. Dunlap
tower

For more than a year, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had been quietly backing away from the name “Freedom Tower” for 1 World Trade Center, not so much eliminating the coinage (by Gov. George E. Pataki) as lowering its profile.

Although the authority would not say so, it is easy to imagine that prospective tenants — already worried about moving into a building that will almost certainly occupy some terrorists’ cross hairs — could not have been comforted by a name with such potent political symbolism.

Of course, that symbolism is exactly what appeals to those who favor the name.

So when The Daily News and The New York Post reported on Friday what readers of City Room have known since March 2008, a fresh debate erupted over what to call what will be the tallest building in New York.

Mr. Pataki and a number of relatives of 9/11 victims — who often did not see eye to eye when he was governor — strongly criticized the idea of abandoning the name “Freedom Tower.”

As Mr. Pataki told City Room last year: “It is a little troubling to me that again there is a 1 World Trade Center, because a lot of great people and a lot of true heroes died in 1 World Trade Center. I think that name should be reserved, for those who did die on that horrible day.”

By mid-morning, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg joined the debate during his weekly radio program with John Gambling on WOR-AM. He said:

Well, it’s up to the Port Authority. If it were me and I didn’t have to rent space, I have no idea what the commercial aspects are and we can say, ‘Oh, we shouldn’t worry about that,’ but of course you have to, particularly now. I would like to see it stay the Freedom Tower, but it’s their building and they don’t need me dumping on it. If they could rent the whole thing by changing the name, I guess they’re going to do that and they probably, from a responsible point of view, should.

Mr. Bloomberg added, “If they name this 1 World Trade Center, people will still call it the Freedom Tower.”
On Thursday, the Port Authority placed the words “Freedom Tower” in parentheses rather than after a comma, as it does on its Web site.

Port Authority officials made the same point during a news conference after Thursday’s board meeting. The subject came up in part because a news release about the first commercial lease in the building put the words “Freedom Tower” in parentheses and partly because a post on City Room, followed by an article in The Times, referred to the building as having once been called Freedom Tower.

“Let’s talk about the reality of the real estate market and popular names,” Christopher O. Ward, the executive director of the authority, said at the question-and-answer session. “There are a lot of buildings that have popular names. If the Freedom Tower is the popular name as people think about this, that will be the choice of the people and how they think of downtown. On the other hand, this is a piece of real estate, it has an address; legally it is 1 World Trade Center.”

Anthony R. Coscia, the chairman of the authority, said: “As we market the building, we will ensure that the building is presented in the best possible way. One World Trade Center is its address, it’s the address that we’re using. It’s the one that’s easiest for people to identify with and frankly we’ve gotten a very interested and warm reception to it.”

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/the-freedom-tower-name-roars-back/

If we are going to officially go this route, I move that it be the America (F*&k Yeah!) Tower.

[pj3000]

Freedom Tower is about as cheesy and non-NYC as you can get.

I'm very glad to hear of the name change. There is no more fitting testament and tribute to the former towers than reviving the World Trade Center name in a greater form.

[NYCLuver]

The Freedom Tower name being dropped is great in my opinion. Freedom Tower, really? That was so tacky, I'm surprised the tower wasn't designed with the colors red white and blue.

And the name "World Trade Center" isn't really sacred since there are some towers around the world called World Trade Center now.

Pataki should just shut up, he's one of the reasons for so many delays and government crap. And one of the reasons the NY State economy now is in the shits.

[RockMont]

Pataki is about as low class a dirt bag as anybody can be.

[ethereal_reality]

MSNBC is having a vote concerning the name change.

The results so far....

54.1% The change was right. Freedom tower was too provocative a name.

30.4% They should not have changed it. It marks a huge moment in U.S. history.

15.5% It doesn't really matter what it's called.

There are almost 300 comments that are also quite interesting.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

[CoolCzech]

The ‘Freedom Tower’ Name Roars Back

By David W. Dunlap
tower

For more than a year, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had been quietly backing away from the name “Freedom Tower” for 1 World Trade Center, not so much eliminating the coinage (by Gov. George E. Pataki) as lowering its profile.

Although the authority would not say so, it is easy to imagine that prospective tenants — already worried about moving into a building that will almost certainly occupy some terrorists’ cross hairs — could not have been comforted by a name with such potent political symbolism.

What "potent political symbolism"? I thought all the name's critics said it was just trite jingoism?

[CoolCzech]

Anyway,

The "official" name was always 1 World Trade Center. Just like the Bank of America tower really isn't "officially" the BofA, but One Bryant Park. This is just so much ado over nothing. A developer could call the Empire State Building "350 Fifth Avenue" all he wanted, but everyone would still call it the Empire State Building. I sincerely doubt that New York City guidebooks will EVER call the Freedom Tower "1 World Trade Center" when they list it as one of the Top Ten Attractions.

[genop]

another one about it from the post
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03272009/news/regionalnews/this_is_not_the_freedom_tower_161568.htm

By TOM TOPOUSIS


Last updated: 10:40 am
March 27, 2009
Posted: 2:40 am
March 27, 2009

Freedom is out of fashion at Ground Zero.

Once hailed as a beacon of rebirth in the aftermath of Sept. 11, the Freedom Tower has been stripped of its patriotic name -- which has been swapped out for the more marketable "One World Trade Center," Port Authority officials conceded yesterday.

More than seven years after the terror attacks and amid an effort to market the tower to international tenants, sentiment gave way to practicality.

"As we market the building we will ensure that the building is presented in the best possible way," said PA Chairman Anthony Coscia.

"One World Trade Center is its address. It's the address that we're using. It's the one that's easiest for people to identify with, and, frankly, we've gotten a very interested and warm reception to it."

Today, Mayor Bloomberg said on his radio show on WABC, "It's up the Port Authority. If it were me and I didn't have to rent space ... I would like to see it stay the Freedom Tower.

"But it's their building and they don't need me dumping on it. If they could rent the whole thing by changing the name I guess they're going to do that."

Debra Burlingame, whose brother Charles Burlingame was the pilot aboard American Airlines Flight 77 that was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon, said the renaming of the tower is one more example that the nation is forgetting 9/11.

"If we can't say the word freedom out loud, God help us," she said.

"I understand the decision from a marketing point of view. But it saddens me that it's no longer economically viable to declare who we are."

The issue of the name change -- toward which the PA has been shifting for more than a year -- came up at a news conference after the agency signed a lease with its first major tenant.

A Chinese firm, Vantone Industrial Co., will lease six floors. A four-page press release for the lease signing included the name "Freedom Tower" twice -- only in parentheses.

The only other tenants so far are the federal and state governments.

"Freedom Tower" was coined by then-Gov. George Pataki, who oversaw the initial designs for the reconstruction of the World Trade Center and wanted a tower to rise a symbolic 1,776 feet at a time of heightened patriotism.

Pataki yesterday bristled at the name change.

"The Freedom Tower is not simply another piece of real estate and not just a name for marketing purposes. In design and name, it is symbolic of our commitment to rise above the attacks of Sept. 11," he said.

"Where One and Two World Trade Center once stood, there will be a memorial with two voids to honor the heroes we lost. In my view, those addresses should never be used again.

Coscia said the agency is simply referring to the 102-story tower by its legal name.

"It's part of a complex of what we're hopeful will be five buildings that will redefine the landscape of lower Manhattan, so we refer to it by that term," he said.

When pressed during the news conference on whether Freedom Tower will appear anywhere on the building, Coscia replied, "Next," and turned to answer a question from another reporter.