New York Architecture Info
One World Trade Center
Formerly known as The Freedom Tower
Address
World Trade Center
New York 10048
Image courtesy of RenewNYC and SOM
Basic Information
Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Cost $2,000,000,000
Type Skyscraper
Floors: 82
Maximum height 1,776 feet/533 meters
Maximum length 200 feet/60 meters
Neighborhood: World Trade Center
More Information
  • Floor space: 2,600,000 square feet.
  • Height to roof: 1,368 feet -- the same as to the roof of the old 1 World Trade Center
  • Height to tip of spire: 1,776 feet - the same as the year of the nation's declaration of independence.
  • Landscape architecture firm: Mathews Nielsen
  • Landscape architect: Signe Nielsen
  • Sculptor Kenneth Snelson is working on the spire at the top of the building.
  • The glass prisms at the base will each be 13-feet tall.
  • The base of the tower will be 186-feet tall.
  • The base of the tower will be 200-feet by 200-feet.
  • The top of the tower will be 145-feet by 145-feet.
  • The shaft of the tower will be 1,182 feet tall.
  • The main structure will be topped by a 408-foot-tall mast containing antennae. The base of the mast will be surrounded by a 145-foot wide ring containing more equipment.
  • The trees surrounding the Freedom Tower will be sweetgum trees.
  • The building was originally supposed to have corner cutaways, reminiscent of the Twin Towers chamfered corners. These were constructed, but later covered up during construction.
  • The building podium was originally supposed to be covered with prismatic glass panels. During construction these were replaced with hundreds of 13-foot-tall glass fins because the Chinese factory chosen to make the glass panels could not get them right.
  • 29 May, 2003 - The New York Times reports that the Metropolitan Television Alliance has signed a deal to put as many as 22 antennae on top of Freedom Tower. The World Trade Center was home to many of New York's television and radio transmitters until the attacks of September 11, 2001. The Freedom Tower will be the new home to TV channels 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 28, 30, 31, 36, 38, 40, 41, 44, 45, 47, 53, 56, 61, and 68.
  • 17 July, 2003: Architect David Childs was chosen to design the Freedom Tower.
  • 4 July, 2004: Groundbreaking. A 20-ton granite slab was used as the cornerstone of the project. It is inscribed with the words "To honor and remember those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 and as a tribute to the enduring spirit of freedom. - July Fourth, 2004."
  • 9 November, 2004 - An architecture student sues the designers of the Freedom Tower. He claims the building was copied from his design for a skyscraper intended to be part of New York's 2012 Olympic bid.
  • 16 December, 2004 - The World Trade Center victims memorial is revised. The new plan includes a Memorial Hall between the reflecting pools that will mark the footprints of the former World Trade Center. It will also include a grove of oak trees with a clearing for memorial services, and public access to the stumps of the columns that once held the Twin Towers aloft. The memorial is expected to cost US$500,000.00 and be completed by 2009.
  • 3 May, 2005 - U.S. Senator Charles Schumer warns that the Freedom Tower project is in jeopardy. He notes that the steel has yet to be ordered, and claims that critics are being given too much attention, preventing the start of real construction. At the same time, the <i>New York Times</i>reports that Kevin M. Rampe has quit as project leader.
  • 29 June, 2005 - Amid much criticism from celebrity real estate moguls and the general public, a new design is released for the Freedom Tower.
  • April 27, 2006 - 21 months after the cornerstone was laid, it is announced that construction has formally begun on the Freedom Tower. The work was delayed because of disputes between the developer, Larry Silverstein, and the land owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The <i>New York Times</i>notes, however, that work actually began quietly a few weeks earlier while the two sides were still hammering out the details. Those details include a total of five buildings to be erected on the site of the World Trade Center, all to be completed by 2011. Mr. Silverstein gives up control of the Freedom tower to the Port Authority in exchange for control of more lucrative property in the complex. He will also pay higher rent.
  • June 27, 2006 - The design of the Freedom Tower is revised once again. The 186-foot-tall podium upon which the tower rests will now be covered by a screen of glass prisms, hiding the concrete base that has been often criticized for being too brutalist.
  • June 28, 2006 - The <i>New York Times</i>reports that the Freedom Tower will have a sky lobby on the 64th floor. This is a controversial move because so many people died in the 78th-floor sky lobby waiting for elevators when 2 World Trade Center collapsed. The sky lobby in the Freedom Tower was necessitated by the June, 2005 design revision which decreased the building's footprint and restricted the amount of space available for elevator shafts.
  • April 18, 2008 - Pope Benedict XVI blesses the ground where the World Trade Center's twin towers once stood.
  • April 18, 2008 - <i>WINS</i>reports that a homeless man found two sets of confidential blueprints for the Freedom Tower in a trash can. He turned them over to the <i>New York Post</i>.
  • May 17, 2008: Structural elements start to climb above street level.
  • June 30, 2008: The Wall Street Journal reports that reconstruction of the World Trade Center could take 1-3 years longer and cost $1-$3 billion more than expected.
  • July 24, 2008: Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church agrees to sell its property next to the World Trade Center to the Port Authority for $20 million. The sale will give construction crews more space to work in and help speed construction of the Freedom Tower and other parts of the World Trade Center. The church building was destroyed in the terrorist attacks.
  • October, 2008: A report from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey indicated a revised completion date of 2013.
  • January 14, 2009: NY1 reported that the foundation of this building was completed.
  • March 25, 2009: The Beijing Vantone Industrial Company became the first company to lease space in this building. It signed a 23-year lease for floors 64 through 69.
  • March 27, 2009: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey came under fire for trying to eliminate the name "Freedom Tower" and only use this building's mailing address of 1 World Trade Center as its name.
  • August 4, 2009: The New York Daily News reported that the completion date of this building was pushed back to 2018.
  • November 18, 2009: Construction of this building reached the fourth floor.
  • February 3, 2010: Construction reached the 20th floor.
  • November 14, 2010: The first piece of external glass and steel facade was added to the building.
  • December 23, 2010: Construction reached the 52nd floor.
  • April, 2012: Construction reached the 100th floor.
  • April 30, 2012: This building reached 1,250 feet, making it the tallest building in New York.