World Trade Center site
Encyclopedia
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
: 10048
10048 (ZIP code)
10048 is the zip code assigned to the former World Trade Center in New York City. Years after the September 11 attacks, some mail continues to be sent to 10048 by senders who have not updated their mailing lists...
), also known as "Ground Zero" after the September 11 attacks, sits on 16 acres (64,749.8 m²) in Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
complex stood on the site until it was destroyed in the attacks; Studio Daniel Libeskind, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is a bi-state port district, established in 1921 through an interstate compact, that runs most of the regional transportation infrastructure, including the bridges, tunnels, airports, and seaports, within the Port of New York and New Jersey...
, Silverstein Properties, and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation
Lower Manhattan Development Corporation
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation was formed in July 2002, after the September 11 attacks to plan the reconstruction of Lower Manhattan and distribute nearly $10 billion in federal funds aimed at rebuilding downtown Manhattan....
oversee the reconstruction of the site. The site is bounded by Vesey Street
Vesey Street (Manhattan)
Vesey Street is a street in New York City that runs east-west in Lower Manhattan. The street is named after Rev. William Vesey , the first rector of nearby Trinity Church....
to the north, the West Side Highway
West Side Highway
The West Side Highway is a mostly surface section of New York State Route 9A that runs from West 72nd Street along the Hudson River to the southern tip of Manhattan. It replaced the West Side Elevated Highway, built between 1929 and 1951, which was shut down in 1973 due to neglect and lack of...
to the west, Liberty Street
Liberty Street (Manhattan)
Liberty Street is a street in New York City that stretches east-west from the middle of Lower Manhattan almost to the East River. It borders such sites as One Chase Manhattan Plaza, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, One Liberty Plaza, Liberty Plaza Park, the World Trade Center site, the World...
to the south, and Church Street
Church Street (Manhattan)
Church Street is a short but heavily travelled north/south street in Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs along the eastern edge of the site of the World Trade Center destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Its southern end is at Trinity Place, of which it is a continuation...
to the east. The Port Authority owns the site's land (except for 7 World Trade Center
7 World Trade Center
7 World Trade Center is a building in New York City located across from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. It is the second building to bear that name and address in that location. The original structure was completed in 1987 and was destroyed in the September 11 attacks...
). Developer Larry Silverstein
Larry Silverstein
Larry A. Silverstein is an American businessman, and real estate investor and developer in New York City.Silverstein was born in Brooklyn, and became involved in real estate, together with his father, establishing Silverstein Properties...
holds the lease to retail and office space in four of the site's buildings.
While the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is a bi-state port district, established in 1921 through an interstate compact, that runs most of the regional transportation infrastructure, including the bridges, tunnels, airports, and seaports, within the Port of New York and New Jersey...
is often identified as the owner of the WTC site, the ownership situation is actually somewhat complex and ambiguous. The Port Authority indeed owns a "significant" internal portion of the site of 16 acres (64,749.8 m²), but has acknowledged "ambiguities over ownership of miscellaneous strips of property at the World Trade Center site", going back to the 1960s. It is unclear who owns 2.5 acres (10,117.2 m²) of the site, being land where streets had been before the World Trade Center was built.
Before the World Trade Center occupied the site
The western portion of the World Trade Center site was originally under the Hudson River, with the shoreline in the vicinity of Greenwich Street. It was on this shoreline close to the intersection of Greenwich and the former Dey Street that Dutch explorer Adriaen BlockAdriaen Block
Adriaen Block was a Dutch private trader and navigator who is best known for exploring the coastal and river valley areas between present-day New Jersey and Massachusetts during four voyages from 1611 to 1614, following the 1609 expedition by Henry Hudson...
's ship, the Tyger
Tyger (ship)
The Tyger was the ship used by Dutch captain Adriaen Block during his 1613 voyage to explore the East Coast of North America and the present day Hudson River...
, burned to the waterline in November 1613, stranding Block and his crew and forcing them to overwinter on the island. They built the first European settlement, albeit a temporary one in what would be New York City. The remains of the ship were buried under landfill when the shoreline was extended starting in 1797, and were discovered during excavation work in 1916. The remains of a second ship from the eighteenth century were discovered in 2010 during excavation work at the site. The ship believed to be a Hudson River sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
was found just south of where the Twin Towers used to stand, about 20 feet below the surface.
September 11 attacks
On the morning of September 11, 2001, two hijackedAircraft hijacking
Aircraft hijacking is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group. In most cases, the pilot is forced to fly according to the orders of the hijackers. Occasionally, however, the hijackers have flown the aircraft themselves, such as the September 11 attacks of 2001...
planes
Fixed-wing aircraft
A fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...
bound for Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
were intentionally crashed into the two towers of the World Trade Center. The towers collapsed within two hours of the collisions. Terrorists affiliated with Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
organized and executed the attacks, in which nearly 3,000 people died. After the attacks, hospital workers and police officers began referring to the World Trade Center site as "Ground Zero".
Debris and clean-up
The collapse of the towers spread dust across New York City and left hundreds of thousands of tons of debris at the site. To organize the cleanup and search for survivors and for human remains, the New York Fire Department divided the disaster site into four sectors, each headed by its own chief. Early estimates suggested that debris removal would take a year, but cleanup ended in May 2002, under budget and without a single serious injury. Three years later, in February 2005, the New York City Medical Examiner's office ended its process of identifying human remains at the site.According to experts, when WTC 1 (the North Tower) collapsed, falling debris struck 7 World Trade Center and ignited fires on multiple floors. The uncontrolled fires ultimately led to the progressive collapse of the structure. Portions of the South Tower also damaged the nearby Deutsche Bank Building
Deutsche Bank Building
The Deutsche Bank Building was a skyscraper at 130 Liberty Street in New York City, United States, adjacent to the World Trade Center . Opened in 1974 as Bankers Trust Plaza, the building was acquired by Deutsche Bank when it acquired Bankers Trust in 1998. It was part of the skyline of Lower...
, which soon became filled with toxic dust. By 2002, Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG is a global financial service company with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. It employs more than 100,000 people in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets...
determined that its building was unsalvageable. By January 2011, the Deutsche Bank Building was finally completely demolished.
Cleanup workers trucked most of the building materials and debris from Ground Zero to Fresh Kills Landfill
Fresh Kills Landfill
The Fresh Kills Landfill was a landfill covering in the New York City borough of Staten Island in the United States. The name comes from the landfill's location along the banks of the Fresh Kills estuary in western Staten Island...
in Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
. Some people, such as those affiliated with World Trade Center Families for Proper Burial, were worried that human remains might also have been (inadvertently) transported to the landfill.
In August 2008, New York City firefighters donated a cross made of steel from the World Trade Center to the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Company. The beam, mounted atop a platform shaped like the Pentagon, was erected outside the Shanksville firehouse near the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93
United Airlines Flight 93
United Airlines Flight 93 was United Airlines' scheduled morning transcontinental flight across the United States from Newark International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco International Airport in California. On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the Boeing 757–222 aircraft operating the...
.
In December 2001, a temporary viewing platform at Fulton Street, between Church Street and Broadway, opened to the public.
On March 11, 2002, 88 searchlights were installed and arranged to form two beams of light shooting straight up into the sky. This is called the Tribute in Light
Tribute in Light
The Tribute in Light is an art installation of 88 searchlights placed next to the site of the World Trade Center to create two vertical columns of light in remembrance of the September 11 attacks. It is produced annually by The Municipal Art Society of New York...
, and was originally lit every day at dusk until April 14, 2002. After that, the lights were lit on the two-year anniversary of the attack and have been lit on each subsequent September 11 since then.
Archaeology
In July 2010 a team of archaeologists at the site discovered the remains of a 32 feet (9.8 m)-long boat over 200 years old; it was probably made in the 18th century and dumped there along with wooden beams and trash in about 1810 to make up the land. The boat had been weighted to make it sink as part of foundations for a new pierPier
A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...
. Samples of its wood have been taken for dendrochronology
Dendrochronology
Dendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree-rings. Dendrochronology can date the time at which tree rings were formed, in many types of wood, to the exact calendar year...
.
Rebuilding
Soon after the September 11 attacks, Mayor Rudy GiulianiRudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
, Governor George Pataki
George Pataki
George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006.- Early life :...
, and President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
vowed to rebuild the World Trade Center site. On the day of the attacks, Giuliani proclaimed, "We will rebuild. We're going to come out of this stronger than before, politically stronger, economically stronger. The skyline will be made whole again." During a visit to the site on September 14, 2001, Bush spoke to a crowd of cleanup workers through a megaphone. An individual in the crowd shouted, "I can't hear you," to which Bush replied, "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."
In a later address before Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, the president declared, "As a symbol of America's resolve, my administration will work with Congress, and these two leaders, to show the world that we will rebuild New York City." The immediate response from World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein
Larry Silverstein
Larry A. Silverstein is an American businessman, and real estate investor and developer in New York City.Silverstein was born in Brooklyn, and became involved in real estate, together with his father, establishing Silverstein Properties...
was that "it would be the tragedy of tragedies not to rebuild this part of New York. It would give the terrorists the victory they seek." However, ten years after the attacks, only one building, 7 World Trade Center
7 World Trade Center
7 World Trade Center is a building in New York City located across from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. It is the second building to bear that name and address in that location. The original structure was completed in 1987 and was destroyed in the September 11 attacks...
, has been rebuilt. Two buildings are in the construction phase currently, One World Trade Center and 150 Greenwich Street (known as Four World Trade Center). The original twin towers took less than three years from start of construction to be finished, and 5 years from the beginning planning stages.
Lower Manhattan Development Corporation
Governor Pataki established the Lower Manhattan Development CorporationLower Manhattan Development Corporation
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation was formed in July 2002, after the September 11 attacks to plan the reconstruction of Lower Manhattan and distribute nearly $10 billion in federal funds aimed at rebuilding downtown Manhattan....
(LMDC) in November 2001, as an official commission to oversee the rebuilding process. The LMDC coordinates federal
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
assistance in the rebuilding process, and works with the Port Authority
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is a bi-state port district, established in 1921 through an interstate compact, that runs most of the regional transportation infrastructure, including the bridges, tunnels, airports, and seaports, within the Port of New York and New Jersey...
, Larry Silverstein, and Studio Daniel Libeskind, the master plan architect for the site's redesign. The corporation also handles communication with the local community, businesses, the city of New York, and relatives of victims of the September 11 attacks. A 16-member board of directors, half appointed by the governor and half by the mayor of New York, governs the LMDC.
The LMDC had questionable legal status regarding the restoration of the World Trade Center site, because the Port Authority owns most of the property and Larry Silverstein leased the World Trade Center's office space in July 2001. But the LMDC, in an April 2002 articulation of its principles for action, asserted its role in revitalizing lower Manhattan.
Early proposals for redesign
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
s and urban planning
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
experts held meetings and forums to discuss ideas for rebuilding the site. In January 2002, New York City art dealer
Art dealer
An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art. Art dealers' professional associations serve to set high standards for accreditation or membership and to support art exhibitions and shows.-Role:...
Max Protetch
Max Protetch
Max Protetch is an American contemporary art dealer and founder of Max Protetch gallery in Washington, D.C., and later in New York City....
solicited 50 concepts and renderings
Rendering (computer graphics)
Rendering is the process of generating an image from a model , by means of computer programs. A scene file contains objects in a strictly defined language or data structure; it would contain geometry, viewpoint, texture, lighting, and shading information as a description of the virtual scene...
from artists and architects, which were put on exhibit in his Chelsea
Chelsea, Manhattan
Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The district's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, 30th Street to the north, the western boundary of the Ladies' Mile Historic District – which lies between the Avenue of the Americas and...
art gallery
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
.
In April 2002, the LMDC sent out requests for proposals to redesign the World Trade Center site to 24 Manhattan architecture firms, but then soon withdrew them. The following month, the LMDC selected Beyer Blinder Belle
Beyer Blinder Belle
Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP is an international architecture firm. It is based in New York City and has an additional office in Washington, DC. The firm's name is derived from the three founding partners: John H. Beyer, Richard Blinder, and John Belle. The three architects met...
as planner for the redesign of the World Trade Center site.
On July 16, 2002, Beyer Blinder Belle unveiled six concepts for redesigning the World Trade Center site. All six designs were voted "poor" by the roughly 5,000 New Yorkers that submitted feedback, so the LDMC announced a new, international, open-design study.
2002 World Trade Center site design competition
In an August 2002 press release, the LMDC announced a design study for the World Trade Center site. The following month, the LMDC, along with New York New Visions – a coalition of 21 architecture, engineering, planning, landscape architecture and design organizations – announced seven semifinalists. The following seven architecture firms were then invited to compete to be the master plan architect for the World Trade Center:- Foster and PartnersFoster and PartnersFoster + Partners is an architectural firm based in London. The practice is led by its founder and Chairman, Norman Foster, and has constructed many high-profile glass-and-steel buildings....
(Norman FosterNorman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames BankNorman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, OM is a British architect whose company maintains an international design practice, Foster + Partners....
) - Studio Daniel Libeskind (Daniel LibeskindDaniel LibeskindDaniel Libeskind, is an American architect, artist, and set designer of Polish-Jewish descent. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect...
) - Meier Eisenman Gwathmey Holl (Peter EisenmanPeter EisenmanPeter Eisenman is an American architect. Eisenman's professional work is often referred to as formalist, deconstructive, late avant-garde, late or high modernist, etc...
, Richard MeierRichard MeierRichard Meier is an American architect, whose rationalist buildings make prominent use of the color white.- Biography :Meier is Jewish and was born in Newark, New Jersey...
, Charles GwathmeyCharles GwathmeyCharles Gwathmey was an American architect. He was a principal at Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, as well as one of the five architects identified as The New York Five in 1969...
and Steven HollSteven HollSteven Holl is an American architect and watercolorist, perhaps best known for the 1998 Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum in Helsinki, Finland, the 2003 Simmons Hall at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the celebrated 2007 Bloch Building addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City,...
), sometimes known as "The Dream Team" - Skidmore, Owings and MerrillSkidmore, Owings and MerrillSkidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP is an American architectural and engineering firm that was formed in Chicago in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings; in 1939 they were joined by John O. Merrill. They opened their first branch in New York City, New York in 1937. SOM is one of the largest...
- THINK TeamTHINK TeamTHINK Team was a team of architects that developed a design for the rebuilding of ground zero of the New York City World Trade Center after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks....
(Shigeru BanShigeru BanShigeru Ban is an accomplished Japanese and international architect, most famous for his innovative work with paper, particularly recycled cardboard paper tubes used to quickly and efficiently house disaster victims...
, Frederic SchwartzFrederic SchwartzFrederic Schwartz is an American architect, author, and city planner whose work includes "Empty Sky," the New Jersey 9-11 Memorial, scheduled to be dedicated in Liberty State Park on September 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.A recipient of the prestigious Rome Prize in...
, Ken Smith, Rafael VinolyRafael ViñolyRafael Viñoly is an Uruguayan architect living in the United States.-Biography:He was born in Montevideo, Uruguay to Román Viñoly Barreto, and Maria Beceiro ....
) - United Architects
Peterson Littenberg, a small New York architecture firm, had been enlisted by the LMDC earlier that summer as a consultant, and was invited to participate as the seventh semifinalist.
The seven semifinalists presented their entries to the public on December 18, 2002 at the Winter Garden
Winter Garden Atrium
The Winter Garden Atrium is a 10-story glass-vaulted pavilion on Vesey Street in New York City's World Financial Center. Originally constructed in 1988, and substantially rebuilt in 2002, the Atrium houses various plants, trees and flowers, and shops...
of the World Financial Center
World Financial Center
The World Financial Center is a complex of buildings across West Street from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan in New York City, overlooking the Hudson River. This complex is home to offices of companies including Merrill Lynch, RBC Capital Markets, Nomura Group, the Wall Street...
. In the following weeks, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill withdrew its entry from the competition.
Days before the announcement of the two finalists in February 2003, Larry Silverstein wrote to LMDC Chair John Whitehead
John C. Whitehead
John Cunningham Whitehead is an American banker and civil servant, currently a board member of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation and, until his resignation in May 2006, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.-Biography:He was born in Evanston, Illinois...
to express his disapproval of all of the semifinalists' designs. As the Twin Towers' insurance money recipient, Silverstein claimed that he had the sole right to decide what would be built. He announced that he had already picked Skidmore, Owings & Merrill as his master planner for the site.
On February 1, 2003, the LMDC selected two finalists, the THINK Team and Studio Daniel Libeskind, and planned on picking a single winner by the end of the month.
Rafael Viñoly of the THINK Team and Studio Daniel Libeskind presented their designs to the LMDC, which selected the THINK design. Earlier the same day, however, Roland Betts, a member of the LMDC, had called a meeting and the corporation had agreed to vote for the THINK design before hearing the final presentations. Governor Pataki, who had originally commissioned the LMDC, intervened and overruled the LMDC's decision. On February 27, 2003, Studio Daniel Libeskind officially won the competition to be the master planner for the World Trade Center redesign.
Libeskind's original proposal, which is titled Memory Foundations
Memory Foundations
Memory Foundations is the name given by Daniel Libeskind to his site plan for the World Trade Center, which was selected by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to be the master plan for rebuilding at the World Trade Center site in New York City....
, underwent extensive revisions during collaboration with Larry Silverstein, and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, whom Silverstein hired. Though Libeskind designed the site, the individual buildings have been designed by different architects.
Detailed information about Libeskind's Memory Foundations site plan can be accessed at LMDC's website.
While not all of Liebeskind's ideas were incorporated into the final design, his design and the public support it garnered did solidify the principle that the original footprints of the Twin Towers should be turned into a memorial and not be used for commercial purposes. As a result, Liebeskind's lawyers at the New York firm of Wachtell Lipton embarked on the multi-year negotiation process to frame a master plan for the rebuilding.
Towers
United States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...
was signed.
The tower was a collaboration between Studio Daniel Libeskind and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill architect David Childs
David Childs
David M. Childs is the Consulting Design Partner at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. He is best known for his redesign of the new One World Trade Center in New York....
. Childs acted as the design architect and project manager for the tower, and Daniel Libeskind collaborated on the concept and schematic design. According to a NY1
NY1
NY1, New York One, is a 24-hour cable-news television channel focusing on the five boroughs of New York City. In addition to news and weather forecasts, the channel also features human-interest segments such as the "New Yorker of the Week" and the "Scholar Athlete of the Week", and specialty...
article on March 8, 2011, a plan to build a restaurant on top of One World Trade Center (to duplicate the Windows on the World
Windows on the World
Windows on the World was a complex of venues at the top floors of the North Tower of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan that included a restaurant, Windows on the World, a smaller restaurant called Wild Blue, and a bar called The Greatest Bar on Earth, as well as rooms for private functions...
restaurant of old) was scrapped entirely because of potential risk of rising costs to build and maintain the establishment over the benefits of having one at all. Also, one of the main tenants of this tower to be confirmed is the Condé Nast Publications
Condé Nast Publications
Condé Nast, a division of Advance Publications, is a magazine publisher. In the U.S., it produces 18 consumer magazines, including Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Vogue, as well as four business-to-business publications, 27 websites, and more than 50 apps...
company, once it officially opens.
British architect Norman Foster
Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank
Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, OM is a British architect whose company maintains an international design practice, Foster + Partners....
designed Tower Two, also known as 200 Greenwich Street. The building's distinctive slanted, diamond-shaped roof echoes Libeskind's original sketches for the building.
Richard Rogers Partnership
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners is a British architectural firm. Established in 2007, it was previously known as the Richard Rogers Partnership....
designed Tower Three, or 175 Greenwich Street, which stands across Greenwich Street from the Memorial's two reflecting pools.
Maki and Associates
Fumihiko Maki
is a Japanese architect and currently teaching at Keio University SFC.- Biography :After studying at the University of Tokyo he moved to the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and then to Harvard Graduate School of Design. In 1956, he took a post as assistant professor of...
designed Tower Four, also known as 150 Greenwich Street.
Tower 5 was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox
Kohn Pedersen Fox
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates , an architectural firm responsible for several world-renowned buildings, provides architectural, interior and urban design as well as programming and master planning services for clients in both the public and private sectors...
and will stand where the Deutsche Bank Building
Deutsche Bank Building
The Deutsche Bank Building was a skyscraper at 130 Liberty Street in New York City, United States, adjacent to the World Trade Center . Opened in 1974 as Bankers Trust Plaza, the building was acquired by Deutsche Bank when it acquired Bankers Trust in 1998. It was part of the skyline of Lower...
once stood. On June 22, 2007, the Port Authority announced that JP Morgan Chase will lease the 42-story building for its investment banking headquarters.; however, JPMorgan's March 2008 acquisition of Bear Stearns
Bear Stearns
The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. based in New York City, was a global investment bank and securities trading and brokerage, until its sale to JPMorgan Chase in 2008 during the global financial crisis and recession...
had put the future of the 130 Liberty Street site in question, as the company is now planning to relocate its headquarters to 383 Madison Avenue. Construction began on September 9, 2011.
7 World Trade Center
7 World Trade Center
7 World Trade Center is a building in New York City located across from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. It is the second building to bear that name and address in that location. The original structure was completed in 1987 and was destroyed in the September 11 attacks...
stands off of Port Authority property. David Childs of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill designed the tower, which opened in May 2006. The project company also announced that all of the towers will be completed even with the effects of the late 2000s recession
Late 2000s recession
The late-2000s recession, sometimes referred to as the Great Recession or Lesser Depression or Long Recession, is a severe ongoing global economic problem that began in December 2007 and took a particularly sharp downward turn in September 2008. The Great Recession has affected the entire world...
at the worst case before 2020.
Memorial
A memorial called "Reflecting Absence" honors the victims of the September 11 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing1993 World Trade Center bombing
The 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,336 lb urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to knock the North Tower into the South Tower , bringing...
. The memorial, designed by Peter Walker and Israeli-American
Israeli American
Israeli Americans are Americans of Israeli descent. According to the 2000 census, there were 106,839 people of Israeli ancestry in the United States.- Demographics :...
architect Michael Arad
Michael Arad
Michael Arad is an Israeli-American architect who best known for being the designer of the World Trade Center Memorial. He won the competition to design the memorial in 2004.-Early life and education:...
, consists of a field of trees interrupted by the footprints of the twin towers. Pools of water fill the footprints, underneath which sits a memorial space whose walls bear the names of the victims. The slurry wall
Slurry wall
A slurry wall is a technique used to build reinforced-concrete walls in areas of soft earth close to open water or with a high ground water table. This technique is typically used to build diaphragm walls surrounding tunnels and open cuts, and to lay foundations.A trench is excavated to create a...
, which holds back the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
in the west and was an integral part of Libeskind's proposal, remains exposed.
Walker and Arad were selected from more than 5,000 entrants in the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition
World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition
The World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition was an open, international memorial contest, initiated by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation , as per the specifications of architect Daniel Libeskind, to design a World Trade Center Site Memorial on a portion of the World Trade Center site...
in January 2004. Construction of the memorial was completed before September 11, 2011.
Museum
On October 12, 2004, the LMDC announced that Gehry Partners LLPFrank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...
and Snøhetta, a Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
architectural firm
Architectural firm
An architectural firm is a company which employs one or more licensed architects and practices the profession of architecture.- History :Architects have existed since early in recorded history. The earliest recorded architects include Imhotep and Senemut . No writings exist to describe how these...
, would design the site's performing arts and museum complexes, respectively.
The Snøhetta-designed museum will now act as a memorial museum and visitors' center, after family members of 9/11 victims objected to the building's original occupant, the International Freedom Center
International Freedom Center
The International Freedom Center was a proposed museum to be located adjacent to the site of Ground Zero at the former World Trade Center in New York City, USA...
.
Gehry's performing arts complex will now house only the Joyce Theater, because the Signature Theater Company dropped out due to space constraints and cost limitations.
Transportation Hub
Santiago Calatrava
Santiago Calatrava Valls is a Spanish architect, sculptor and structural engineer whose principal office is in Zürich, Switzerland. Classed now among the elite designers of the world, he has offices in Zürich, Paris, Valencia, and New York City....
designed the World Trade Center Transportation Hub (its main asset being the PATH station ) to replace the old World Trade Center station
World Trade Center (PATH station)
The World Trade Center PATH station originally opened on July 19, 1909 as the Hudson Terminal. When the Hudson Terminal was torn down to make way for the World Trade Center, a new station was built, which opened in 1971...
. The Transport Hub will connect the PATH station and 1 New York City Transit Authority
New York City Transit Authority
The New York City Transit Authority is a public authority in the U.S. state of New York that operates public transportation in New York City...
subway train to the ferry terminal, the World Financial Center
World Financial Center
The World Financial Center is a complex of buildings across West Street from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan in New York City, overlooking the Hudson River. This complex is home to offices of companies including Merrill Lynch, RBC Capital Markets, Nomura Group, the Wall Street...
and One World Trade Center on the west and the New York City Transit Authority subway trains through the Fulton Street Transit Center
Fulton Street Transit Center
The Fulton Street Transit Center is a $1.4 billion project under construction of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority , a public agency of the state of New York...
on the East. One will be able to walk most of the way across lower Manhattan. The Port Authority will cool the new station, as well as the September 11 Memorial and Museum, via a heat exchanger fed by four pipes carrying water from the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. The cost for the transportation hub is estimated at $3.44 billion.
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church
Government officials have backed down from a July 2008 deal to relocate the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox ChurchSt. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church stood across Liberty Street from the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, USA. It was completely destroyed in the September 11, 2001, attacks when the South Tower collapsed...
, the only church destroyed in the September 11 attacks.
A deal has been reached between church officials, Governor Andrew Cuomo, and the Port Authority to have the church rebuilt on the same site, but three times the original size on October 14, 2011, according to NY1
NY1
NY1, New York One, is a 24-hour cable-news television channel focusing on the five boroughs of New York City. In addition to news and weather forecasts, the channel also features human-interest segments such as the "New Yorker of the Week" and the "Scholar Athlete of the Week", and specialty...
.
Construction
, progress on the construction of the redesigned site is as follows:- 1 World Trade CenterFreedom TowerOne World Trade Center , more simply known as 1 WTC and formerly known as the Freedom Tower, is the lead building of the new World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan in New York City...
– Construction began in April 2006; two years later, tower-foundation steel columns, concrete, and rebar had been installed. In 2006, the Port Authority took over from Silverstein Properties as the project's developer. Tishman Construction CorporationTishman Realty & ConstructionTishman Realty & Construction is an American corporation that owns and operates Tishman Construction Corporation and Tishman Hotel & Realty.-Tishman Construction Corporation:...
is the construction manager. The estimated completion date is 2013. - 2 World Trade Center – Groundbreaking in July 2008. Will be completed in 2015.
- 3 World Trade Center – Groundbreaking in March 2008. Will be completed in 2014. In April 2008, excavation and preparations for foundation work took place.
- 4 World Trade Center – Construction began in 2008. Will be completed in 2013.
- 5 World Trade Center – Construction began on September 9, 2011. The Port Authority acts as the building's developer.
- 7 World Trade Center7 World Trade Center7 World Trade Center is a building in New York City located across from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. It is the second building to bear that name and address in that location. The original structure was completed in 1987 and was destroyed in the September 11 attacks...
– Opened on May 23, 2006 and achieved LEEDLeadership in Energy and Environmental DesignLeadership in Energy and Environmental Design consists of a suite of rating systems for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, homes and neighborhoods....
gold status. - National September 11 Memorial & Museum – Partially complete. The Memorial opened on September 11, 2011, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the attacks. The museum will open in September 2012.
- Performing Arts Center – Construction will begin after 2014 since a temporary exit from the PATH station will occupy the site until then.
See also
- Collapse of the World Trade CenterCollapse of the World Trade CenterThe twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed on September 11, 2001, as a result of al-Qaeda's September 11 attacks, in which terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners, flying one into the North Tower and another into the South Tower...
- Controversy surrounding the rebuilding of the World Trade CenterControversy surrounding the rebuilding of the World Trade CenterThe controversy surrounding the reconstruction of the World Trade Center stems from the plans to rebuild the former twin towers of the original World Trade Center in New York City. The Lower Manhattan Development Corp...
- Health effects arising from the September 11 attacks
- Survivors' StaircaseSurvivors' StaircaseThe Survivors' Staircase is the last visible structure above ground level at the World Trade Center site. It was originally two outdoor flights of granite-clad stairs and an escalator that connected Vesey Street to the World Trade Center's Austin J. Tobin Plaza...
- Verizon BuildingVerizon BuildingThe Verizon Building is a 32-story Art Deco building in New York City, located in Lower Manhattan. It is named for Verizon Communications, for which it is the headquarters. The building is located at 140 West Street, adjacent to the World Trade Center site and 7 World Trade Center, and is bounded...
External links
- Official site - Silverstein Properties
- Tribute WTC 9/11 Visitor Center
- Reviving Ground Zero - interactive slideshow with audio by The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
- Downtown Restoration Program - Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
- National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center
- Project Rebirth
- World Trade Center Rising
- RebuildGroundZero.org, a community project based on Ground Zero's rebuilding.
- The Freedom Tower (YouTube)