Architects David Childs and Daniel Libeskind have been refining the skyscraper "concept" created jointly in December 2003 for a year and a half. When the updated version was almost ready, the New York Police Department issued a belated demand to make the building safer, protecting it as much as possible from terrorist attacks, in particular from the explosion of a bomb planted in a car.
As a result, the tower was moved away from the roadway by 12 meters, and its base was turned into a monolithic pedestal with a height of 20 floors (60 m). In total, the structure will rise to 1,362 feet (415 m), which is equal to the height of one of the twin towers, and together with the parapet of the roof, its height will be 1,368 feet (417 m), which repeats the second structure. The total height, thanks to a huge spire-antenna, will reach the symbolic 1,776 feet (541 m) - in 1776 the United States gained independence.
In the process of reworking the project, the energetic, upwardly twisted shape of the first edition disappeared, and the spire, placed on the edge of the tower's roof, echoing the raised hand of the Statue of Liberty, moved to a stable center. The plan has turned from a parallelogram into a square with a side of 60 m - like in the old WTC skyscrapers. The lightweight structure at the top of the tower of cables and wind turbines has disappeared entirely.
The cubic base of the building, where only small window-slots at a height of 9 m are provided, will accommodate the lobby and technical floors. The outside of the block will be enlivened by engraved metal sheets.
Landscape architect Peter Walker is called upon to revive the space around him, for whom this is the second order in the new WTC complex: he also created, together with Michael Arad, a project for a memorial to victims of terrorist attacks.
Above, the plan square will smoothly turn into an octagon, and then again into a square. In general, the new project has much more in common with the old World Trade Center, and, given the monolithic pedestal of the skyscraper, it far surpasses its predecessors in severity and inaccessibility. The response to terrorists, which the building should embody, has turned from a challenge to the world of freedom to a challenge to a powerful empire.
