Report on revised Freedom Tower design and blast protection

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

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T "ike three Latest 'Freedom' incarnation safest By Michael Whsenstein An illuminated spire additional blast protection Associated Press will stretch the building to and,to give an impression the symbolic 1,776 feet of nMwenient and light. Murrloclly redesigned to ad- achieved by the original The building will be set tirws concerns about tructe Freedom Tower dewgn. back an average of 90 feet bomb! r c and scrapped last month after ‘' from West Street, a major straighter Ground Zero the police department said north -sou. th t ho ro ugh fa re Freodom Tower will took it would not adequately along the Hudson River. less B to the Statue of protect against vehicle- The original building was liberty and moi«■ kb, > i -w borne explosives. '■ v to be 25 feet from the six- The new spire, meant to lane highway. of the twin towers, officials evoke the Statue of Liber­ “The new Freedom Tow. saM festerfay. ty s torch, will change col­ er design incorporates or and cast alternating standards the police de- The redrawn tower will beams of light totthe sky f parti hit!I megli! to be set farther back from and to the horittatr I protein ' biiikliis; ;i!;.'!iast on® of Manhattan’s main thoroughfares and atop a 200-foot concrete and met­ *Thls building is as robust and as al. pedestal designed to re­ pel explosions, city and strong as any I've ever been In' state officials said. The tower will lose the — MROireCT OAVin OllDS twisting, asymmetrical de­ sign meant to recall the outstretched arm of the The new building is de- bomb blasts, which our Statute of Liberty. .Instead, signed to meet the securi- counterterrorism, experts it will resemble a faceted ty standards for U.S. em- agree present one of the version of one of the twin bassies, making it the greatest threats to such towers, sitting atop an world’s safest high-rise iconic structures,” Police identical footprint and building, Childs said. Commissioner Raymond .reaching an identical 1,362 “This building is as ro- Kelly said in a written feet into the sky. bust and as strong as any statement. “In a subtle but impor­ I've ever been in,” he said. The changes will require tant way, this building re­ Its base will be con- relocating a 20-ton Adiron- calls ... those buildings that structed of 3-foot-thick dack granite cornerstone we lost,” said its lead ar­ concrete clad in a shim- laid by Pataki on July 4, chitect, David Childs, meting metal curtain for 2004. ■ NYC-WTC_000143458