When you really think about it, what's stopping someone from just running into the middle of the road? or falling into the Hudson river? Nothing... I'm sure we'll all do just fine. A 3 foot railing is enough to keep the little ones safe, and if you're an adult, then watch where you're going... ;)

Not a great diagram but gives an idea of upper floors and spire...... http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/7820/ftnyclargedb8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
By redbaron_012 (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/redbaron_012)

that waterfall looks amazing!

is anybody know of they still hand over project next week or they behind scheduling? Are there going to be ceremony?

Who said construction on the other towers wouldn't start in a week? There are no reports of delays and no sign that they won't start up in a few days. As for a ground breaking ceremony, I don't know, but it seems quite likely.

A 6-8 foot wall made from hollow glass blocks would be a far safer option.

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/826/hollowglassblocksqd7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


The glass would compliment the glass of the building well.

Great idea! And since nobody can see through the glass blocks to see the memorial the memorial wouldn't have to be built which would be enough savings to pay for the glass blocks!

That was an awesome movie. It was amazing to see Manhattan portrayed that way. I mean, when do you see grass growing out of the street in Times Square while a savage bear is attacking and eating a deer. The movie scared me, but it was great.

Admittedly off-topic, but on that note, you might want to check out a book called "The World Without Us". There is a lot of discussion of what would happen to Manhattan if humans just disappeared one day.

It's back! The HD webcam is back online... too bad its too dark to see anything :ohno:

Out of the early morning gloom we see that a core pour has started on the northern core.

We also see that there appears to be four steel columns, probably for the northern memorial, sitting by the western slurry wall on the south side of the PATH east-west corrider.

Speaking of steel, the steel columns for the FT eastern wall are being extended to street level as one column has been extended already and there are at least 3 more columns sitting on the ground.

Also, the new PATH temp terminal has had alot more steel added to it...

All this and the construction of towers 3 & 4 scheduled to start next week...

and it seems the first floor of the left core-half is ready :)

There are still 2 steel columns on the floor that I can see. Possibily to fill in the gap that exists in the foreground.

New York, puttin the dick back in spires. pun intended.

dont get me wrong, I truly love New York, and greatly respect every life that was lost on 9/11, i just think a spire is a shitty way to get to a desired height. Plus this one doesnt even look good.

Has noone noticed that Childs FT design is an exact copy of the planed but never built NYC stock exchange tower.......:lol::lol::lol:

the height was 546m just 5m taller than FT will be.....

nearly the exact spire was choosen once...the cladding is similar.......:bash:

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/9807/nnnnnnwt3.jpg


this is weak from SOM and especially mister Childs copying canceled designs.......:bash:

I hope this dont get toooo offtopic....

Has noone noticed that Childs FT design is an exact copy of the planed but never built NYC stock exchange tower.......:lol::lol::lol:

the height was 546m just 5m taller than FT will be.....

nearly the exact spire was choosen once...the cladding is similar.......:bash:

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/9807/nnnnnnwt3.jpg


HOLY SHIT!? INSANE

Again whining about the spire? Get a life.
Poor NYSE Tower, but I'm 110% sure we'll see others as tall and taller in the future.

The MTA is considering building a skyscraper by their Fulton Street transit center, which is a few blocks east of the WTC.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/9807/nnnnnnwt3.jpg

Wow, that's a pretty sweet tower.. Was it ever officially proposed?

Yes very much officially proposed but it never went through.

never seen that proposal before, looks great :)

Yay, he's not going to post anymore! :banana:

Just out of curiosity, if anyone has been over to the site, are those new beams visible from street level at all?

I was never a fan of the SE Tower, it gets too thin towards the top. Even if the FT is an altered copy of it, I still love the new design.
I visited the site at around 12 PM last night and the progress was startling.
Anybody down for shooting the shit out of each other? Haha

It's a bit ironic that the week were the core did rise a level the earthcam was out of business, luckily it's working again. Anyway it's good to see it rising and it's a good premonition for the progress of 2008. :)

^^ Actually the webcam came up the day they did the pour and put up steel.

I seem to remember the NYSE tower was 546m to the roof, not the spire!!!

Truth hurts does it ??

You make a personal attack on me and my family and you get a piece of my mind - fair enough ??

Sure there are many great Americans and great things have come out of your country but some of the morons contributing to this thread do your people no justice.

My last post here, I made a simple safety point and get attacked from all sides.

Back to topic, I'm off adios, good luck with your tower.

Good, GTFO asshole. You took a very minor comment pointing out your own ignorance and blew it way out of proportion, you're not needed here.

The memorial looks stunning!! :nuts::nuts:

Sure.. but isn't all that water going to make a huge noise?? I was hoping the memorial would be a quiet kinda place.

Sure.. but isn't all that water going to make a huge noise?? I was hoping the memorial would be a quiet kinda place.

That would be the ideal memorial, but quiet and southern Manhattan do not mix.

quite a few of you are really cruel... in the words of lusitania "truly a shame..."

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/9807/nnnnnnwt3.jpg

Wow, that's a pretty sweet tower.. Was it ever officially proposed?

I love it!!! Build it at once!!

The waterfall of the memorial is amazing.
I'm not a big fan of the new tower itself though.
It's surely not a bad design, but I was hoping for something more special on this special place.

Tumbling Dice, shut the fuck up!

Everyone else, just ignore.

Finally a block lol.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2007/12/31/2007-12-31_world_trade_center_owner_to_pay_millions.html
World Trade Center owner to pay millions in fines for missed deadlines

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Monday, December 31st 2007, 5:14 PM

http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/01/01/amd_wtc-site.jpg
Appleton/News

Heavy equipment operates in the pit at Ground Zero during construction of Freedom Tower, as seen from the 32nd floor of the Millenium Hilton hotel.

http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/01/01/amd_silverstein.jpg
F. Roberts for News

World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein

The owner of the World Trade Center site said Monday it is at least a month behind on a deadline to turn over part of the site to a private developer and will pay at least $9 million in fines.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had a Tuesday deadline to excavate foundations for two of five planned office towers at the site and turn the land over to private developer Larry Silverstein, or pay Silverstein $300,000 for every day it was late.

The deadline - and penalties - were worked out last year in a contentious renegotiation of Silverstein's lease that officials said would help speed up long-stalled development at the 16-acre site.

The agency's executive director, Anthony Shorris, said Monday that contractors worked 20-hour-a-day schedules for months and removed 300,000 tons of material so far, but could not finish by the deadline.

"They were ambitious goals. We did our best to meet them," Shorris said. "This is an enormous project. ... I wished we'd be right on schedule."

The agency said it would finish the foundation for one of the planned office towers in two weeks, and the foundation for the next tower two to four weeks later, meaning it will pay Silverstein $9 million to $13.5 million in fines.

Shorris said the job's contractor will not receive a $10 million bonus it was to get if it finished the project on time.

Silverstein spokesman Dara McQuillan said Monday that Silverstein is confident the site will be turned over to him "in the very near future" and said they are prepared to begin building the two towers as soon as the land is made available.

Construction deadlines at the World Trade Center site have changed several times, most notably with the iconic, 1,776-foot Freedom Tower. Once scheduled to open in 2009, its opening was pushed back three years after the tower was redesigned to address security concerns. The Port Authority recently adjusted its timetable for finishing the Sept. 11 memorial it is also building on the site, saying the entire complex, with an underground museum, wouldn't be finished until the 10th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

o lord this sucks :ohno:

^^^^

That guy really reminds me of Chancellor, Palpatine (Darth Sidious)!!!
The darkside is all around him....

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0a/Palpatine_ROTJ.jpg

I rest my case

^^^^

That guy really reminds me of Chancellor, Palpatine (Darth Sidious)!!!
The darkside is all around him....

I know you guys hate TalB, but this is big news that needed to be posted. We've all been dying to know if they made the deadline, and now we know. Should the news not have been posted just because it's bad news?

I think that tower looks more attractive than Freedom Tower.....even has two bands (Sky lobbies) around tower similar to original WTC....

I know you guys hate TalB, but this is big news that needed to be posted. We've all been dying to know if they made the deadline, and now we know. Should the news not have been posted just because it's bad news?

I think he was talking about Larry Silverstein, just because of the picture posted right after it.:lol:

My mistake...:lol:

stunning!

Within three months, steel will be above the street, not at or close to grade, but above grade. Progress and activity will mulitply each month from now on.

The tower's concrete has a strength under compression calculated at 14,000 pounds per square inch. The highest strength previously used in a New York skyscraper had a rating of 12,000 pounds per square inch. A house will use concrete with a strength of 2,000 pounds per square inch.

i dont see why people used to complain they saw no progress. if u visited the site everyday im sure you would start to notice things changing. the builders arnt paid to do nothing after all. nobody needs to worry frm now on b'cos its on the up as from now:) and the rest of the towers will follow suit son aswell. it will lok fantastic.

oh and if ive offended someone in this post which i hopefully havent please dont shout me down!

I have a few things I've been wondering about the Freedom Tower.

What is the difference between the broadcasting antenna of the original 1WTC and the broadcasting antenna of the FT? Why was the antenna of 1WTC not counted in the official height?

Why is the floor count stated as 108 in this thread? As I understand, they only designated the first usable floor as floor 20 and "added" some mechanical floors on the top. Can developers just name certain floor to be something they're not and that would change the official count? Does the podium of FT even contain any floors? And is it not the convention to leave mechanical floors out of the official floor count? For example, why is the official floor count of Sears Tower 108, instead of 110?

^^ sears tower, has only 108 floors. but if u count the penthouse then it's 110

What is the difference between the broadcasting antenna of the original 1WTC and the broadcasting antenna of the FT? Why was the antenna of 1WTC not counted in the official height?


The antenna on the old tower was a temporary piece attached to the tower. It was not permanent, and if contracts with the broadcasters were rescinded, it would be removed. Since it was not permanent, it did not count in the height.

The new antenna will be integrated in a permanent spire that will be part of the actual structure. It can not be removed, so it will be counted in the height.

Hope this clears it up for you.

WTC RISING


Another section rising:

http://www.wtcrising.com/images/FE/chain217siteType8/site187/client/photoGallery/189/cement%20fills%20another%20concrete%20form%20section_big.jpg

The below grade areas are rising and coming together quickly:

http://www.wtcrising.com/images/FE/chain217siteType8/site187/client/photoGallery/189/dey%20st%20corridor_big.jpg

Nice to finally see bits popping up above street level.
I hope to see some hight at last for 2008

I found this on SSP!

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/91172572/original.jpg

^^ was this one posted before?

Although i was one of those who preffered the reconstruction of the old wtc, now its very late for something like that, since the f.t has started construction. But i cant say that i dont like the design of the new wtc :) Its very nice, and im sure that the real thing will look much better than the renderings when it is finished.

love the progress. So sad for the missed deadline, I truly hope it won't affect construction too much...

i hope construction starts speeding up a bit now

I think he was talking about Larry Silverstein, just because of the picture posted right after it.:lol:

^^ :lol::lol::lol:
:banana:

Here is the article that goes with that shot, and don't attack me for posting it, b/c I am just the messenger.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01032008/business/faltering_tower_456087.htm
FALTERING TOWER

SLOW GO ON ANTENNA, RENTS

January 3, 2008 -- IT'S good news the Port Authority finished most of the bathtub job at ground zero on time, and that Larry Silverstein will be able to start construction on towers 3 and 4 within a few weeks.

But the 1,776-foot tall Freedom Tower has been largely forgotten in the news blitz. The PA wants us to believe the project is sailing along.

But, the tower's crowning broadcast antenna seems lost in the clouds, with the PA nowhere near a deal on lease terms with TV stations which will transmit from it.

And neither of the ballyhooed office leases with government agencies for 1 million square feet of the project's 2.6 million feet, announced way back in June 2006, has yet been completed.

The good news is that the PA, which owns the $2.9 billion Freedom Tower, and architects Skidmore Owings & Merrill agree on what the antenna will look like. The shaft will constitute the project's top 408 feet.

That design, shown up-close on this page, looks a lot like the one first unveiled in the summer of 2005, when architect David Childs had to redesign the building because of security concerns.

It was suggested at the time that the final antenna design would be more "sculptural" than the original image, and later sketches and models sported various curlicued motifs.

But Childs says those ideas, which exposed the actual antenna to the air, were impractical. "A broadcast antenna is a very technical piece of equipment - it's like designing a hospital operating room," Childs said.

The more open designs would cause "rain to turn to ice, which would break and fall," and also make the antenna impossible to maintain at such a height.

So it was back to the original notion, which called for a top-to-bottom hood enclosing the actual broadcast spire.

The current design, done in consultation with sculptor Ken Snelson, shrouds the antenna in a synthetic material called Ray-dome - "very hard and permanent, but invisible to the broadcast rays that pierce through it," Childs said.

But PA Executive Director Anthony Shorris, asked where negotiations stood with the Metropolitan Broadcast Alliance, a consortium of 13 TV stations, said, "I don't have any news."

In fact, the talks are really bogged down, both over how much rent the stations are willing to pay the PA and by disagreements among the broadcasters themselves.

The negotiations "are complicated because the stations are competitors," Shorris said. "I don't want to diminish how complicated."

Pat Smith, a rep for the TV consortium, said only, "The members remain committed to broadcasting from the top of the Freedom Tower."

Meanwhile, Shorris said a lease for 600,000 square feet with the Federal General Service Administration "is not done. We're still negotiating the long-term escalations over the later years of the lease."

And while a deal with the state Office of General Services for 400,000 feet is signed, "it needs to get final approval in Albany," Shorris said. Meanwhile, the PA has imposed a gag order on Cushman & Wakefield heavy-hitter Tara Stacom and her colleagues who are marketing the rest of the office space.

The PA says steel will begin rising above street level by June. But with construction and material costs escalating almost by the hour, it's unclear whether the job can be completed over five years within budget with out employing "value engi neering" to cheapen the materials and detailing.

They need to hurry up and "sell" the broadcasting rights. Broadcasting demand throughout the US is dropping. I have a feeling that when the required switch to digital occurs, a lot of people who use rabbit ears will use the excuse of having to swap out equipment to change to cable or satellite based TV. I really can't imagine that airwaves digital will ever be very big. So they need to lock someone into a big contract before the broadcasters decide they don't need more broadcast capacity.

The antenna on the old tower was a temporary piece attached to the tower. It was not permanent, and if contracts with the broadcasters were rescinded, it would be removed. Since it was not permanent, it did not count in the height.

The new antenna will be integrated in a permanent spire that will be part of the actual structure. It can not be removed, so it will be counted in the height.

Hope this clears it up for you.

Thanks.

However, I still can't fully understand the difference. So the ownership of the antenna makes the whole difference? I.e. if Port Authority had bought the antenna of 1WTC and made it "permanent", it would have been counted in the official height? Maybe Sears Tower can buy its antennas and increase the height to 527 m (past Taipei 101).

It would make more sense to either count the antennas of all buildings, or none. It seems that now they are counted somewhat arbitrarily. The official height of FT should be 417 m or 1WTC should have been 526 m.

Woah some people need to quit whining. The FT has both a spire and antenna. The antenna is supposed to be inside the spire. That newspaper article picture makes the spire look bigger, which is good. Maybe a few lucky people will be lucky enough to go up in there. It looks like the crown (top) of the building, not including the spire, is still over 1,400 feet tall - taller than the Twins.

It almost looks like a twisting spire.

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/4893/freedomtowernew22pj0.jpg

Thanks.

However, I still can't fully understand the difference. So the ownership of the antenna makes the whole difference? I.e. if Port Authority had bought the antenna of 1WTC and made it "permanent", it would have been counted in the official height? Maybe Sears Tower can buy its antennas and increase the height to 527 m (past Taipei 101).



If the lease for the antennas were canceled on the Sears Tower, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they replaced them with spires that were actually structurally part of the building. The twin "spires" have become too much of an iconical part of the skyline and it people would hate it without it. No one remembers anymore that until around the late 70s, the Sears Tower looked like this:

http://www.caed.kent.edu//History/Modern/SOM/searstower.jpg

However, I still can't fully understand the difference. So the ownership of the antenna makes the whole difference? I.e. if Port Authority had bought the antenna of 1WTC and made it "permanent", it would have been counted in the official height? Maybe Sears Tower can buy its antennas and increase the height to 527 m (past Taipei 101).

It's not so much the ownership as it is the intent; spires are actual design elements of a building whereas an antenna is simply an addition. In other words putting a spire on a tower is intended to (depending on how you look at it) either add the finishing touch to the design of a tower or cheat to add height to a structure Putting an antenna on a building is simply an easy way for the owner of the antenna to get better range more conveniently; 150m antenna on 400m building as opposed to 550m antenna rising from ground level on valuable realestate in the middle of a city.
If a lease were not renewed on an antenna then it could be removed from a building's roof; a spire as just a spire essentially serves no purpose but to extend the building/complete the design of the building.

The antenna is supposed to be inside the spire. That newspaper article picture makes the spire look bigger, which is good. Maybe a few lucky people will be lucky enough to go up in there.

i heard on TV a while ago that the radio waves from sears could kill you, or at least 'fry your brains out'. so if thats true i dont really think you would feel so lucky inside the FT spire :lol::nuts:

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/4893/freedomtowernew22pj0.jpg
This actually looks like an antenna, not a spire! It's not free standing like the original design and certainly looks removable. It's even got guy wires to help support it. If this is the final design it'll certainly open up a lot of debate over the actual height of the building! It looks no more permanent or part of the design than the antennas on the Sears tower. Heck, the New York Times article even describes it as an antenna.

To me it just looks like an add on instead of part of the design like the original spire. Not that I was a fan of the original design of the original design.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2007/12/31/2007-12-31_world_trade_center_owner_to_pay_millions.html
World Trade Center owner to pay millions in fines for missed deadlines

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Monday, December 31st 2007, 5:14 PM

http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/01/01/amd_wtc-site.jpg
Appleton/News

Heavy equipment operates in the pit at Ground Zero during construction of Freedom Tower, as seen from the 32nd floor of the Millenium Hilton hotel.

http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/01/01/amd_silverstein.jpg
F. Roberts for News

World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein

The owner of the World Trade Center site said Monday it is at least a month behind on a deadline to turn over part of the site to a private developer and will pay at least $9 million in fines.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had a Tuesday deadline to excavate foundations for two of five planned office towers at the site and turn the land over to private developer Larry Silverstein, or pay Silverstein $300,000 for every day it was late.

The deadline - and penalties - were worked out last year in a contentious renegotiation of Silverstein's lease that officials said would help speed up long-stalled development at the 16-acre site.

The agency's executive director, Anthony Shorris, said Monday that contractors worked 20-hour-a-day schedules for months and removed 300,000 tons of material so far, but could not finish by the deadline.

"They were ambitious goals. We did our best to meet them," Shorris said. "This is an enormous project. ... I wished we'd be right on schedule."

The agency said it would finish the foundation for one of the planned office towers in two weeks, and the foundation for the next tower two to four weeks later, meaning it will pay Silverstein $9 million to $13.5 million in fines.

Shorris said the job's contractor will not receive a $10 million bonus it was to get if it finished the project on time.

Silverstein spokesman Dara McQuillan said Monday that Silverstein is confident the site will be turned over to him "in the very near future" and said they are prepared to begin building the two towers as soon as the land is made available.

Construction deadlines at the World Trade Center site have changed several times, most notably with the iconic, 1,776-foot Freedom Tower. Once scheduled to open in 2009, its opening was pushed back three years after the tower was redesigned to address security concerns. The Port Authority recently adjusted its timetable for finishing the Sept. 11 memorial it is also building on the site, saying the entire complex, with an underground museum, wouldn't be finished until the 10th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

That is the dude who blew up the twin towers!
Get Him!

Nevermind the old antenna/spire debate, the Moscow "spire" is certainly an interesting way of bumping up the building height.

I found this on SSP!

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/91172572/original.jpg


That is one ugly way to top off this building.

I like the 1WTC's design.
The only thing I would change would be the ring in-between tower and spire.
From far away, this building will look very powerful and the shape of the building is pretty interesting to me.

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/4893/freedomtowernew22pj0.jpg
This actually looks like an antenna, not a spire! It's not free standing like the original design and certainly looks removable. It's even got guy wires to help support it. If this is the final design it'll certainly open up a lot of debate over the actual height of the building! It looks no more permanent or part of the design than the antennas on the Sears tower. Heck, the New York Times article even describes it as an antenna.

To me it just looks like an add on instead of part of the design like the original spire. Not that I was a fan of the original design of the original design.

I'm wonder what the hell they're doing with the spire/antenna. I thought that since all TV broadcasts were becoming digital soon that they wouldn't be putting an antenna on the FT. But they're still trying to get deals with broadcasters, so it's like WTF...

I'm wonder what the hell they're doing with the spire/antenna. I thought that since all TV broadcasts were becoming digital soon that they wouldn't be putting an antenna on the FT. But they're still trying to get deals with broadcasters, so it's like WTF...

Transmissions will soon be all-digital, but the signals still have to be sent from somewhere (i.e. an antenna). Not everyone has cable or satellite TV, and (I think) it's public policy that at least a few stations be broadcast over-air so anyone with a home antenna can watch.

By 2011-2012 all broadcasts will be digi. The people that don't have cable or satellite tv services will have to buy a converter box.

I guess I'm the only one who likes the design of the spire. It really isn't that bad, and if you want to talk about the height of the spire itself, didn't the first few versions of the FT feature a 700-800 ft building with the rest being a spire/birdcage to 1776? IMO the spire is beautiful and fits very well with the building.

i heard on TV a while ago that the radio waves from sears could kill you, or at least 'fry your brains out'. so if thats true i dont really think you would feel so lucky inside the FT spire :lol::nuts:


That's why I said "few," meaning the workers, and there may be no antenna, but just a spire.

That's why I said "few," meaning the workers, and there may be no antenna, but just a spire.

But i thought and heard the whole point of having a spire/antenna on the freedom tower was to replace the lost communication wave things of the antenna of the old WTC.

^ Already done. Conde Nast installed a antenna on it's building to make up for the antenna lost on 1 WTC.

Personally I really don't think the tower or the spire are particually good. I never quiet understood the reasoning for the towers design, it just seems so dated.

Woah some people need to quit whining.

I'm not whining. Just trying to understand...

The FT has both a spire and antenna.

All I'm trying to say is that based on the logic of FT's official height, the antenna of 1WTC should have been included in its OH. After all, what is an antenna anyway.. what differentiates between "an antenna and a spire" with just "an antenna". Most of the structure on top of 1WTC was not antenna. It was a spire, which supported the transmission equipment.

The antenna is supposed to be inside the spire.

In that case the cover material of the spire cannot be metal. Otherwise it would function as a Faraday cage and would block all radio waves.

It's not so much the ownership as it is the intent; spires are actual design elements of a building whereas an antenna is simply an addition.

Right. But in some cases there's a very thin line between a spire and an antenna, like here. And why antennas cannot be considered as design elements afterwards. Like Hollie Maea mentioned, the antennas of the Sears Tower would most likely be considered as part of the design in case they stopped transmitting... would the official height of the tower then increase to 527 m just by redefining the status of the antennas?

If a lease were not renewed on an antenna then it could be removed from a building's roof; a spire as just a spire essentially serves no purpose but to extend the building/complete the design of the building.

Yep.. but in this case the spire will also serve an obvious purpose, the exact same purpose as the "spire" of 1WTC did. That's what is confusing.


The entire idea of making the official height of the FT exactly 1776 ft seems a little artificial. After all, that height is significant only in the English system of measurements. Americans are going to start using the metric system in a few decades anyway ;) They should've made it 1776 m :).


PS. Nobody commented the 82/108 floors of the tower.

That 108 floors does sound very awkward when I was told it would be 82 floors with 69 of them occuppied.

Too bad you're not working for Silverstein Properties or the PANYNJ, which stated many times that there will be at least 102 floors. If office workers will use them all or not or if they have other uses or if they skip in the base or only have a portion of a floor on certain levels, that doesn't change reality. I don't hear anyone bitching about the ICC or 7WTC.

This BS has to stop again. If you don't like what you see, don't post.

300 grand a day in fines!?!?! OMG! I'm obviously in the wrong business because surely thats not how much that Silverstein is losing a day by not starting construction on time. That calculates to 109.5 million dollars a year if he averaged that much a day.

That calculates to 109.5 million dollars a year if he averaged that much a day.

Yeah so if they were a year late he'd be in big trouble. But as it stands now they'll lose about 10 million, but the contractor has to eat it.

That's correct. In reality, no one at all is at a loss because the PANYNJ was supposed to pay a 10 or 20 million dollar bonus to the contractor if they completed the job early or on time.

Any day now, we will have a groundbreaking for one of the other towers, and a few weeks later, another tower, and then five months later, 99 Church Street (70 floors) and WTC Tower 2 will start up also, and by then, I bet the Beekman Tower (75+ floors) will be rising quickly along with most other towers close to the Freedom Tower. We'll also see 123 Washington rising within a few weeks.

I wonder how many action movies that will have like a scene with some super hero/super villain being thrown on top of this spire to die :D

The entire idea of making the official height of the FT exactly 1776 ft seems a little artificial. After all, that height is significant only in the English system of measurements. American's are going to start using the metric system in a few decades anyway ;) They should've made it 1776 m :).

Yeah sure, the U.S. is going to adopt the metric system just like we did in the seventies! A law was passed in 1975 setting a 10 year plan for conversion of America to the metric system. The commission to oversee the conversion has long since been disbanded yet we're no more metric today than we were in 1975! Maybe in a couple centuries but not in a couple decades,

Well... You guys are just plain wrong on that one! :)
I'm not sure the US will ever go metric...

How about a simpler answer to the quoted post by JR:
1776 relates the independance year of the country, making the tower all symbolic; and stuff... Therefore: Freedom Tower.

I know you guys hate TalB, but this is big news that needed to be posted. We've all been dying to know if they made the deadline, and now we know. Should the news not have been posted just because it's bad news?

Not every article I place here on the FT is necessarily agrees with me. If I didn't place that article, I can guarantee that someone else would have done that. For the record, I have placed articles that were both positive and negative, plus even some that were neutral that had to do with this topic. Either way, I am just the messenger of this news articles, so I insist on writing to the media like I do if anyone has a grudge on them, but don't take it out on me b/c I didn't write those articles, somebody else did.

^^ I think you got the wrong impression. I'm on your side on this.

Well is it me or is this thread already dead. I have not seen any good updated photos in quite awhile. I think that the web cam is getting to be useless and we need more shots of what's going on inside the bath tub. This thread started out hot but has since cooooooled way down.

I like the pics from WTC Rising but we need more from other sources.

Lance

today i saw that they're working on the formwork for the right core half :)

today i saw that they're working on the formwork for the right core half :)

I wish some of the people who see what's happening would take pictures and post them of those of us who do not live in New York see the progress. As noted in a previous post the web cam really isn't a lot of help.

I wish some of the people who see what's happening would take pictures and post them of those of us who do not live in New York see the progress. As noted in a previous post the web cam really isn't a lot of help.

I thought ZZ lived in Germany lol.

And what he sees can be seen from the webcam. I don't know why you guys are complaining, it isn't that fuzzy.

From last year, but they were just put up:


http://www.panynj.gov/info/images/12-19-2007-wtc-tower.jpg
http://www.panynj.gov/info/images/12-19-2007-wtc-tower-1.jpg

I wish some of the people who see what's happening would take pictures and post them of those of us who do not live in New York see the progress. As noted in a previous post the web cam really isn't a lot of help.

on the cam you can see more than you think :)

love this green armature what 4 are you wasting color on concrete steel and what is the purpose of green armature? maybe tension?

^^ the green rebar is coated with anti rust coating. The green color is added to avoid mistakes with normal (brown/grey) rebar which isn't protected against rust.
:)

What other buildings are being built with the Freedom Tower in the World Trade Center site?

What other buildings are being built with the Freedom Tower in the World Trade Center site?
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=471265

wo

Great images. That steel beam in the foreground partly encased in concrete is heavy rebar!

We are going to see a lot of new steel structure and the core rising even more very shortly; the core today looks very different from the pictures I posted above.

When is the tower going to be finished?

as far as i know it is supposed to be completed in 2011

The core grew A LOT during these past few days.

I think the GS Tower (750 feet tall - same as 7WTC) will top out in a month or so. It seems to be at least half done and the glass is looking much better than I expected so it will look well with the Freedom Tower. Also, I think the curve will look amazing too.
Progress on it is picking up again:
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/8494/dscn7959nu6.jpg
I really love seeing all of its steel. It will have a major impact on the skyline since its next to the water. It may be a good place to put a cam to record construction of other parts of the WTC site. I hope they put a cam up on the top of the WFC so we can watch the other towers rise too.

^^ I think you got the wrong impression. I'm on your side on this.

I know you were on my side, I was just elaborating on it as well as giving the disclaimers and the news articles I have given here.

Beautiful

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/6247/tumbleweedut9.gif (http://imageshack.us)


2 days without a post :ohno:

you Americans ran out of stuff to argue about ??


:lol:

We havent seen updates since last year.. :(

just saw on the cam that they've lifted up the formwork on the left core, the first wall is now clearly visible :)

They are also pouring in the vicinity of the core. Problem is I can't see where the arm ends because of the water droplet blurring that part of the screen. :lol:

Pictures please... :D

Webcam people webcam.

Probably, it´s now reaching street level or at least it will be by the end of this month...

i would guess they need one more floor on the left core side that the formwork will reach streetlevel. and they'll probably speed up alot very soon :)

Probably, it´s now reaching street level or at least it will be by the end of this month...

The PA has stated repeatedly that the FT would not reach street level until Q2 2008. Q2 means sometime between April 1st and June 30th. The south core needs to rise another floor, the north core needs to rise another 2 floors, the steel columns are only half installed, there is only one completed physical floor, the outside walls haven't been started, etc. Go back and look how long it takes to complete the form and rebar work on each level before the concrete is poured. I would guess at least 6 weeks between major pours.

By the way, they have been pouring concrete for the last 2 days in the subway tunnels under the FT. Would this be for the supports for the missing steel???

The police had a few more concerns about the tower's proximity to the Hudson River... they fear boat bandits. So, the FT is going to have to move east 5 more feet... unfortunately, this means that everything that has been done so far has to be knocked down and started over from scratch. Look for steel to reach street level in Q3 of 2020.

The police had a few more concerns about the tower's proximity to the Hudson River... they fear boat bandits. So, the FT is going to have to move east 5 more feet... unfortunately, this means that everything that has been done so far has to be knocked down and started over from scratch. Look for steel to reach street level in Q3 of 2020.
You have to be kidding me :nuts:

The police had a few more concerns about the tower's proximity to the Hudson River... they fear boat bandits. So, the FT is going to have to move east 5 more feet... unfortunately, this means that everything that has been done so far has to be knocked down and started over from scratch. Look for steel to reach street level in Q3 of 2020.

hahahahhahah...yeah ok. This is pure BS.

^^ Maybe he thought it was April 1st? :nuts:

The police had a few more concerns about the tower's proximity to the Hudson River... they fear boat bandits. So, the FT is going to have to move east 5 more feet... unfortunately, this means that everything that has been done so far has to be knocked down and started over from scratch. Look for steel to reach street level in Q3 of 2020.



Yeah, and I'm going to become an astronaut, also!


Why even bother printing this when you KNOW that it's not even true?

Some pics from 12/19 on PANYNJ. They changed their site around, so if you have a bookmark for the pics page, it won't work anymore.

http://www.panynj.gov/info/images/IMG_2336.jpg

http://www.panynj.gov/info/images/IMG_2307.jpg

http://www.panynj.gov/info/images/12-19-2007-wtc-tower.jpg

http://www.panynj.gov/info/images/12-19-2007-wtc-tower-1.jpg

http://www.panynj.gov/info/images/12-19-2007-wtc-site-r.jpg

http://www.panynj.gov/info/images/12-19-2007-wtc-memorial18.jpg

http://lowermanhattan.info/news/port_authority_updates_cb1_62229.aspx


looks like we'll be in t-shirts again before this beast hits street level....that seems so far away

:crazy2:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/17/nyregion/17stairway.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

the stairs are actually coming down soon....:wave:

amazing view..

Some pics from 12/19 on PANYNJ. They changed their site around, so if you have a bookmark for the pics page, it won't work anymore.
http://www.panynj.gov/info/images/IMG_2307.jpg
...snip...

What is this cutting ?

Great shots - thank you.

The broken concrete and rubble that you see in the pit...is that still debris left from 9/11, or just debris from the current project? Since they are down to dirt, are they deeper than the original foundation for the WTC? Pardon me if this has been answered before..I'm new to the thread.

Can't imagine there be any rubble left from 9/11....There have been so many changes since work began to rebuild that rubble would be expected from that.....I think anyhow?

The broken concrete and rubble that you see in the pit...is that still debris left from 9/11, or just debris from the current project? Since they are down to dirt, are they deeper than the original foundation for the WTC? Pardon me if this has been answered before..I'm new to the thread.

The dirt you are seeing is dirt that was there pre 9/11. Those pictures show the side only where the low rise buildings once stood, and thus the very shallow or non-existant foundations.

love those recent pics.....thank you

I have a question. Why are they not using the "Slip Form" construction for the core? I would think that the process would be sped up so much rather then Set forms, pour, remove forms, move up and start again.
If anyone with knowledge can answer please do.
Lance

Well, I thought my eyes were decieving me, but there is finally steel protruding over the PATH tracks on the far end of the site. This is excellent news of this constructions development. :)

EDIT: and upon further inspection theres more steel on flatbeds waiting to be lifted.

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/5149/megapixelcamera20080119dm4.th.jpg (http://img299.imageshack.us/my.php?image=megapixelcamera20080119dm4.jpg)

Theres the steel in the back.

Thanx for the pictures!

Theres no snow in new york! :shocked: , you are lucky.

I have a question. Why are they not using the "Slip Form" construction for the core? I would think that the process would be sped up so much rather then Set forms, pour, remove forms, move up and start again.
If anyone with knowledge can answer please do.
Lance

i'm sure they'll use this method when the tower has reached streetlevel. but at this stage of construction i think they're not able to use it

this is taking for ever!

i'm sure they'll use this method when the tower has reached streetlevel. but at this stage of construction i think they're not able to use it

They are able to use this slipforms at this level, but it's of no use as the floors around the core take much longer to build at this stage.

I have a question: The FT will have 1m thick concrete core walls, so what do you think, will this thickness reduce the construction speed of the FT? I mean a 1m thick wall has to dry alot longer than for example a 0,6m thick wall........and each floor has to dry until they can begin with a new one.......

I hope this isnt a stupid question, i am really lokoking forward for replys to it.

i would say you're right, would only be logical

sorry, im just impatient. they need to work 24/7 on this thing
bust a whip!

sorry, im just impatient. they need to work 24/7 on this thing
bust a whip!

i think they do :nuts:

Sweet! Nice eye! Based on the Webcam it was put up today. :)

Well, I thought my eyes were decieving me, but there is finally steel proturding over the PATH tracks on the far end of the site. This is excellent news of this constructions development. :)

EDIT: and upon further inspection theres more steel on flatbeds waiting to be lifted.

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/5149/megapixelcamera20080119dm4.th.jpg (http://img299.imageshack.us/my.php?image=megapixelcamera20080119dm4.jpg)

Theres the steel in the back.

sorry, im just impatient. they need to work 24/7 on this thing
bust a whip!
they work 24/day and 365 days/year..

Awesome and huge tower!!! New York deserve a such beautiful tower like this:okay:

Awesome and huge tower!!! New York deserve a such beautiful tower like this:okay:


You totally deserve some sort of reward for not posting a crap comment in this thread! :banana:


Now it looks like almost all of the massive, vertical perimeter steel columns have been erected so I bet we'll start to see other structural features starting very soon; to add, the core is still growing and the area around this tower is only starting to explode. They most likely started Tower 4 without a peep or perhaps they are just going to wait several more days for Tower 3's site to be ready too.

There a progress but not a big progress. The importan thing is that they're working.

You won't see this really serious to rise until the steel on the northern wall of the building goes up. I give it another 2-3 weeks before this happens.

wait according to the plans this building should rise above street level in the first quater of this year ..so in 2 months we should see some serious progress on this tower :)

1. Make that Q2 (April thru June)

2. Work normally proceeds on the FT from 7 am to 4 pm daily except on Sunday

3. There is no rubble from 9/11. WTC remnants include the slurry walls and the underground parking lot that covers the subway tunnel. The survivor's staircase is still left but it is currently being removed.

calling carlos.... hello carlos, come in!??

COME IN NEW PICTURE POST...YOU COPY...LOL:ohno::nuts::bash:

calling carlos.... hello carlos, come in!??

HI, I'm glad you miss me...but it's 18 degrees below zero outside today ...I Ain't going nowhere!!! :)

LET'S GO GIANTS!!!!

:lol:

I hope this project starts to move faster

HI, I'm glad you miss me...but it's 18 degrees below zero outside today ...I Ain't going nowhere!!! :)

LET'S GO GIANTS!!!!

:lol:

haha okay...understandable :banana:

HI, I'm glad you miss me...but it's 18 degrees below zero outside today ...I Ain't going nowhere!!! :)

LET'S GO GIANTS!!!!

:lol:

http://bestsmileys.com/surprised/1.gifhttp://bestsmileys.com/cold/10.gifhttp://bestsmileys.com/cold/8.gifhttp://bestsmileys.com/cold/11.gif

I think it's cold in LA and it's only 52*. It is http://bestsmileys.com/weather/1.gif though.

Wow talk about a thread that has slowed down. Holy cow. Well it looks like they are getting ready to pour a new floor on the south side of the south core. Man
some pictures would be great from the site.
Lance

from wtcrising.com

prep. for wtc 2

http://i27.tinypic.com/2ev3oea.jpg

ready to build wtc 4

http://i28.tinypic.com/ayo6j5.jpg

http://i26.tinypic.com/10ollhz.jpg

:cheers:

sorry posted in the rong thread

OHHHHH S*** how deep is the hole for WTC4? its gigantic!

80 feet I believe.

:nuts:

That hole is pretty amazing. Is this hole going to be deeper than the original hole?.

Is this hole going to be deeper than the original hole?.

The new east tub is around 10-15 feet deeper than the west tub.

It is about 90 feet deep now. Original was 70.

wow, almost 100ft.....!!!

Any updates on the FT?

I'm gonna try and look at the hole on sunday! damn this construction is painful to watch!!!!!!!!! 7 years and a BIG HOLE ...damn

^^ it'll get there. Good things come to those who wait.

7 years back then looked like this!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/nyctowers/2008/wtcuc70.gif

well yes....but there were different circumstances back then.

In one year the site will be just as, if not more intense than this shot...

Becouse there will be 4 towers rising, I figure this time next year,
Tower 1, 50 to 60 floors above ground,
Tower 2, at least 20 to 30 floors,
Tower 3, 45 to 55 floors,
Tower 4, at least, 15 floors from top out,

This should prove an interesting photograph......!!!

well yes....but there were different circumstances back then.

yes :(

http://www.wtcrising.com/images/FE/chain217siteType8/site187/client/photoGallery/193/IMG_2903%20(Large)_big.JPG

I can't wait for the Freedom Tower to be finished. It's gonna be amazing!:cheers:

Tower 1, 50 to 60 floors above ground,
Tower 2, at least 20 to 30 floors,
Tower 3, 45 to 55 floors,
Tower 4, at least, 15 floors from top out,


Yer kidding, of course...

Tower 2 after 6 months will be 20 to 30 floors?
Towers 3 & 4 will be how high after 12 months?

By May, tower 1 will be reaching street level, after 2 years of construction. So you're saying the other towers will rise at three, four times the rate of the FT?

The foundations for towers 2, 3, and 4 won't be done until the end of 2009.

^ These foundations will be buit literally three to four times faster than that of the Freedom Tower.


The foundation for Tower 4 will be done in six months.
The foundation for Tower 3 will be completed in seven months. (((Site prep will be done in a few days.)))
Tower 2's foundation will be done by the end of the year.
By fall, the Freedom Tower's base will be rising into the sky.
130 Liberty Street (future WTC Tower 5 - 750') will be demolished by the end of this year.
99 Church St. (70+ floors) will be on almost the same schedule as WTC Tower 2, except it will be completed a year earlier.
123 Washington Street's foundation (50+ floors) is completed.
The GS Tower (750') will top out soon.

That other 60+ floor tower's foundation to the south of the WTC will be completed this year.
The Beekman Tower (75 floors) should finally start going up; I bet it will have an impact on the WTC.
56 Leonard Street, a 800-foot-tall tower close to the WTC which most people have no idea about because no info was unveiled about it, starts up or has already started, I think.
And more.

^^ Again, another claim that the foundation for T2, a supertall, will take 6 months. GS took 3 times as long, FT 3 times as long. You're being highly unrealistic.

^^ Again, another claim that the foundation for T2, a supertall, will take 6 months. GS took 3 times as long, FT 3 times as long. You're being highly unrealistic.


This is the UPDATED construction schedule from www.wtc.com :

WTC TOWER 2 (200 Greenwich Street):

Schematic Design March 1, 2007
Design Development July 1, 2007
Foundation Construction July - December 2008
Superstructure to Ground Level January - July 2009
Structural Steel Erection July 2009 - March 2011
Structural Concrete Tower Core & Slab October 2009 - June 2011
Core and Shell Work March 2010 - December 2012
Curtain Wall April 2010 - March 2012

GS took twice as along not three times, but pile driving takes a while and is a very long process. Freedom Tower is taking 3 times as long because of its construction, steel, rebar and concrete encasing the steel, probably one of the slowest builds possible. Coupled with the fact that the building is being built partially over PATH tracks further complicates things.

But that is not to say I believe it will take 6 months. I would be more willing to say 8-10 months.

It is kind of incredible. Both of Americas legendary sky scraper cities have monumental builds going on in them. Chicago Spire and Freedom Tower. both are being built at the same times. Its like a race to see who can be done first! Its reminiscent of Chrysler vs Empire....just minus the hight battle.

Never happen.

And the memorial was supposed to be complete by 2009. Now 2011.

Rumour has it that the construction of T2 and friends has been understated and that it may be 2014 before it is complete.

We'll see...

Never happen.

And the memorial was supposed to be complete by 2009. Now 2011.

Rumour has it that the construction of T2 and friends has been understated and that it may be 2014 before it is complete.

We'll see...

So we show you concrete proof and you deny it? It's not like the PA is going to be late with the T2 foundation after messing up Tower 3 for a month. Tower 3 isn't that much smaller than T2. Larry has stated that he will get the foundations done as fast as possible without any BS at all and get the skyscrapers going asap. Yes, a 1 or 2 month delay will always happen, but 2 years is BS as of now. There's no problem right now and no signs that anything will go wrong (except according to TalB, of course). Why would they not have the correct dates correct for T2's foundation? They still have plenty of time to rid the staircase.

Debby Downer

Yeah I hate people who will never say one positive or uplifting thing. Nothing ever comes from a pessimistic attitude. I bet all of the workers on this project would laugh in your face if you said crap like it will never get done.

There's so much to be happy about. If anything, I'm shocked that no one is taking any action against these buildings. Must be location. If a tower half the size and height of 5WTC were to be proposed is another area of the city, it's possible that it would have been shot down before even taking off.

An article on a web site is not concrete proof. I can find many old articles stating that the memorial would be finished in 2009. They were ONLY off by 2 years for a building that will barely rise past street level. Every statement regarding timelines for the WTC site that I have ever read has under-estimated the time. The cranes were installed later than stated, the foundation was completed later than stated, the FT will reach street level later than first stated, etc.

AND they waited until the last day to announce that the T3/T4 bathtub would be up to six weeks late.

Don't believe everything you read.

I'll take that into account when I read what you write.


It wasn't some random article. It was an official construction schedule.

http://wtc.com/about/office-tower-2/office-tower-2-schedule


You can't get any more official than www.wtc.com / office-tower-2-schedule

It even contains all of the newer design updates which many people have no idea of.

Yes, reality is such a downer.

^^
So is negativity, and pretty boring as well.
Why not just sit back, relax, and watch these fabulous skyscrapers rise in whatever time it takes?

With the use of schedules found by Ebola I made the following timeline about the construction of the East Bathtub:

This year (2008)
January: start foundation work (raft foundation) tower 3 & 4
July: start foundation work (raft foundation) tower 2
July: start basement floors tower 3 & 4

By the end of the year tower 3 & 4 are at ground level and the foundation of tower 2 will be ready.

2009
January: start structural steel tower 3 & 4 and basement floors tower 2
March: start concrete structures and coverage
July: start structural steel tower 2
October: start concrete structures and coverage tower 2
November: start cladding work tower 3 & 4

By the end of next year tower all towers are rising towards the sky.

2010
April: start cladding work tower 2
September: tower 3 & 4 reach their final height

2011
March: cladding work completed on tower 3 & 4, and tower 2 reaches its final height.

2012
March: cladding work completed on tower 2


Sounds like a realistic time frame to me. :cheers:

that's great :okay:

agree, that sounds indeed realistic!

20-30 floors for Tower 2 already in one year :rofl:......

I can't wait for the Freedom Tower to be finished. It's gonna be amazing!:cheers:

? ? What's so amazing about the design? Oh yeah that's right, it's got a larger percentage of its height from spire than most buildings and in it's taking longer to construct. Other than that there's not much amazing about it.

^^ It's not only the design, it's also what the tower stands for. When this building is finished it will be one of the if not THE most important building in the USA. This building will symbolize the strength of your country to overcome 911 and a symbol of victory against the enemies of the free world. That is what makes the building amazing, not only the shape and the spire.

The world trade centre site is going to look shit hot when its finished, just because its not going to be the worlds tallest building or constructed as fast as something in dubai dosnt make it any less amazing or symbolic!!
And the history behind the world trade centre and what it is becoming is something that no other country or city will ever have :banana::banana:

but this also makes it interesting for your enemies...
you'll strictly have to protect it!

:cheers:

And the history behind the world trade centre and what it is becoming is something that no other country or city will ever have :banana::banana:

this history is nothing splendid, 2001 was terrible.........:sleepy:

The world trade centre site is going to look shit hot when its finished, just because its not going to be the worlds tallest building or constructed as fast as something in dubai dosnt make it any less amazing or symbolic!!
And the history behind the world trade centre and what it is becoming is something that no other country or city will ever have :banana::banana:

You're right that the building will look quite good, but the history of these tower is nothing special. The buildings themselves weren't that good looking in the first place. Two large boxes rising up from the ground blocking the view to many other far better structures.

RealThang there is a difference. The memorial isn't being built by Silverstein (a real developer). It is being built by a non-profit group with the governments help. There are not to say the least financial and issues of efficiencies when it comes to a tidy completion date.

Yer kidding, of course...

Tower 2 after 6 months will be 20 to 30 floors?
Towers 3 & 4 will be how high after 12 months?

By May, tower 1 will be reaching street level, after 2 years of construction. So you're saying the other towers will rise at three, four times the rate of the FT?

The foundations for towers 2, 3, and 4 won't be done until the end of 2009.

You must understand that the structural systems of all four towers is straightfoward, and i'm sure they will all be of structural steel, except the cores, so the structual framing of Tower's, 2, and 3, could go as fast as 3 and 1/2 floors per week, plus there are no underground obstructions, (such as train right of ways, or exsisting structure's, such as with the FT) to slow down foundation work, Tower 4's foundation work should be at street level by at the latest, july/aug, 08. and Tower 3's at about the same time, Tower 2's foundations (actual) should be also starting before or in june, 08 in the same above time frame.....!!!!

And the history behind the world trade centre and what it is becoming is something that no other country or city will ever have :banana::banana:

its hardly a pretty history, and im not sure many cities or countries would ever want a story like it :(

thanks to a bunch of trolls, thread number 5 was beyond repair. :ohno:

this thread is about the freedom tower and the freedom tower only. if you don't have anything constructive to add about this project, don't bother posting.

*if you have an uncontrollable urge to talk about dubai and/or beat your chest about it, do it in the countless dubai love-fest threads out there. not here. remember...this is new york. not dubai...

*if you think this tower sucks and prefer the original world trade center instead, this thread isn't for you.

consider this a warning in advance...

:lol:

what a statement

I'm really sorry to doubt all your collective wisdom re construction speed but I don't see it based on WTC experience. You all might be right. WTC7 and WTC1 used what I understand is a New York non-standard construction technique of building the core first followed by structural steel. It was in a trade magazine article about a year ago. This technique apparently is slower than the reverse. I also understand there are other issues surrounding the construction of the 3 other towers surrounding the failure of the PA to complete the demolition of 130 Liberty on time. Add in the failure to deliver at least 2 of the properties on time (albeit T4 was only 10 days late). They have about 2 weeks left to finish T3 according to their revised schedule.

So while I hope they can meet their schedules, I also realize that project schedules are made with a 20% contingency bufffer. In other words, a 5 billion dollar tower that is scheduled to be completed in 5 years has a contingency of 6 years at $6B, as an example.

Bottom line? We'll see...

Actually, the core of Tower 7, was slipformed and poured after steel erection was 4 to 6 floors above the level being poured, I do not know for sure that Tower's, 2,3,4, will use this method, but i'm pretty sure the FT core will rise first, and above steel construction operations, also i think alot of the structural steel going into the FT will be concrete encased, i think it will be structurally similar to the Shanghai WFC.

And second, the method of construction, where the core rises above the steel surround, is the second most common construction method used worldwide, (slipformed concrete, being #1) as far as political and financial issues, i base my timeframes on actual construction experience, and the 20+ highrise projects i've been involved with in the last 30 years.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01242008/postopinion/editorials/double_talk_on_ground_zero_635328.htm
DOUBLE TALK ON GROUND ZERO

January 24, 2008 -- The former Deutsche Bank building at Ground Zero has stood for years as a monument to bureaucratic bungling - but could finally be coming down!

. . . Sometime this year.

That is, if one is to believe Lower Manhattan Development Corp. Chairman Avi Schick, who took heat at the City Council yesterday over the LMDC's continued inability to bring down the building - which was grievously damaged on 9/11, and in August was the site of a hellish blaze that killed two firefighters.

Schick got a much-deserved tongue-lashing from Councilman Peter Vallone (D-Queens) after first insisting that any timetable for the building's demolition wouldn't be "productive" at this point.

Maybe not from his perspective. No timetable, after all, means no benchmark for progress - and no standard against which to gauge blame.

No wonder that Schick was soon back to his original plan: asking the council, in essence, to simply accept his assurances that all concerned are "committed" to getting the building down quickly.

Whatever the hell that means.

Indeed, Schick wouldn't (couldn't?) even say what precise steps are still needed before the LMDC gets the all-clear to resume work.

And that's especially odd, given that subcontractor LVI Services says it hopes to restart preliminary deconstruction work by Monday.

Bottom line: Schick's dodgy testimony inspires little confidence that further delays aren't in the wings.

More candor, please.

When it's finished, it 'll be a point the eyes of Newyork city. This building's very nice.

Looks like they poured the first floor on the southern side of the building. I wonder how much more time before the rest of that floor is poured?

99 church, wtc 3, wtc 2, wtc 1, goldman sachs

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a391/philvia/wtc-1.jpg

Looks like they poured the first floor on the southern side of the building. I wonder how much more time before the rest of that floor is poured?

should be done in the next few days i think

^^ Don't think so, first they need to pour the walls along the path tracks and the concrete around the steel beams. Then they'll have to install the formwork and place the rebar. With the current speed I think it will be somewhere next month.

It seems that many have a negative view of the FT. From the renders I think this building is going to be amazingly beautiful, and a great addition to the NYC skyline.:banana:
http://wtc.com/uploads/images/712x534/13_36_Downtown-Skyline-by-Day-(credit-dbox,-courtesy-SPI).jpg

^^ Best Render i have ever seen ^^

Where is 99 Church in that? Shouldn't it be next to FT?
Nevermind. I checked out Google Earth and that is in the right place. Just looks a little taller than what I thought.

Wait...did you say the first floor was poured...Like Ground Floor first floor? Lets see it.

beautiful render..... absolutly amazing. FT will be gorgeous!!!
I really need to go and live in New York...

99 Church Street (unveiled today) is over 900 feet tall and has 80 floors.

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/2391/1230downtownskylinebyduui9.jpg

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

That makes 5 or even perhaps 6 towers over 900 feet tall u/c at the same time.

^^ 99 Church is the tower designed by Foster?

^^ 99 Church is the tower designed by Foster?

No. You're thinking about 200 Greenwich Street, which is over 1,300 feet tall. 99 Church Street is a tower that was unveiled today, to the left of Foster's tower. It was designed to look very classical.

Wait...did you say the first floor was poured...Like Ground Floor first floor? Lets see it.

He was referring to the B3 level floor south of the south core. All of the bottom floor B4 is poured and this was the first for the next sub-floor. Three more to go for the lobby floor.

WTC-7 looks so small in those renders, completly dwarfed by whats to come.

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!...............very nice pics!!

Jesus christ there taking their time :bash::ohno:

whats the name of this building
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/1070/1336downtownskylinebydagn7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

That building is the 99 Church Street tower talked about above.

This is probably a very stupid question, but will the Freedom Tower have an observation deck or a skylobby?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/nyregion/29rebuild.html?ref=nyregion
Developer Sought for Restaurant in Freedom Tower

By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Published: January 29, 2008

For the price of a meal, Windows on the World atop 1 World Trade Center offered diners a spot in the stratosphere, a spot that was lost — along with so much else — on Sept. 11, 2001.

“It may be merely a footnote to a national calamity,” William Grimes, then a restaurant critic for The New York Times, wrote a week later, “but the collapse of the World Trade Center’s two towers ended an era in New York City dining.”

On Monday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is building the new 1 World Trade Center (also known as the Freedom Tower), set out to find whether anyone wants to try to revive that era.

It issued what is called a request for expressions of interest from developers who would design, construct, operate and manage a 34,000-square-foot restaurant on the 100th and 101st floors of the new tower.

The space, commanding a 360-degree panorama nearly 1,250 feet above street level, would be served by as many as five express elevators.

The grand opening is planned for early 2013.

The restaurant operator may also be chosen to run the 24,000-square-foot observation deck on the 102nd floor.

But a question posed by Mr. Grimes yet to be answered:

“Will diners ever again find that perspective enchanting?” he wrote more than six years ago, and added, “Exhilaration has now become too closely interwoven with terror.”

This is probably a very stupid question, but will the Freedom Tower have an observation deck or a skylobby?
hell yeah it will.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/nyregion/29rebuild.html?ref=nyregion
Developer Sought for Restaurant in Freedom Tower

By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Published: January 29, 2008

For the price of a meal, Windows on the World atop 1 World Trade Center offered diners a spot in the stratosphere, a spot that was lost — along with so much else — on Sept. 11, 2001.

“It may be merely a footnote to a national calamity,” William Grimes, then a restaurant critic for The New York Times, wrote a week later, “but the collapse of the World Trade Center’s two towers ended an era in New York City dining.”

On Monday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is building the new 1 World Trade Center (also known as the Freedom Tower), set out to find whether anyone wants to try to revive that era.

It issued what is called a request for expressions of interest from developers who would design, construct, operate and manage a 34,000-square-foot restaurant on the 100th and 101st floors of the new tower.

The space, commanding a 360-degree panorama nearly 1,250 feet above street level, would be served by as many as five express elevators.

The grand opening is planned for early 2013.

The restaurant operator may also be chosen to run the 24,000-square-foot observation deck on the 102nd floor.

But a question posed by Mr. Grimes yet to be answered:

“Will diners ever again find that perspective enchanting?” he wrote more than six years ago, and added, “Exhilaration has now become too closely interwoven with terror.”

Just looking at the design, most likely its gonna be a revolving restaurant.

99 Church Street (unveiled today) is over 900 feet tall and has 80 floors.

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/2391/1230downtownskylinebyduui9.jpg

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

That makes 5 or even perhaps 6 towers over 900 feet tall u/c at the same time.AMAZING, this is by far the best render

^^ till 2013?

is that what i heard?


crap!!! TalB will NEVER let this go. :|

Where did you hear about this delay?

Wtc 2 building is much dominating for me, It´s wider than freedom tower.

Out of toppic: Lower Manhattan need huge roller coaster or atypical wheel.

Out of toppic: Lower Manhattan need huge roller coaster or atypical wheel. Ah I don´t know. These wheels always make cities look like a fair.

Love the new WTC complex. It will look very nice when it´s finished.

hell yeah it will.

Both? Or just the observation deck? Either way I'm happy. I was against the new complex at first, but it looks FANTASTIC on these new renders. WTC2 is gorgeous. Maybe in 10 years I'll have a condo in that area. That'd be a dream come true.

Very beautiful photo montage ! And so is the 99th Church Street !

Great new renders! And so glad that they didn't built some of those earlier proposals for FT. Looking forward to the new downtown!

I haven't liked the final design of Freedom Tower since I first saw it, and these recent renditions certainly don't make me like it anymore. The spire certainly looks like an afterthought to get the height they want, it doesn't look like it's part of the original design. At least the original design had the spire integral into the design and it tapered nicely from the roof of the occupied area to the tip.

Hopefully this will be corrected before top out.

7 WTC looks so funny small in that render :lol:

Nice renders...

The render looks amazingly real! my friend (who's not a skycraper fanatic) can't even tell which is real or not hehe. when i told her it's in New York City, she said how come she didn't notice those towers before :hilarious

7 WTC looks so funny small in that render :lol:

its almost cute :lol: Shouldn't you also be able to make out some of 4 World Trade in these new renderings?

99 Church Street (unveiled today) is over 900 feet tall and has 80 floors.

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/2391/1230downtownskylinebyduui9.jpg

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

That makes 5 or even perhaps 6 towers over 900 feet tall u/c at the same time.

This is going to be VERY nice!! The rendering looks almost as if the buildings already exist. The WTC that was lost on 9/11 was dramatic to look at, but only due to its sheer bulk. This is artistry...a fitting statement to the rest of the world. It will look far better than what was there.

Mr, Silverstein being interviewd today about 99 church and the new WTC complex.

Video 1
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=6187915&ch=4226720&src=news

That render looks amazing!!! No matter how many big buildings are being constructed around the world, New York's skyline is simply the best.

NYC skyscrapers is the best in the World forsure!!!":)

^^ without any doubt.

99 church is timeless class

^^ till 2013?

is that what i heard?


crap!!! TalB will NEVER let this go. :|

Just leave me alone xXFallenXx, and for the record, that article I recently posted wasn't negative at all from reading it.

its almost cute :lol: Shouldn't you also be able to make out some of 4 World Trade in these new renderings?

Yes, a tiny sliver on the left, and a larger "doublewide" sliver on the right, so little that i guess the renderer said, forget it......!

When I see it, The Freedom Tower works very well. I do not like that pointy building though

Wtc 2 building is much dominating for me, It´s wider than freedom tower.

Out of toppic: Lower Manhattan need huge roller coaster or atypical wheel.

Just pop over to Coney Island, it might break your neck but damn is it a fun coaster.

Part of the article was excluded for not being relevant, so click the link for the whole story
http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_248/shapingtheworld.html
Volume 20, Number 36 | The Newspaper of Lower Manhattan | Feb. 1 - 7 , 2008

Shaping the World Trade Center’s pieces

By Julie Shapiro

When tourists and curious residents peer into the World Trade Center site from street level, they see a big dirt pit, studded with machinery, a jumble of puzzle pieces that don’t quite form a complete picture.

But below ground, in the midst of the roaring equipment and piles of rock, the future of the site is beginning to take shape. It is getting easier to see which cradles of bedrock will hold which future skyscrapers. The outlines of roads and underpasses are becoming clearer, dividing the mass of construction into segments familiar from bird’s-eye renderings.

And while the site sometimes appears quiet from street level, far more movement is visible belowground. The sectors crawl with activity, as hundreds of construction workers drive heavy machinery or sweep debris, working on the half-dozen major projects that will bring four skyscrapers, a train station, a memorial and a performing arts center to the site within several years.

“Today, those who live or work around the site — and tourists from around the world who visit it each day — can see that construction is progressing aggressively and the site is bustling with activity,” Anthony Shorris, executive director of Port Authority, said in a statement. “Cranes are constantly in motion, steel is going up and trucks are lined up each day moving concrete and materials on and off the site.”

The Port’s $16 billion investment will ultimately bring the equivalent of five Empire State buildings to the site, Shorris said.

“We expect our efforts will pay off in the next few years when the site once again becomes a center for economic activity and a hub for Downtown life,” he said.

Steve Coleman, a Port Authority spokesperson, took a Downtown Express reporter and photographer around the site on a recent morning, pointing out the progress.

Freedom Tower Steel beams mark the boundaries and progress of the Freedom Tower in the northwest corner of the site. A lone white beam, inscribed “Freedom Tower,” which was ceremoniously lowered into the pit several years ago, is still visible — but only partly. As the building grows, concrete is filling in around the beam and now eclipses about half of the vertical inscription.

Most of the work at the Freedom Tower is happening in the center of the building, the concrete core that will house the elevators. Port Authority is building the core up first, and then the steel will follow, bringing the work above street level by the end of the year. At 1,776 feet, the Freedom Tower will dwarf surrounding buildings and stand tallest in the world.

At 1,776 feet, the Freedom Tower will dwarf surrounding buildings and stand tallest in the world.

? ? What kind of paper is this the doesn't even know that Freedom Tower will even be close to the tallest in the world? It won't even be the tallest in the United States when finished and probably won't be tallest in New York for a long! Maybe the reporter who wrote the article needs to read some things occasionally!:bash:

http://ciudad-linda.myminicity.com/ind

http://ciudad-linda.myminicity.com

please add such links to your signature and don't post them in all threads, that's pure spam

First post!

Anyone have updated pics of ground zero? I've seen some stuff, but there hasn't been much effort for one of the biggest reconstruction projects in the biggest city in the US.


Anyway, hopefully things will pick up soon.


P.S.: I've been around the forum for a while, just thought I'd start posting. Plus I started a city in MyMiniCity, so posting here helps that too. :) Thanks.

Good render one sees very royal:banana:

Or perhaps people need to realize that not every person is cognizant of other cities and their projecs because they're not as famous and deserving as some think they are. So please, let us continue with tradition and loudly cry and whine for nine pages because of one sentence.

For record breaking terms, it will be the tallest office building ever and, once again, the largest office complex ever. Please, do whine about me being 'wrong.'

I could accept someone making an incorrect statement if they were just a regular contributor but the reporters job is to collect facts and it's very obvious the reporter who wrote the article to do this. Obviously the reporter is just very New York centered and not interested in collecting facts! It's not hard to collect facts on this subject if you look!:bash:

coud someone add the link of the webcam ? cause it wont work if i click on it :)

You're clearly wrong because dozens of different articles have said the same since 2005 on. Calling the reporter "NY Centered" is pure BS.

coud someone add the link of the webcam ? cause it wont work if i click on it :)

http://www.earthcam.net/users2/interface.php?id=445&projectid=202&clientid=158