World Trade Center Progress

by constructionbytes.com, 03.10.2011

By the end of 2010, over nine years after the World Trade Center twin towers were destroyed by terrorist attacks, the building that replaces them reached its half way point. One World Trade Center, previously known as Freedom Tower, had the steel beams for its 52nd floor put in place. When completed, the building will have 104 floors.

Following the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11th 2001, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation ran a competition to decide on its replacement. Initial proposals were all rejected but a second competition in December 2002 saw a design by Daniel Libeskind selected. Many revisions were subsequently made due to disagreements with developer Larry Silverstein. A final design appeared in June 2005 but later had a 187 foot concrete base added at the request of the New York Police Department to address security concerns. This base is to be clad in over 2000 glass prisms due to criticism that it had the appearance of a concrete bunker.

Construction of the building’s foundations began in April 2006 and was marked by a formal ceremony. By 2007, steel became visible above ground. The building’s topping out is scheduled for late 2011 and construction should be completed by 2012. It is anticipated that the building will be ready for occupancy during 2013, around twelve years after the original buildings were destroyed.

One World Trade Center will have 2.6 million square feet of office space over 69 tenant floors and there will be observation decks, restaurants and below ground parking facilities. It will be served by 70 high speed lifts. The sixty foot high lobby area forms a 200 foot square building base, which is nearly as wide as the twin towers it replaces. Each of the floors will have column-free interior space to give maximum flexibility. The corners of the tower are champhered so the building appears to twist as it goes higher.

An observation deck is at 1362 feet and a glass parapet at 1368 feet, which match the heights of the original twin towers. A shrouded antenna structure, which will be used for TV broadcasting and communications, takes the total height to 1776 feet. This is not only symbolic in that it represents the year the United Sates Declaration of Independence was signed but it also means One World Trade Center will be the tallest building in the Americas and the tallest all-office building in the world. An intense beam of light will shine at night over 1000 feet into the air above the tower.

Unsurprisingly, the building has a host of in-built safety features. These include three feet thick concrete walls for the stairwells, elevator shafts, risers and sprinkler systems. There are also very wide emergency stairs, stairwells for the exclusive use of fire-fighters, plus a ventilation system with biological and chemical filters. The building has structural redundancy and extra strong fireproofing.

One World Trade Center is also designed to be a ‘green’ building. It will have low-energy HVAC solutions, high-performance facades and renewable energy sources, with twelve hydrogen fuel cells generating 4.8 megawatts of power. The building will have non-ozone depleting chemicals and recyclable and sustainable materials that include rainwater collection systems. It is expected to receive Gold Certification from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

There is access from the building to the transit hub of the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) commuter train service and to fifteen subway lines. A new state-of-the-art railway station is being built at a cost of $3.2 billion. Designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the World Trade Center Transport Hub will replace an existing temporary PATH station. Slow progress in the early building work has been put down to challenges caused by surrounding PATH tracks.

A retail complex is being constructed at One World Trade Center and the 16 acre site also features a further four skyscrapers (Towers 2, 3, 4 and 5). Close to the main building are two glass reflecting pools, which are being built at the location of the original twin towers. Trees are to be planted around the pools and beneath them is to be the “National September 11 Memorial & Museum”, built at a cost of $610 million. This is scheduled for completion on September 11th 2011, the tenth anniversary of the attacks.

Original Article Link:  World Trade Center Progress

Call Project Technology Solutions today to arrange a live demonstration of the power of web based construction software.

Project Technology Solutions (ProTech)
Preferred Dealer for Procore - Web Based Construction Software
866-570-4640
Posted by ProTech at 3/10/2011 12:50 PM
Categories: Construction News
Tags: freedom tower world trade center construction protech procore dealer construction cloudware web base
 

What did you think of this article?




Trackbacks
Trackback specific URL for this post
  • No trackbacks exist for this post.
Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Leave a comment

 Name

 Email (will not be published)

 Website

Your comment is 0 characters limited to 3000 characters.