1WTC - A Phoenix Rising

A shift in the balance of Manhattan Island occurred this week, and it wasn't financial moguls conceding to Occupy Wall Street's lists of grievances.  The event was something a bit more tangible as the center of Gotham's architectural prowess moved southward from Midtown to Lower Manhattan.

BOSTON, MA (Catholic Online) - On Monday, steel columns for the structural frame of One World Trade Center were hoisted a dizzying 1,250 feet and bolted into place, surpassing the height of the Empire State Building's observation deck.  It will take another year of construction before the tower reaches its final height - a lofty 1,776 feet (that auspicious number should ring a bell).  At which time, it will have become the tallest building in the United States and the 3rd tallest in the world.
 
But before we puff up our chests and call out the marching bands, we need to acknowledge that measuring buildings is one part science and two parts justification.  To illustrate: the final height of 1WTC is measured to the top of its 408 foot spire; the Empire State Building when measured from the sidewalk to the tip of its antenna is 1,454 feet high; Chicago's Willis Tower, formerly known by its more recognizable name, the Sears Tower, currently our country's tallest building, measures 1,451 feet from the sidewalk to its roof.

You might ask with a justifiably skeptical tone:  How can the Willis Tower be taller than the Empire State building when it is, in fact, 3 feet shorter?  And how can we say that 1WTC in its unfinished state is now taller than the Empire State Building when it is currently still 200 feet shorter?  In order to decipher the enigma, note three subtle distinctions among the measurements: spire, antenna, roof.  The key: spires count; antennae do not.  No adjustments for height above sea level are allowed even though it would seem equally capricious.  So thus, because the steel frame of New York's sprouting icon is now higher than the Empire State Building's observation deck, it can boast of the achievement.

1WTC, rising from the literal ashes in the footprint of what had been 6 World Trade Center, emerges from a square base equal in size to that of the Twin Towers.  Rising vertically for 187 feet, its glass-covered concrete base will contain no occupiable space other than the lobby.  From this point, the corners of the square begin to chamfer, the process of which increases in length in proportion to the building height and slowly converts the square to an octagon at its midpoint and then back again to a square as the building reaches its top floor (104).  The effect of this geometric morphing is to create an elegant steeple-like form.

Sheathed in a finely detailed glass skin and stripped of extraneous ornamentation, the beauty of this structure is found in the purity of its form.  It boasts not of itself, but acting as a popper steeple should, it directs us to that upon which it is grounded.  Our steeple anchors the corner of the 16 acre site as a sentinel overlooking a park, guarding its two sunken fountains that ceaselessly bathe the former sites of each of the Twin Towers.   There is an obvious symbolic straight line between water as site's center of focus and the burgeoning new life around it.  The symbolism is heightened by the fact that the fountain was the first "recreation" completed in the heart of the complex.

Architecturally, the original structures that accompanied the Twin Towers were unmemorable.  In contrast, the new plan consists of a series of five towers and a major transportation center; each of which has been designed by a different "starchitect."  The siting of the new towers pays appropriate reverence to the park and the fountains, and with the exception of the future 2 World Trade Center, the designs for the buildings show remarkable restraint and deference.   2WTC, our aforementioned exception, is designed as a bundle of four extruded trapezoids whose tops have been sliced at a steep angle.  The concept drawings state that the intent of the sloped roofs is to direct attention away from itself and downward to each of the fountains, but, while acknowledging brilliance in this geometric complexity, its feigned humility is akin to a prom queen stating that she is wearing a provocative dress in order to show off her boyfriend.

Overall the master plan for the redevelopment will re-knit the physical urban fabric of lower Manhattan.   Streets formerly erased from the map by the design of previous complex have been rebuilt, reintroducing a more appropriate scale to the street pattern in a neighborhood that is centuries old.  And in spite of the posturing about its height, 1WTC is already an elegant edifice, and inarguably it will find itself a home in the pantheon of New York's great buildings.

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