David Childs used the year since the previous version was published to soften the image of the building, which looked like a bunker to many.
The base of the tower, almost 60 m high, will not be clad with metal sheets, as previously assumed, but, on the contrary, will be decorated with a screen made of glass prisms. 2000 panels measuring 1.2 x 4 m will differ in different thicknesses, so the facade will be enlivened by the play of shadows and rainbow reflections of the sun's rays. At the base of the building, benches for the rest of the townspeople will be arranged, located in the form of stairs. There, landscape architect Peter Walker will break the park.
Inside the base there will be a 15 m high lobby, as well as various technical equipment. Above, 69 office floors are planned to be enclosed by a glass curtain wall. Interfloor ceilings will not be highlighted in it, which should give the tower greater lightness and unity.
Even higher will be 11 technical floors, above them - two restaurant floors, an observation deck, three more floors of equipment - and 124 meters of fiberglass construction designed by sculptor Kenneth Snelson, behind which a whole forest of various antennas will hide. At the base of the spire there will be another sculptural form - a disc with a diameter of about 50 m, in which various equipment will also be hidden.
At 1,776 feet (reminiscent of the US independence date) (541 m), the $ 2 billion Freedom Tower will be the tallest skyscraper in the United States.
The pit for its foundation began to be dug in April this year, and the construction is planned to be completed in 2011-2012.
The project presented now has been declared almost final. His public assessments were divided: the majority welcome the more open and transparent new look of the "Freedom Tower", but at the same time, to many, it seems somewhat banal for the construction of such great symbolic and ideological significance.
