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Archive New York, NY

Built, modified

One World Trade Center (Freedom Tower)

285 Fulton St, New York, NY 10007

This may be the most-viewed unbuilt rendering in American architectural history. Daniel Libeskind's Freedom Tower concept ran in newspapers worldwide in December 2003. The building that actually opened at the site a decade later, while it kept the symbolic 1,776-foot height, is a different design by a different architect.

What got built

Current photograph of One World Trade Center (Freedom Tower) in New York.
Photograph by Acroterion, 2019-06-04. Source. CC BY-SA 4.0.

This photograph was verified against the project and published with recorded first-party, public-domain, or reusable-license rights. How the visual evidence works.

What changed

  • Libeskind's plan, unveiled December 19, 2003, called for a 1,776-foot asymmetrical tower with a parallelogram floor plan, an off-center spire, and an open-air steel lattice containing wind turbines and 'sky gardens.'
  • The New York City Police Department objected to the design on security grounds, including its proximity to West Street and extensive glazing.
  • The final design, unveiled in June 2005 and credited to David Childs of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, replaced the asymmetrical tower and rooftop lattice with a symmetrical, chamfered glass form on a reinforced concrete base.
  • The completed tower retained the symbolic height and its place within Libeskind's master plan, while its tower form and structure were designed by Childs and SOM.
  • One World Trade Center opened November 3, 2014. Contemporary accounts reported a construction cost of about $3.9 billion; an earlier approximately $3 billion estimate should not be treated as directly comparable without reconciling scope.

Why it changed

Security concerns raised by the New York City Police Department are well documented as a driver of the 2005 redesign. The final David Childs/SOM tower retained the symbolic 1,776-foot height and master-plan context but replaced Libeskind's proposed tower form. The sources reviewed did not provide strong enough direct support to retain a separate claim about leaseholder liability motives.

Details

Status
Built, with documented differences from the rendering.
Where
New York, NY
Neighborhood
Lower Manhattan
Developer
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey / Silverstein Properties (Larry Silverstein, leaseholder)
Architect
Daniel Libeskind (2003 master plan and original Freedom Tower concept); David Childs of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (final design)
Rendering credit
Studio Daniel Libeskind, World Trade Center master plan renderings, 2003
The built result
Photographed by Acroterion, 2019-06-04

Sources

  1. Wikipedia: One World Trade Center en.wikipedia.org
  2. ICON Magazine: One World Trade Center, a fortress enveloped in glass iconeye.com
  3. SOM: One World Trade Center som.com
  4. History: One World Trade Center opens November 3, 2014 history.com
  5. New York Times: 1,776-foot World Trade Center design unveiled (Dec 2003) nytimes.com

Research checked . Status and figures are updated when a source changes.

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