heres the latest design>
still 541m to spire or 415m roof.
bit of SWFC influence?

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/409/Gren-Libe.jpg

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/276/oldnew5dt.jpg

looks like a fort around the base of the scraper

It's not very good is it. The base is just plain ghastly, and the spire doesn't suit the shape of the building at all. The facade and mid section is fine, but hardly groundbreaking. All in all, it's pretty uninspirining considering the site.

^^ Typical boring american tower...

Ew yuck doesn't even look like there's a memorial for the victims of those terrorist pussies.

A pit isn't enough of a memorial in my eyes.

Tyrant Tower.

Freedom finally begins!

http://www.pathrestoration.com/drp/images/gallery/wtcth/2006/05/FreedomTwr01.jpg

elevation>
http://i5.tinypic.com/15d1kz6.jpg

I never used to like the design, but the more I see it, the more I like it. It's pretty cool!

I like the design, I just do not like where it is being built.
You dont build on graves!!!

The WTC site is a site where thousands of people had their lives cut short. It should be completely reserved as a park where people can go to mourn.

I like the design, I just do not like where it is being built.
You dont build on graves!!!

The WTC site is a site where thousands of people had their lives cut short. It should be completely reserved as a park where people can go to mourn.

You could think of it as a giant memorial.

I think it is also a symbol of Americas defiance in the face of terrorism, for the entire nation.

I like the design, I just do not like where it is being built.
You dont build on graves!!!

The WTC site is a site where thousands of people had their lives cut short. It should be completely reserved as a park where people can go to mourn.
actually,the Freedom tower is located across on Fulton Street. its adjacent to where WTC stood. if you see large elevation to the right you will see the underground waterfall, thats the footprint of 1WTC and 2WTC is further right.(also 2nd render with invisble WTC. there footprints will be sunken memorials with encassed waterfalls and memorial plaque with peoples names.
So its NOT on there graves, but next to it. the site of WTC will dedicated space for parks and memorial water features. well designed actually.

I actually like the new design and model of the tower compared to what most people say about it. It looks much better than the original, and I think one tower rather than two is better, as I think it pays respect to the original two towers.

You dont build on graves!!!

Why not?

Its fecking disgusting top to toe. How could anyone let this trite be built?

The base does look like a medieval fort - so iniviting.

The top looks like a bird shat on it - no integration. Twin antennae would have suited it better also and at least given rise to some 'twiness' in the design.

I think we should kill childs and silverstein and anyone else that helped this crapfest on its merry way.

The Freedom Tower isn't that good IMO. It looks like 1/4 of Foster's proposal. And they should have used Foster's proposal if not the original twin towers.

But it could be like the Eiffel Tower, everyone thought it was disgusting and ugly when it was built. Then afterwards, everyone seemed to like it. It could be the same with FT.

this is a fine design. you guys are nutz.?

^It may be a 'fine design', but it's not worth anything architecturally. It's a watered down version of what was envisioned for the site, and it looks it....and it's just terrible at street level. I would rather nothing be built on the site than idiotic rubbish like Freedom Tower.

it looks so Seventies, like John Hancock or whatever it is in Chicago.

Much narrower at the top than the twins, harder for planes to line up I guess.

Why not?

It has been done and will be done in the future.

As for the design.
I hate it, it is not somber enough for it's location and as far as i can see can not representing the dead. A grand structure should be built in memory of the peoples lives it should be elegant and thought provoking. This does none of them , it hardly original or bright and it's base is discusting and shows clear disregard to the emotional state of the nation to the site. :bash:

This will make NYC the laughing stock of the world. What a shitty contribution to people those died. The base looks like Fort Knox and top looks like albatross trying to cover it up by shitting on it.

How the fuck can they build this? It's a visual disaster. It's worse than WTC by a mile!

The dicks who called this Freedom Tower. It brings tyrany to the centre of Manhattam! But this time, a permanant monument representing tyrany. Just by looking at the bottom, you can tell that the terrorists have won!

its ok guys, settle. its about as bland as what was there so no need to expect a burj dubai or anything. it will be a great addtion to skyline especially with the other 3x 1000footers earmarked for the site. the top ob deck and spire are excellent and will light up the skyline majestically.its all good guys.

without wanting to sound vular people 'remains' were all over the vacinity. The forces and weight involved in the collapse alone sadly ground bodies to virtually nothing. Remains continued to be found on ledges and rooftops for many months all over the surrounding area. Skeletal remains/fragments where found on a roof of a building not so long ago. The footprints are enough to leave as a memorial. I was PROFOUNDLY affected by this attack and the horrors of that day but life goes on.
...and yes, the base is hideous!

amended design is in! the observation crown is now hovering and higher.
http://img431.imageshack.us/img431/7407/modelsouthelevation06275xr.jpg

also the base cnrs are cut
http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/6822/westplaza0627068gb.jpg

It's a second rate supertall.

The top looks ghastly, just plain ghastly. You would dead set have to be blind to come up with such an awkeward looking arrangement.

It looks like someone is about to stick a giant olive on it.

Bottom looks like a glass fort now as opposed to a metal fort.

No Burj or SWFC is it.

Could have been though. You could say the old twins were ugly so no reason to expect more this time round, but not so, this is a clean slate, it could have been something special.

Instead, it's just pure mediocrity.

...but then we expected that all along on this site with so many cooks in the kitchen.

Its not that bad, if this was proposed for brisbane, sydney or melbourne, and wasnt approved most of us would be complaining about it not being built!

The original design was better, but still it has to be an improvement of what was there, the wtc was just 2 large boxes lol. At least this 'attempts' to have some design, although it should of been another Burj Dubai or similar, something with style.

Yeah but it's not proposed in Australia. A building can only be examined in the context of it's actual surroundings. Otherwise Festival towers could be excused as brilliant if we were to say they wouldn't complain about getting it in Mogadishu!

So in the context of NYC and in particular that site, the building is a pretty darn average effort.

A comprimise.

And let me tell you something about comprimises, they always suck!:P

You know it finally is starting to look better, that hovering crown makes a massive improvement. that close up really shows some nice treatment with the facade too. I have never liked it but its looking better than only a few months ago.

It should have been much better though - even chicago is eyeing the Fordham spire. NYC should have gotten Foster's twins.

Oh God.. it looks even uglier! I think it would be better if Foster designed the facade to make it look like his proposal, I wish they kept the old twins anyway.

To me Foster's pashing twins were a far superior design and were a symbol of unity. The only thing the Freedom Tower has going for it is that it's 1,776 feet to the top of spire and I don't think that that is immediately obvious to anyone looking at it from street level or anyone who doesn't actually know the height.

The spire temps me to put a huge olive ontop.

I don't mind the design; I like the way it appears to twist from the bottom to look somethong like the top of one of the old WTC towers. I still have the TV image in my head of one of the towers tilting and twisting as it collapsed.

Some one wanted something sombre to remember those who died in September 2001 - the base couldn't be more like a mausoleum.

The top will be spectacular especially if it gets imaginative lighting treatments.

Some people have mentioned that we should tread lightly around this building because people died there. You shouldn't be so squeamish; if you live in a house, especially one over 50 years old, there's a good chance that someone died there. Death is a part of life. You travel on roads which have claimed more lives than Australians killed at war. People die in office buildings all the time, patients, visitors, people working at their desks etc. One year old apartment towers would probably have had at least one death on the premises.

yeah its a beuaty. seems like everyone expects too much.
anyway back to construction.
webcam>
http://www.earthcam.net/users/interface.php?id=445&projectid=202&clientid=158[/QUOTE]
thats one big site!
july 19
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/5976/grouindzerons5.jpg

nothing to do with freedom tower. i was just scoping google earth in NYC and couldnt believe how big Central park was. measured 4.1km x 840m wide. fark?
thats equal in sydney from circular quay station to Redfern station!! meaning the isle of manhattan is massive. it measures 21km long!! or equal to sydney CBd to Miranda in the south or Parramatta to the west.!
no wonder they gave up on updating the NYC city model.

Its hard to comprehend hey. Even thinking just about Midtown to Downtown, it's just so huge.

Aren't there any better renders??? Surely a building of this importance has more than a few grey computer graphics...Vision has tuns!!

i think its nice to have a simplistic design, one which does not detract from the poignancy of the history of the site

considering how furiously the future of the wtc site has been fought over, something about this design must be right since it has eventually risen above all the conflict since 2001

Its a mammoth site, its gonna be huge, once completed

I quite like this design. Don't see what the problem is. It is a bit bland on the sides though but so were the old WTC.

the building looks great, but i agree, they shouldnt build over the graves of the WTC victims... it might get their souls angry or something and they'll haunt the building... sorry if i sound absurd, ive been watching to much supernatural...

^ I think this has been said before. Im pritty sure they have an allocated memorial on the site that would work that prob.

I think that if they dont build any other structures back then the usa's enemy would think they have won.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/soulvisionQ1/WTC.png
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/soulvisionQ1/swiss_re_headquarter.jpghttp://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/soulvisionQ1/lloyd_london.jpghttp://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/soulvisionQ1/antwerp_law_courts.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/soulvisionQ1/memorial_side1.jpghttp://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/soulvisionQ1/wtc7_nav.jpghttp://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/soulvisionQ1/ft_nav.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/66458468/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/66458472/original.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c81/Scruffy88/198000-hr.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c81/Scruffy88/199000-hr.jpg

They look like their from a Si-Fi movie IMO, i like them.
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/soulvisionQ1/0809_freedom_g.jpg
Designs for NY's new WTC towers unveiled
Friday Sep 8 17:00 AEST
Construction should be completed by 2012 (Getty Images)

Three renowned architects have unveiled designs for skyscrapers at the site of the September 11 attacks, giving the public its first comprehensive look at how lower Manhattan's skyline will be transformed.

Britain's Norman Foster and Richard Rogers and Japan's Fumihiko Maki each designed one of the three buildings that will swirl around a memorial where the World Trade Centre's Twin Towers once stood.

Construction should be completed by 2012.

At heights of 411 metres, 382 metres and 288 metres, they will be among the tallest buildings in New York.

But they will be eclipsed by the neighbouring 541 metre Freedom Tower - which at 1,776 feet is a height chosen to correspond with the year of US Independence. The final design by American David Childs was revealed earlier this year.

The entire redevelopment is estimated to cost $US11 billion ($A14.37 billion) and can be seen on http://www.wtc.com.

Foster's building may be the most eye-catching, appearing to be a cluster of four slender towers, each with diamond-shaped tops tilted at an angle to direct the eye down to the memorial, the architect told reporters.

"When you look at this tower, it will immediately tell you where the memorial park is. It's always pointing," he said.

Rogers' tower is distinguished by diagonal exterior supports and topped by four functional antennae, one at each corner of the roof.

"It was actually very much like a Gothic building or a classic building. It grew out of the ground and reached upward toward the sky," Rogers said.

The architects collaborated so that the designs, while distinct, would be harmonious.

Rogers said "a very strong dialogue" between the towers would help them rule the skyline the way the Twin Towers once did.

Maki's building will look transparent from the inside but a metallic mesh, which pays homage to midtown's Chrysler Building, will make it look luminous from the outside.

"Our concept is a cool, minimalist tower," Maki said.

All three buildings will have several levels of retail space just above and below ground level in a bid to revitalise lower Manhattan, though the architects agreed that none of the shops should face the memorial to the nearly 3,000 people killed in the September 11 attacks.

The Foster and Rogers buildings will feature massive trading floors to lure large financial tenants. Including the Freedom Tower, the project will create 817,500 square metres of office space to replace the 929,000 square metres) lost on September 11.

The buildings conform to a general master plan by Daniel Libeskind, who envisioned four skyscrapers of descending heights around the memorial, which will be marked by a pair of waterfalls dropping into below-ground reflecting pools on the footprints of the original Twin Towers.

The three new skyscrapers will have floor-to-ceiling glass walls offering spectacular vistas. In a selling point to corporate executives seeking status-building corner offices, all of the towers have columns that are recessed from the corners, providing unimpeded views.

That feature came on the orders of Larry Silverstein, the developer who signed a 99 year lease on the World Trade Centre site six weeks before it was destroyed on September 11, 2001.

Silverstein hired Freedom Tower designer Childs as well as the three other skyscraper architects.

After protracted disputes over insurance, design, security, financing and control over the site, construction on the Freedom Tower - which will stand 124 metres higher than the taller of the Twin Towers - finally began in April.

What a mess! But I like it anyway, even if they don't look like they are part of the same precint.

The shorter towers put the main tower to shame.

Meh. The Foster tower doesn't look like his best work, and the Rogers tower doesn't look like his best work either. I don't know about the other guy. I reckon they should have colaborated further and created a unified design for both towers (new twin towers?)

In my mind, despite the use of these "world famous architects" for these new buildings, nothing will match the minimalist poetry of the original twin towers.

I like the towers however, I think they can't hold up to the great beauties that were once there.

I like the towers however, I think they can't hold up to the great beauties that were once there.
The thing is though, before they were destroyed most people thought they were butt ugly.

I find the entire site discustingly horrible, it looks so messed up, and looks nothing like new york city. looks more like chicago, new york had two of the most powerfulist and most reconized buildings on the planet, how the can replace them with all this junk.

What I don't get is how will the amount of office space from two massive (good looking) towers fit into that one??? Is this one double as tall??? The day after tommorrow is the (4th???) aniversary of the attacks. :(
Let's hope it goes by safely.

I like the design but the simple rectangles that were there before were so iconic.

nice new designs overall, however...

the memory of the twin towers would be better preserved, IMO, if the new designs maintained the 'minimalist' iconography of the original buildings. The striking and relatively complex nature of the new towers kinda detracts from the solemn, even hallowed, atmosphere of the location. If one thing should have been restored - it should have been the minimalist grandeur of the old towers, revived in a new design.

Glass versions of the original twin towers, for example.

I would like to see them do a new version of the old towers even taller than before and they should name them the Crusade towers just to stick it to the bastards who wanted them destroyed. Alas though I think the developers are trying to not remind people of the old structures.

I do like the memorial... two ponds where the two towers once stood.

I like these towers, very fururistic. Although I am not the biggest fan of the tallest, its a little plain imo. The other smaller towers are great!

How much land did the previous towers occupy??? They look like they're building a skyscraper park.

Updated bigger and better photos...

Those new photos give me no doubt. Although lets just hope they are built better to withstand planes :).

merged with freedom tower thread. make sure you search back for other threads guys.

^^ There's clearly only 9 threads on Beyond Australia... Where did this one come from?? Im so confused! :dunno:

Change the "display options" at the bottom of the thread list. Threads older than 1 month old arent normally shown.

I find the entire site discustingly horrible, it looks so messed up, and looks nothing like new york city. looks more like chicago, new york had two of the most powerfulist and most reconized buildings on the planet, how the can replace them with all this junk.You'r right, I agree. Very modern Chicago-esque.

...but "powerfulist"?! What a great word ;)

They're all nice enough and monumental, except No. 4 IMO. Very plain!

Shit !

How can u guys complain about these BLOODY Awesome Towers! You are about to get 4 buildings at heights of 411 metres, 382 metres and 288 metres, and a 541 metre Freedom Tower ( 1,776 feet ) masterpiece ! All designed by 3 or 4 of the best architects in the world ! Be greatful guys ! Stop Whinging ! :rant:

I know the World Trade Centres are sentimental and all that, but they were a heap of shit asthetically compared to these new buildings!

And just to put it into perspective, Melbournes new Eureka tower is a monster at 300 metres above ground level and it towers over most of our other buildings - and you guys are about to get 4 monster buildings that look absolutely awesome!

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n19/wian_ian/eureka146.jpg

I wouldn't be complaining !

Lozza

The more I look at these the more I love them. I now like that it doesn't look like a complex. I think its awesome that they don't all look the same because now they don't look like part of the WTC, they look like part of New York.

Change the "display options" at the bottom of the thread list. Threads older than 1 month old arent normally shown.

AHHH That's why!! I kept wondering why things were disappearing!! And I'm like why the hell wouldn't there be a thread about the WTC's! Sorry about that... :scouserd:

I think the new designs are pretty cool and bring the whole concept together brilliantly. Check out this image I made using photoshop, the towers may not have the height of Burj Dubai or the drama of SWFC but by heck, this will be one of if not the best cluster of tall buildings in the world.

http://img336.imageshack.us/img336/8477/view1ry6.jpg

I think this precinct has turned out extremely well and I do not think you could hope for much more on this site. There will always be people who will never be satisfied on such an important place. Fosters Tower in particular is brilliant.

It's nice, it's not wowoweewow impressive, but it's nice enough.

Except for the stupid spire on the FT, it is a shocker, doesn't match at all. In fact FT is the worst of the bunch, but then Childs designed it didn't he and he ain't no artist. Should get Foster to redo that one as well.

new skyline
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g112/sharp222us/untitled-3.jpg

fosters wtc2 (411m)
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g112/sharp222us/untitled2-1.jpg

wtc3 (382m)
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g112/sharp222us/untitled3.jpg

wtc4 (288m)
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g112/sharp222us/untitled4.jpg

genious sir norman foster in centre
http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/66571985/original.jpg

i agree, these scrapers are very chicagoesque, but New York Desperately needs some glass buildings instead of all the concrete buildings for a change. i think these buildings are very refreshing !

Lozza

I wouldn't mine just the fosters wtc2 building in Brisbane!

Sorry but Belch.

This is so not Ney York City. What a horrible view from Ellis Island these will provide. The originals might not have been beautiful but they had a magnitude and presence that was like nothing else. Rather than rebuild all of the missing towers, I'd rather Silverstein and the Port Authority concentrated on rebuilding something in two. The site needed twins not a plain mom and the ugly babies.

I think with all the money and prestige this site had and should still have, they could have done better. I still want for Fosters original 'kissing twins' WTC design, it was fantastic. These towers all compete with each other and their heights are all too similar. I'd rather see more emphasis on the main towers much like the original idea. I also think the cluster looks too bunched but I have to say it looks much more appealing in the rendering Larven posted above. It certainly looks alot better from directly east across the Hudson. From the south and south-east it looks disjointed, angry and ugly.

I wish I wasn't disappointed but sadly I am. It's just not good enough for such an amazing city. I am glad they are pushing ahead with something to fill the void though and its a change like some of you say that glass is the main ingredient. Time will tell if they made the right decision with respect to the choice of towers however.

Freedom Tower has grown on me over time, then too it has changed over time. I still don't think it't perfect but its better than that bastardised version David Childs originally developed. That was beyond foul.

I love Norman Foster's work but unfortunately the design for WTC2 just looks incompatible for this site (esp from the south). The design is broken and deconstructed in appearance - that truncated edge looks like a knife or a cut ... a wound waiting to heal. It looks cutdown much like a machete through bamboo.

WTC3 looks more akin to any generic tower in downtown Guangzhou. Totally at odds with the essence and class of the orginal Financial District.

WTC4 is plain and this is how they should they should have been. One or Two focal towers and the rest just fillers much like this.

The more I see them the more i love them. Although I have to say, they don't seem to fit new york too well, but then again its good to 'modernise' that skyline and get out of the concrete!! These toweres would suit Dubai any day! But I have to say they are magnificant.

found this link to what i believe is an official video, from the main new wtc thread on this forum.

http://wtc.com/popups/hm_movies.aspx?movieId=17

Now that ive seen it in context (and maybe it was the classic tune in the background) I have to admit, this is a fine design for the new wtc!

I like the designs. They are a more 21st Century urban design approach for the site, and will fit into Manhattan better than the previous ones did, while balancing all the historical/political/eocnomic factors that had to be taken into account. Gets my tick anyway.

found this link to what i believe is an official video, from the main new wtc thread on this forum.

http://wtc.com/popups/hm_movies.aspx?movieId=17

Now that ive seen it in context (and maybe it was the classic tune in the background) I have to admit, this is a fine design for the new wtc!

You have to watch that video.

I'm still not a huge fan of the Freedom Tower. The name is a bit....ghastly and I just don't like its stick.

Can anyone think of a better way to reconcile it with the rest of the tower?

Cheers,

Adam

After actually watching the video, i'm more impressed with the designs, Fosters is particularly brillaint as a compliment to the main tower. The only bad bit is the little top section of Freedom tower.

A better way to reconcile it would be to perhaps have the hovering potion above the rooftop a square instead of its current circle and also to make it thinner. Then it would relate better to the rest of the building (which is more square-ish than circle-ish). I think that would make it look alot better anyway.

^^ Yup, it really needs to be thinner, IMO.

Think I have asked this before.

How many square metres of office space are in the new designs compared with those that were destroyed?

Cheers,

Adam

how many levels above ground are each of the buildings going to be roughly?

Lozza

In answer to your question Lozza:

Freedom Tower - 417m/ 541m spire, 82 floors.
Tower 2 - 382.3m/ 408.2m spire, 78 floors.
Tower 3 - 352.1m/ 382.6m spire, 71 floors.
Tower 4 - 288.7m, 61 floors.
Tower 5 - ???m, 57 floors?
Tower 7 - 228.6m, 52 floors.

Also I have heard rumours about WTC6, I am not sure if it's the Performing Arts Center or not, could somebody please confirm this?

Thanks.

There are 7????

I know this is abit off topic but:

Does the NYC's business district extend all the way from "midtown"(where ESB & Chrysler tower are) to "downtown"?? Or is the area between "midtown" and "downtown" mostly residential?

^^ i believe the latter... the space between where esb is, and where wtc is, is made up of a bunch of fun and quirky neighbourhoods

^^Indeed, Manhattan essentially has two 'CBDs'- Midtown and Downtown. Althouhg overall its one big mixed-use island.

^^

Sort of like Sydney and North Sydney.

I know this is abit off topic but:

Does the NYC's business district extend all the way from "midtown"(where ESB & Chrysler tower are) to "downtown"?? Or is the area between "midtown" and "downtown" mostly residential?

Midtown is kind of like the commercial district with extensive retail (lots of media companies etc are based) and downtowm is more financial district (banks and investment companies etc). In between are the so called up market and trendy urban areas such as Chelsea, Soho, Greenwich Village etc.

I like the new proposal.

I also posted this in the Fredoom Tower News thread in the NY Forums.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21861062-25658,00.html
____________________________________________________________

Freedom Tower has a willing captive
Julie Earle-Levine, New York
June 07, 2007

MARC Colella knows a thing or two about pressure cooker work environments. The Melbourne-born structural engineer is in charge of New York's Freedom Tower, being built on the World Trade Centre site.
The Freedom Tower, also known as Tower 1, will be 105 storeys tall with a 120m spire, and will project the city's image of resilience after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Colella's client for the tower is the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the architect is David Childs of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.

The huge rebuilding project at the World Trade Centre site - where four new office towers, memorials and a Performing Arts Centre designed by Frank Gehry - is well under way.

As an associate for WSP Cantor Seinuk Structural Engineers Colella, 34, is working hard to ensure the Freedom Tower delivers the architect's vision. He is also overseeing three office towers, or 555sqm of offices, for developer Larry Silverstein, a memorial site and a structure to retain the Hudson River and the force of soil on the site. "After the destruction of the towers there is a 20m deep basement, what we call the bathtub, in that part of Manhattan.

"We have a huge involvement in the WTC rebuilding. The only area the company is not involved in is the transportation hub by architect Santiago Calatrava," Colella says.

Colella was working in London when the WSP Group acquired US company Cantor Seinuk, now WSP Cantor Seinuk. "I always wanted to develop a career in high-rise buildings, and I was offered the job."

He started working in 2002 on Building 7, the third building that collapsed, just north of the WTC site.

Colella heads a large team of engineers - about 10 on the Freedom Tower alone, and spends much of his time in offices overlooking the site.

"It can be difficult. It is an emotionally charged environment, but I tell my team this is just another building, and we have to get on with the job. I tell them not worry about the political aspects, or the emotions.

"I say, work with me guys, please. Don't feel that it is just an event that happened on American soil."

Colella often attends meetings about the memorials, involving families of people who died in the terror attacks.

"The memorial design has taken a long time but is finally moving forward. Most families have approved it, some individuals don't like it, but I think it is a fabulous design."

The foundation at the Freedom Tower is almost finished. "That is always a nervous time for a structural engineer and now all of our work is being constructed," Colella says. Public complaints about the long lead time have been frustrating.

"People are upset but they don't realise the infrastructure below street level is incredibly complex," Colella says. "A lot of agencies are involved, and a lot of interests."

Colella says criticism by some developers that the Freedom Tower is a mistake, or a legacy of poor planning and decision making, is unfortunate. "The architects involved in all of these towers are the best in the world, assembled to showcase their artistic style on one of the highest profile sites in the world. I like to call the site an architectural sculpture park."

The architects for Silverstein's three towers are Britain's Sir Norman Foster and Sir Richard Rogers, and Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki (of Maki and Associates).

There will be restaurants, below-ground shopping and access to subway trains, as well as the World Financial Centre in the Freedom Tower. Hotel developers are planning new hotel rooms that will help to revitalise Lower Manhattan.

There are also plans for new streets, footpaths, parks and transportation. The area remains a central business district, as big investment banks move back. Goldman Sachs is building a new, 186,000sqm headquarters in nearby Battery Park City, but the area is becoming more of a residential community than it was. According to the Downtown Alliance, a business group, the residential population has grown by 16,000 to 39,000 since the attacks.

Freedom Tower is expected to be completed in 2011 - on September 11. "We are still on target for that, but there won't be any construction above street level until the middle of next year," Colella said.

Does he lose sleep over the impending deadline? "Constantly. It is not a normal project, it is intense and we are working around the clock. When you pass a major deadline or submission, something bigger comes up, but it is a challenge. Aussies can do that, I am up for it."

The Freedom Tower is a big mistake, many poor decisions made regarding the planning in my opinion. I know many people who feel the same unfortunately.

By the way I live in NYC and I know an engineer working on the project who also says the same thing. That space could have been used in a much better way.

^^ Umm dude, why have you posted the same opinion twice in consecutive posts?

^^ :lol:

LOL it never hurts to reiterate.

most amazing /realistic render ive ever seen. they look like there there. especially 99church st (tall beige tower at left)

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/3305/1230downtownskylinebyduzb0.jpg

I still would have loved Fosters' original design. Just look at his current design. Clearly my fav and i think easily the best out of the lot. Unfortunately the worst happens to be the tallest.

even though we are getting 4 really tall and really architectural treats, i really do miss the original twins.they "where" lower manhattan" ,they were the symbol of the powerful city that is NYC.
very sad.
cant wait until the freedom tower actually hits the skyline.

WOW! The towers around the WTC look like renders compard to the WTC. Awesome once completed.

By the way I live in NYC and I know an engineer working on the project who also says the same thing. That space could have been used in a much better way.

The first thing I thought when I saw this development was, "so they're building another target?"

I don't mind the current design, but considering the architectural power behind the designs I think it's pretty lackluster overall.

What surprises me are the responses that absolutely love it. It all seems very mediocre to me, which I guess should be expected due to the political and emotional nature of the development - lots of designing by committee.

been nearly a year since last update.
progressing nicley
core of freedom tower now 40m high
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3601/3368917266_85e0aca705_o.jpg

sweet photo

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/116245031/large.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2672/3837945841_879f996151_o.png