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

[westmc9th]

Originally Posted by sw5710

Hey Zen:

Do you think the cladding has in any way slowed the work on floors 47,48?. The west side of 47,48 is slower to be built out then the last several jumps..

what are you talking about? The first steel for floors 47 and 48 went up this past Saturday and they have the perimeter columns up not to mention they already connected some of it to the core, it is going the same rate as the rest have.. wind blew today is the only thing that could have stopped work today

[sw5710]

Originally Posted by westmc9th

what are you talking about? The first steel for floors 47 and 48 went up this past Saturday and they have the perimeter columns up not to mention they already connected some of it to the core, it is going the same rate as the rest have.. wind blew today is the only thing that could have stopped work today

Oh I meant the west side of floor47,48 only. On that side the blue safety structure has yet to jump up so they can start putting the connecting steel in for that area.

[Upward]

A few pictures I took this afternoon:





I never really took notice of this until I saw it with my own eyes. Wow!


A quick snap through a gap in the fence...







I have been following this thread for a while, but this was my first visit to the site since January 2007. I've seen lots of great pictures here, but it was time to see it for myself. I look forward to seeing this rise and become visible from more places around the city; hopefully I'm here long enough to see it completed.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Traynor

Allow me to clarify:

Of course a spire is best when it tapers. I was referring to the apparent "double-taper" where the spire is wider in the middle and narrower at the top and bottom. That is the effect I am not so keen on. As well as the choice of covering, as I mentioned earlier.

That's part of the design. The spire was intended to "invoke" the Statue of Liberty's raised torch. As such, it is intened to be a significant feature of the building's design, not just a thin pole placed on top like you will find on some towers. As far as the finished product, well we are removed from even seeing the absolute final design of the spire/crown, and certainly you won't see the effect of the "covering" until it is built. But as I said, STR's renderings do it justice.


http://www.som.com/content.cfm/one_world_trade_center

Originally Posted by Upward

A few pictures I took this afternoon:

Maybe by the end of the week that first floor will be done...

[Plokoon11]

2 flatbed trucks are next to the wtc, there already unloaded but this could be more glass!

[sw5710]

Those are the clearest pictures of the glass on floor 20 that I have seen yet. Great shots!

[STR]

Fudging around with settings, so no hi-res today. Ignore the fact that the interior columns didn't show up until the 3rd render, didn't know the program was interpreting something the way it did. This is the part of the work that makes everything look real, but it's also the most damn tedious and time-consuming part as well. Teak a number, send to render, wait 5 minutes, adjust another parameter (usually because you can't just change one thing without messing something else up). Render. Do laundry. Adjust again. Render. Take dog out. When everything looks good, change the lighting conditions and see if it's STILL good.

Also, now that I notice it, I need to rework the lower floors and horizontal beams. AND the corners. Maybe tomorrow.




I actually stopped messing with the base, as I'm happy with it for now. While I was messing with the tower glass, and the metal materials, enjoy the prismatic glass under a few different lighting conditions. Then a few different angles. Towards the end, I finally found the setting to create a more realistic metal material.

[NYguy]

^ The efforts are appreciated.


http://tribecatrib.com/news/2010/novembe...-begins-to-show-its-shimmering-face.html
World Trade Center Tower Begins to Show Its Shimmering Face



Reflected in the glass is the facade of 7 WTC, across Vesey St. from the tower.

By Matt Dunning
Nov. 17

Already 48 stories high, the rising steel and concrete skeleton of the World Trade Center site’s Tower 1 is all but impossible to miss.

But what’s easy to overlook is the first glimpse of the building’s transformation from a drab construction site to a stunning, 21st century, 104-story office tower.

On Sunday, Nov. 13, crews installed the first pieces of its shiny steel-and-glass façade, on three corners and in the center of the 20th floor's eastern wall. The windows are the first to be installed anywhere on the site since the rebuilding began.

"This is another tangible sign of progress that people who walk past the site can see as we work to get this tower completed in 2013,” said Steven Coleman, spokesman for the Port Authority, the building’s developer.

The very first pieces of the façade were bolted on to the northeast, southeast and southwest corners of the tower’s steel frame at the 20th story. Crews spent most of Monday morning and afternoon putting up the first two flat window panels near the center of the floor’s eastern wall, a painstaking process that must be done with absolute precision because the rest of the installation depends on it.

“Once they get rolling, they’ll be able to install glass panels at a rate of one floor per week,” Coleman said.

One at a time, each steel and glass panel is wheeled to the tower’s outer edge with a hand-operated forklift, lowered into place and then bolted tight to the tower’s frame. Glass is added in once the steel panel is secure.

When the 1,776-foot tower is complete, crews will have placed more than 12,000 flat panels and 700 corner pieces. It will take approximately 160 panels to wrap one of the larger, lower floors in the tower, while the upper floors will need around 100 panels.

Installation of the 13-foot-high panels began on the 20th floor, Coleman said, because the Port Authority will need open access to the tower’s base, containing the mechanical equipment, for several more months.

“There is a lot of equipment that still needs to be loaded onto the mechanical floors in the [base], so the glass wall must come in later,” Coleman said. “Additionally, with all the activity at the base of the building now, we scheduled the wall later to minimize damage.”

Coleman said installation of the prismatic glass wall on the tower’s base—meant to obscure the mechanical equipment behind it—would likely begin in early 2012.

[STR]

^Given that they just started manufacturing the first of a couple thousand prismatic panels this month, the 2012 time frame shouldn't surprise anyone.

[NYguy]

At least we now know the tower will be topped out before they begin work on the base.

A few more pics taken from the Tribeca Trib article...

[Traynor]

The Tribecca Trib

One at a time, each steel and glass panel is wheeled to the tower’s outer edge with a hand-operated forklift, lowered into place and then bolted tight to the tower’s frame. Glass is added in once the steel panel is secure

This explanation of the glazing process is confusing.

...each steel and glass panel is wheeled...lowered into place...

because the above part suggests the frame and glass are installed at the same time, as can be seen in the accompanying pictures.

Then it goes on to add...

Glass is added in once the steel panel is secure

Confusing, considering they seem to be using metal frame spacers at the moment, that contain no glass, yet other completely glazed panels are installed all at once. What they mention in this article is an act we have not yet witnessed: The cladding team installing glass to metal frames which are already in place.

I realize authors of these articles don't think the average reader cares to read about a detailed description of the complicated procedure, but oversimplified (or even contradictory) information is just maddening.

[Pingpongmagician]

I love this building! One day I will visit New York and check this baby out.

[STR]

STR did a verrryyyy bad thing just now. He bought something. Actually BOUGHT something. I HAD to. It is soooo worth it.

[Alliance]

Its good to see glass up. Hopefully in the coming weeks we can get a good picture of what will make or break this giant tower.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by STR

STR did a verrryyyy bad thing just now. He bought something. Actually BOUGHT something. I HAD to. It is soooo worth it.

What do you mean?? did you buy a rendering software or something??

[STR]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

What do you mean?? did you buy a rendering software or something??

You'll see, and when you do, it will blow your f#####g mind away. Guts and brain will be stuck to the wall right behind you, as if an explosion blew out from your monitor.

[Plokoon11]

Maybe a better video card or CPU.

[Domamania]

I cant belive that Tower 1V2 is 80 percent of the height of tower 7 and about 40 percent of its final street to roof height. I cant wait for it to be finished and once it is then the WORLD TRADE CENTER is Back.

[STR]

I can't believe I need to buy more RAM. Oh well, I always planned to when I went 64-bit. The awesomeness just doesn't work well with only 2GB. Going to have to pull my laptop apart to upgrade. ####ing Dell...

[Ziroc]

Originally Posted by STR

I can't believe I need to buy more RAM. Oh well, I always planned to when I went 64-bit. The awesomeness just doesn't work well with only 2GB. Going to have to pull my laptop apart to upgrade. ####ing Dell...

Yeah, I need to get XP 64bit as well. I have triple channel memory (6gigs), but 32bit XP only handles 2.32gigs.. blah.

I am also building the WTC 1 tower, and an entire city. It's crazy hard... just sculpting land, roads and sidewalks is a pain.. over a million polys, and only 1/3 of the city is complete. May have to split up the 3DSMAX scene into separate files to add the WTC.

(They sure are moving quick on the glass! Hope to see more next week!)