Rebuilding the World Trade Center Twin Towers as they were would be the best kind of healing New York City and the rest of the United States could ask for.
The skyline view I have of NYC is always sad one. Driving towards the city, going to the Lincoln Tunnel for me has never been the same without the largest land marks of NYC present. It is hard to describe how it actually feels, but I am sure anyone else who has the view knows.
Now here is the article and plans:
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This plan was conceived to address the rebirth of the WTC site in a manner that properly honors those we lost, while serving the needs of the living. The entire plan is a living memorial. It is subject to change as a result of public feedback, official acceptance, and/or unforeseen engineering considerations. This plan features:
- A footprint-based outdoor memorial complex featuring either the Arad Memorials or replicas of the facades of the lower five stories of the original Twin Towers;
- Modern Twin Towers shifted 300 feet east of their original footprints;
- Four or more 12-story buildings containing:
A 9/11 Memorial Museum in the southwest corner including a Hall of Heroes, with a glass tower of meditation on the northeast side of the Memorial Museum;
An office/street- level retail building in the northwest corner;
A transportation terminal;
-Restoration of the underground shopping mall and addition of street-level retail;
-Optional restoration of 600,000 square feet of hotel space;
-Restoration of Fulton Street to vehicular traffic and restoration of Greenwich Street one block to Fulton Street. Later plans might feature these streets under ground with taxi and bus stands and truck-loading facilities;
-Improved pedestrian access through the outdoor and indoor complexes;
-In its final configuration, a Floor Area Ratio of 15 or less;
-Ability to phase office space to the market in sixths, halves, thirds, quarters, or nonphased.
Twin Towers
Within this site plan, the Yamasaki Twin Towers return, with several enhancements and modifications over the originals. The Twin Towers of the New Millennium would differ from their predecessors in the following ways:
-They would each consist of 112 to 115 floors with a 12-foot floor-to-floor height. (Up to 14-foot floor-to-floor height is being considered with possible changes in building height.)
-The North Tower (Tower 1) would be at least 1,475-feet tall and would feature a 383-foot mast for communication transmissions, which is a 135-foot increase in height. At 1,858 feet, the North Tower would qualify as the World's Tallest Building. Windows on the World would be featured near its uppermost floors.
-The South Tower (Tower 2) would be at least 1,475 feet tall, featuring indoor and outdoor observatory decks. Both Towers would retain about the same dimensions at their base: 215 feet per side (exterior).
-They would be a tube-within-a-tube design. The exterior skin would feature columns two-feet square, spaced 4 feet 8-7/8 inches apart (possibly more), resulting in a much stronger design (5 times minimum), while permitting larger windows admitting more natural sunlight. The core would feature the same columns as the exterior skin, and its walls would be of reinforced concrete.
-Fireproofing will be of improved technologies rather than the spray-on coatings used previously. Elevators would be of fireproof design, and the towers would have advanced fire-fighting systems.
-Both buildings would have six stairwells rather than four. The stairwells would contain sensors which indicate if they have been breached in any way. The stairwells would also be wider than the originals.
-The current site plan calls for the hotel space to be located mid-rise within one of the Twin Towers resulting in a highly marketable sky hotel. Another possibility is to grant the Port Authority a residential variance and locate luxury apartments within the upper floors of one or both buildings.
Memorial Complex
The footprint-based memorials would be delineated with the first five stories of skin from the original Twin Towers or a replica. This, combined with the rebuilt Towers in the background would leave no doubt as to what happened, resulting in a powerful memorial. Within each footprint would be a circle containing half the flags of the 88 nations that lost people during the attacks and a granite wall with a non-hierarchical listing of those who died in that particular building. The north footprint could feature an arbor garden, while the south could feature a fountain. Both would be on a raised platform, shielding visitors from the noise of traffic below.
The 9/11 Memorial Museum would feature a Hall of Heroes where the actions of both uniformed service workers and civilians would be documented. This hall could feature the inducted heroes' photographs, each with a plaque bearing their name, and a synopsis of their actions that day.
In the northeast corner of the proposed museum is the Tower of Meditation, a 12-story glass parallelogram where visitors could enter to meditate and reflect.
Within the proposed 9/11 Memorial Museum, it is possible to inter the 10,315 unidentified remains of 9/11 victims, as well as the fine ash in Fresh Kills suspected of containing unidentified remains. The remains could be hermetically sealed and located in special vaults inside the building.
Retail, Transportation, and Cultural Facilities
Except for the 9/11 Memorial Museum and Tower of Meditation, each of the 12-story buildings on the WTC site would feature street-level retail. Fulton Street would be re-opened to partial vehicular traffic and Greenwich Street could be extended down to Fulton Street, carving the WTC site into a superblock and two smaller parcels. The full 600,000 square-foot mall underground would be restored.
The northwest building would feature street-level retail space and office space. The transit terminal, which tentatively will be designed by Santiago Calatrava, is on the east side of the site.
Reasons to Adopt the Plan:
-The WTC site was designed specifically for the Twin Towers.
The skin, core, and flooring could be completed within two years, fully, and truly restoring the skyline.
The Twin Towers were a national monument, just like the White House, the Capitol, the Statue of Liberty and many other unique places in the United States.
In virtually every public opinion poll, either in print or on the Internet, the public has shown support for rebuilding the Twin Towers by a significant majority.
Rebuilding the Twin Towers will heal the psychological wounds of many who were touched by the September 11 attacks.
-The Twin Towers will reclaim over 10,000,000 square feet of column-free office space.
-The Twin Towers will restore revenues from tourism; in fact revenues would increase.
-The site plan offers a substantial, powerful, and appropriate memorial covering 6 acres, 17 when the individual floors of the 9/11 Memorial Museum are counted. The proposed memorial complex not only respects the original Tower footprints, but incorporates them into the memorial in substantive ways.
-The shopping complex one level below grade, along with street-level retail, will create many jobs, stimulate the economy, and result in substantial sales-tax revenue.
In my opinion i think that a new design would be better for everyone who was a victim of 9/11 rebuilding them as they were may be seen as pretending it never happend and that nothing really changed. Of course if that is not true for the bereaved families, the survivors, the emergency services and the people of New York in Generaland they may see it as insulting.
Personally I like the design of the new tower but what I think would be a nice touch was if the countries that lost people on 9/11 i.e UK, S. Africa, Mexico etc etc all donated something that could be built into these towers as a reminder that the 9/11 attacks had an affect on a many families in many countries.
05-11-2005 03:48 PM
