This version of Freedom Tower suggests the shape of the original Twin Towers that were destroyed in the September 11 terrorist attack. The base and the top of the revised Freedom Tower are square. In between the base and the top, corners are lopped off, giving Freedom Tower a spiral effect. Measuring 200 x 200 feet, the Freedom Tower footprint matches that of the lost towers.
The height of the redesigned Freedom Tower also makes reference to the lost Twin Towers. At 1,362 feet, the proposed new building rises the same height as Tower Two. A parapet elevates Freedom Tower to the same height as Tower One. An enormous spire centered at the top would give Freedom Tower the symbolic height of 1,776 feet that Libeskind had wanted.
The 2005 plan for Freedom Tower eliminates the open air shafts and windmills. Most of the mechanical equipment is housed in the square, concrete-shrouded base of the tower. Also located in the base, the lobby has no windows excepting narrow slots in the concrete.
For additional safety, the placement of Freedom Tower on the WTC site is changed, locating the skyscraper several feet further from the street.
Critics lambasted the new design, comparing Freedom Tower to a concrete bunker. Bloomberg News called it "a monument to bureaucratic bungling and political gutlessness." The New York Times called it "Somber, oppressive and clumsily conceived."
Childs proposed adding shimmering metal panels to the base, but this solution didn't resolve the foreboding appearance of the redesigned tower.
Next: 2006 Plan for Freedom Tower
News Archives
