WSP Cantor Seinuk has been appointed as structural engineer for the tower, to be built at the World Trade Center site in downtown Manhattan. The Freedom Tower will provide an unprecedented level of safety and security. It will also be a world-class model of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.
In addition to 69 floors of office space, there will also be world-class restaurants, below-grade shopping and access to the PATH and subway trains, and to the World Financial Center.
Designs for an inspirational landmark
- The tower’s 61 m x 61 m footprint, will be the same as the original Twin Towers.
- Rising from its cubic base, the tower’s square edges are chamfered back, transforming the square into eight tall isosceles triangles in elevation.
- At its middle, the tower forms a perfect octagon in plan and then culminates in an observation deck and metal and glass parapet which reach a height of 415 m and 417 m respectively – the heights of the original Twin Towers.
- The plan of the observation deck is a square rotated 45 degrees from the base.
- A communications platform ring rises above the parapet and a 123 m cable-stayed antenna for the Metropolitan Television Alliance (MTVA) rises to a final height of 541 m
- Rising from the plaza level, a 15 m high public lobby is topped by a series of mechanical floors; together these form the 57m high building base, which will be reinforced for security reasons and draped with more than 2,000 sheets of prismatic glass.
- 69 office floors containing over 240,000 sq m of office space rise above the base.
Structured for strength and flexibility
The structure consists of a robust, high-strength concrete core paired with a highly redundant perimeter steel moment frame which together provide column-free interior spans for maximum flexibility of tenant use.
Project information
Client: Silverstein Properties
Size: height: 541 m, footprint: 61 x 61 m
Value: N/A
Status: projected top out 2009, occupancy 2011