The high-rise building, designed by Fumihiko Maki, has been numbered 4 at the New World Trade Center complex in Manhattan. It is also planned to complete this year's SOM Building # 1, formerly known as the Freedom Tower and already the tallest in the United States (541 m including a spire). Skyscrapers # 2 and # 3, designed by Norman Foster and Richard Rogers, respectively, are in the early stages of construction. These four towers form the backbone of the complex, which has been implemented since the early 2000s according to the master plan of Daniel Libeskind - however, with significant adjustments in favor of safety and profitability for the developer - Silverstein Properties.
Initially, it was assumed that such a significant project for the whole country would be implemented promptly: it was important to show that the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 did not inflict a crushing blow on either the United States or Manhattan as their main center of business activity. But due to the intricate network of interests of the developer, the city and state authorities, the port authority, the families of the victims of the terrorist attack, the construction could not start in earnest - also because Libeskind's plan and the project of Santiago Calatrava's transport terminal turned out to be extremely difficult to implement. Thus, the terminal will cost as a result an astronomical amount: almost 4 billion dollars, and this is after a significant simplification of the architect's plan (among other things, the "wings" of its floors will not open in good weather). It has been built since 2007 and will not open until mid-2015.
The creation of the memorial (architect Michael Arad) and the museum (bureau Snøhetta) was also not easy: one was opened in 2011, the second was completed only by next spring. Only tower 7 was quickly erected, to which Libeskind's master plan and the plan for the "reconstruction of Ground Zero" in general had nothing to do: this discreet building of the SOM bureau opened back in 2006.
The new tower of Fumihiko Maki, "number 4", is also modest in its design: its lower part has a trapezoid in plan (57 floors), the upper - a square (15 floors). The total height is just under 300 m (72 floors). The facades are covered with glass panels of increased transparency; from the outside they have a softly reflective surface. The layout takes into account the wishes of future tenants (so far two city administrations have moved in): there are no corner columns, and therefore the "elite" corner offices and meeting rooms received an uninterrupted panorama of the city. There is a distance of 24 m between all the perimeter columns, so that the views of New York look the most impressive from any room.
At the height of the 57th floor, at the point of narrowing of the building, there is a spacious terrace for events, but the main public spaces are located below: the first three tiers of the building will be occupied by lobbies, cafes and shops, and the architect neatly separated the commercial from the "civil" part, since the tower is located next to the memorial.
The public area is marked outside with metal profiles, and the interior is dominated by monochrome colors, only the corridors leading to the elevators are finished with anegri wood. The lobby houses the kinetic sculpture "Memory of Heaven" by Nishino Kozo.
