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Johnny Schoppy
Ms. Tillery
British Literature
28 October 2011
Freedom Tower
Many aspects are involved in the building process besides the actual construction and
engineering of the building, the architecture is the most important. Architecture is the overall
look and appearance of a building. Giving the building a curb appeal or that outside appearance
and what very little people do know in the structure of what is hidden inside. After the dreaded
attacks that occurred on September 11th, 2001 the City of New York was left with a colossal foot
print of what is now ground zero. In the past decade New York has wanted to do something with
that and in the past five years that something has begun to take shape. Two of the world’s most
pristine architects went head to head deciding the master plan of this magnificent building.
Though the architects butted heads, together they came up with the architecture and the
construction plans that make this building elegant and beautiful as well as structurally sound and
virtually indestructible this building is now known around the world as the Freedom Tower.
A few months after the attacks on September 11, 2001, the Governor of New York,
George E. Pataki, devised a plan and established the Lower Manhattan Development
Corporation. This corporation had commission over the rebuilding at ground zero. Many designs
came up but none really suit the job until there was an international competition in order to find
the best idea for the new world trade center that should be built, the winner would have the
ultimate right to design and built the new world trade center. The winner of the design contest
was a man named Daniel Libeskind. After the design of Libeskind was picked, some problems

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sprouted the land owner Larry Silverstein thought that it was his right to choose an architect of
his choice. Not taking Sliverstein much time at all to find an architect that would give him the
new world trade center that he was in search for.
The new architect was David Childs from the world famous architecture company
Skidmore Owings and Merrill (Architecture). Though the plan was for Childs and Libeskind to
collaborate and make the ultimate World Trade Center, but that idea slowly went down the drain
with Childs coming out on top as the lead architect it was his idea that ranked supreme, thus
making Libeskind in charge of the master plan (One World Trade Center). On the other hand,
Libeskinds idea that won over the hearts of Americans it was a very symbolic and meaningful
tower that was environmentally friendly by providing its own power and much of the
surrounding Manhattan area (Rebuilding NYC). The one down fall of his idea was it did not
provide as much office space as Silverstein wanted and Childs plan provided that. Ever though
Libeskind’s plan was more elegant and a greater symbol of the tragedy it was not as
economically friendly to Sliverstein, he wanted the extra cash flow. With the new height of the
tower at a symbolic 1,776 feet tall this would give Silvertein the office space he desired.
The final design plan for the new world trade center, Freedom Tower, will be the tallest
building in New York City and even the United States. Freedom tower has an ultra-modern type
of architecture to it; this is a very crisp and clean style that is very popular now in today’s society
(World Trade Center). The building will sit on a 200 foot pedestal of stainless steel due to the
idea of another terrorist attack from the street. The 200 foot pedestal would give the people there
first impression of the building and rather creating a fortress, Childs wanted the building to be
bright and inviting piece of art. George E. Pataki the Governor of New York stated, "I shared the
fears that the security issues would lead the base to be something more intimidating than

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inviting," he said, "but the building is light and very luminescent and very inviting, and at the
same time meets the highest security standards in the world" (Revised Design for Freedom
Tower Unveiled ).
The pedestal would be covered; Mr. Childs now proposed to cover the base in panels of
laminated glass with a saw-tooth face made of prisms in a vertical array. The light traveling
through them would create rainbows of colors which would take away the look of the fortress
that was inched behind the glass. Many people thought this was going to affect the invitingness
of the building as Kenneth J. Ringler Jr., New Jersey and New York’s Port Authority Director
states, "there were many concerns that this was going to resemble fortress” (Revised Design for
Freedom Tower Unveiled).
Furthermore, the building will be in somewhat of a square with tapered corners. When
seen from the north and south the Freedom tower gives an illusion of the original twin towers.
When seen from the east and west it is in the shape of an obelisk resembling the Washington
Monument (Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero- Unique Shape). The building will have 2.6 million
square feet of office space which really suit Silverstein’s fancy (1 World Trade Center
Footprint). At the top, the last 408 feet of the tower's height would be a white structure, clad in
fiberglass composite panels, with a gentle convex curve in the middle. Designed in collaboration
with the sculptor Kenneth Snelson, it would hide a bristling forest of antennas (Revised Design
for Freedom Tower Unveiled). The building would also have a spire that would resemble an
abstract version of the Statue of Liberty’s touch and at night the spire would be illuminated. In
addition the spire will give the Freedom Tower that extra distance into the sky to reach that
symbolic height of 1,776 feet which is the year America got their independence (The Plan for
Lower Manhattan).

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The Architecture of the new freedom tower calls for reinforcements. The architecture
and engineering of the new tower are intended to with stand any terrorist attacks such as an
airplane from above or an attack at ground level, it will be built to withstand it all. Working from
the bottom up the building will be lifted 200 feet up by a massive steel pedestal. With the
pedestal made with the strongest steel in the world it will also be sealed with layers of concrete.
The phrase "concrete bunker" was tossed around (Revised Design for Freedom Tower Unveiled).
These walls are called the blast walls within them there will be reinforce steel bars and high
density concrete built to with stand the explosions. Freedom tower was practically indestructible
at ground level (Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero- Tower One Reinforcement).
As the building goes up it still maintains its indestructible quality. This barrier has a very
pleasant glass covering as mentioned before. A new concept was introduced in to this building as
a result of the accidents of nine eleven. The twin towers had and elevator system that had to stop
midway up this was to get in to a different elevator if one needed to proceed higher. Now in the
new construction the elevators do not have a drop off floor instead each elevator is able to go to
the very top and to the very bottom this is a fairly new concept that has been incorporated in
today’s sky scrapers. Also out of the five elevators in the new Freedom Tower on will be water
proof this is a great plus. For example, if the building where to catch fire and the sprinkler
system turns on this allows people to take the elevator to the ground floor rather than running
down a hundred flights of stairs (Revised Design for Freedom Tower Unveiled).
The stairs would still be a safe route because Freedom Tower will not make the same
mistake as the twin towers; they will be the safest way down if another accident occurs. Four sets
of stairs will be within Freedom Tower and each stair case will be surrounded on all sides by
three feet of very dense concrete. The walls of concrete will serve as somewhat of a backbone for

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the tower by providing excellent support (Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero- Tower One
Reinforcement). Engineers believe that with this kind of support the tower will be able to
withstand the impact of a plane no doubt. Another great safety precaution that was incorporated
in the building it will now be safe from above with its new concrete backbone as well as from the
ground with the pedestal. The buildings security surpasses the Twin Tower’s by a long shot the
United States has made the mistake once and that same mistake will hopefully never happen
again (Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero- The Master Plan). All in all, the freedom tower will be
one of the safest sky scrapers in the world if not the safest.
In conclusion, the master plan was success. Through the combined efforts of Daniel
Libeskind and David Childs the new Freedom Tower is going to be breath taking. As a team they
sought out the week points in the Twin Towers and went from there. Their goal to build a
beautiful architectural building that was also very resilient. Freedom Tower will not just stand as
a world trade center, but as a world icon that the United States as a society will never forget and
give up what happened on that day in September. The Freedom Tower will be an icon of beauty
and perseverance and also a place of remembrance for all the people that gave their life due to
the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers. Even after the Libskind and Childs disagreements the
final product will definitely be worth their efforts by building a sleek, durable structure that will
become an icon and one of the few faces of the United States of America.

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Works Cited
“Architecture.” Inhabitat New York City. © Inhabitat.com, 2011. Web. 15 Sept. 2011.
<http://inhabitat.com/nyc/the-tower-that-could-have-been-daniel-libeskinds-award-
winning-wtc-design/>.
“One World Trade Center.” About.com. About.com, 2011. Web. 15 Sept. 2011.
<http://architecture.about.com/od/worldtradecenter/ig/World-Trade-Center-Plans/>.
“1 World Trade Center Footprint.” About.com. About.com, 2011. Web. 15 Sept. 2011.
<http://architecture.about.com/od/worldtradecenter/ig/World-Trade-Center-Plans/
Ground-Floor-Plan.htm>.
“The Plan for Lower Manhattan.” LMDC. Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, 2007.
Web. 15 Sept. 2011. <http://www.renewnyc.com/plan_des_dev/wtc_site/
new_design_plans/default.asp>.
“Rebuilding NYC.” GothamGazette. Citizens Union Foundation, 2011. Web. 15 Sept. 2011.
<http://www.gothamgazette.com/rebuilding_nyc/freedomtower/>.
“Revised Design for Freedom Tower Unveiled.” The New York Times. The New York Times
Company, 2011. Web. 15 Sept. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/28/nyregion/
28cnd-freedom.html>.
The Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero- The Master Plan. DIscoveryNetworks, 2011. Youtube.
Web. 15 Sept. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/user/DiscoveryNetworks#p/search/11/
GUw40Reyxcc>.
The Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero- Tower One Reinforcement. DiscoveryNetworks, 2011.
Youtube.com. Web. 15 Sept. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rj-
NSqfRfE&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL7E758A9C1891ED44>.

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Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero - Unique Shape. DiscoveryTV, 2011. Youtube. Web. 15 Sept.
2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKs8UOEdp0E>.
“World Trade Center.” World Trade Center. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey,
2011. Web. 15 Sept. 2011. <http://www.panynj.gov/wtcprogress/index.html>.