Freedom Tower - WOW!!!
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| Fri, 12-19-2003 - 11:13am |
Go to the article and click on the multi media slide show for different views of this amazing building.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/19/nyregion/19CND-TOWERS.html
December 19, 2003<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Architects Unveil Revised Freedom Tower Design
By CHRISTINE HAUSER
<?xml:namespace prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" /><?xml:namespace prefix = w ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" />Officials presented today the final design of the building to be constructed on the World Trade Center site, revealing a slender curving tower that will rise 1,776 feet above downtown New York City, a height symbolic of the year of America's independence.
The model of the Freedom Tower, as it is called, was presented by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York and Gov. George E. Pataki at Federal Hall National Memorial on Wall Street.
"This is a wonderful day not just for New York but for America," Mr. Bloomberg said. He said construction of the tower would represent a dramatic reclaiming of a part of the New York City skyline that was lost on Sept. 11, 2001, and that it formed an important milestone in the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan.
Mr. Pataki, in a speech before a white curtain was drawn back to reveal the design model in its first official presentation, said the tower was intended to serve as a memorial to those who died in the terror attacks and to show that "freedom will always triumph over terror."
The tower will consist of at least 68 occupied floors, capped by a mesh-like network of open levels intended to capture the wind flowing off the Hudson River that will feed a nest of wind turbines to produce energy for the building. Its spire is intended to be evocative of the Statue of Liberty's upraised arm.
"This is a momentous day," said Daniel Libeskind, the master planner of the site. He said the site must symbolize a memorial for the heroes who died there and it was also pertinent to the resurgence of Lower Manhattan.
The tower area is 2.6 million square feet; at the crown there will be an observation deck and public place.
(the article goes on and it's worth reading, but long.)

Elaine
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index2&cid=702
Renee
Up-date: Refined WTC Memorial Shown.
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/wtc/nyc-bzwtc0114,0,2835570.story?coll=nyc-topheadlines-right
The architect of the winning memorial design for the World Trade Center presented his vision yesterday, unveiling a tree-studded plaza with two reflecting pools above subterranean corridors that would house artifacts and victims' remains in alcoves set aside as shrines.
Joined by state and city luminaries at lower Manhattan's historic Federal Hall, Michael Arad displayed a refined model of the memorial, Reflecting Absence, the product of a weeklong series of meetings on both coasts between architects, officials and victims' families.
"I understand just how important this memorial is to so many people," said Arad, 34, a once-unknown designer for the New York City Housing Authority who has now gained wide attention.
Reflecting Absence has undergone notable changes after winning an international competition last week. Arad's scattering of pines has been replaced by groves of deciduous trees with the help of landscape architect Peter Walker. A cultural center Arad had proposed along West Street has been replaced by two buildings at the memorial's northeast corner.
During meetings Arad described as "contentious," architect Daniel Libeskind, the master planner for the World Trade Center site, encouraged Arad to expose more of the site's slurry wall — a mud-colored, concrete foundation that holds back the Hudson River. Visitors would view it from a descending ramp along the memorial's west side.
After complaints from victims' family groups, Arad crafted several underground nooks, including one for the interment of unidentified remains and another where the site's artifacts would be displayed.
"Memorials should leave room to imagine," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "This design, in a simple and eloquent way, has done that."
Reaction varied within the network of victims' family groups, with some embracing Arad's model and others saying the plan needed further adjustment.
An umbrella group, the Coalition for 9/11 Families, has called for artifacts, such as the tower's facades, a demolished fire truck and Fritz Koenig's sculpture, "The Sphere," to dot the memorial's plaza.
Monica Iken, founder of September's Mission, said she preferred Arad's creation of varying spaces for different remembrances because some victims' family members might be traumatized by artifacts on the plaza.
"If you go to Oklahoma City, you don't see a bombed, burnt-out building," she said.
Despite ongoing pressures, Gov. George Pataki made it clear during a talk with reporters that Arad will now have the final say on the outlines of the memorial. "It's his vision," Pataki said.
In another compromise, Arad, who had proposed that victims' names be listed randomly with no emblems, said he had agreed to the placement of insignias or badges next to the names of fallen uniformed rescue workers, such as firefighters and police.
Pataki and Bloomberg defended Arad's decision to list the names randomly, saying it underscored the notion of equality at America's fiber.
"Certainly, the men and women in uniform who rushed to the towers were heroes ... ," Pataki said, "but there were countless other acts of heroism by people that were out of uniform."
This morning, officials are set to unveil the latest version of the World Trade Center memorial. The design is called 'Reflecting Absence'.
Plans for re-building are in the works, yet, families are still awaiting details of the loved ones' deaths.
Victims' families renew request for 9/11 records.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/01/14/sept11.records/index.html
Families of victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attack said Wednesday they will go back to court to find out more about the final hours of their relatives' lives on September 11, 2001.
"To this day, I have no information whatsoever about what happened to my son," Sally Regenhard, whose son was a firefighter, told reporters. "We need to know the truth. If we don't know what happened, we'll never be able to correct the shortcomings that allowed this to happen."
Her son was one of the 343 firefighters who lost their lives trying to help others caught in the twin towers of the World Trade Center after hijackers flew two jetliners into the buildings. At least 2,752 people died at Ground Zero in New York.
The group announced plans to ask the New York Court of Appeals to review a recent court decision that bars the release of certain documents related to the attack.
The group told reporters that all September 11 documents, including transcripts of internal fire department reviews and tapes of 911 calls, should be unsealed.
Family members complained that New York City officials cited the privacy of victims' families as a reason to keep the records sealed. Monica Gabrielle, who lost her husband in the World Trade Center and wants the documents released, called that "ludicrous and outrageous."
"I have not gotten one call to ask if I want the information released," she said.
But families of some of the 37 Port Authority police who were killed in the attack were upset by the release last August of transcripts of radio and telephone transmissions and handwritten notes made during and soon after the attack. (Full story)
The group seeking the release of all records also criticized an arrangement New York City made with the federal commission investigating the terror attack that the families believe could leave transcripts sealed for years.
"If we don't prevail in this lawsuit it is likely that the American public will not have access to some of the historical records of 9/11 for at least 25 years," attorney Norman Siegel said.
Siegel, who represents the family members, said he will file his petition for review with the New York Court of Appeals later this month.
Last week, a state appellate court ruled that only portions of the review transcripts should be released. The appellate court also blocked the release of 911 tapes. The families had joined The New York Times in petitioning the court to unseal the documents.
cl-Libraone

Another change of plans? Do you think the twin towers should be re-built?
Group proposes rebuilding Twin Towers.
An advocacy group Wednesday unveiled a design to rebuild the World Trade Center's twin towers in the image of the original skyscrapers, in an effort to overhaul official plans for the site.
"One might ask, isn't everything regarding the future of the World Trade Center site already cast in stone? The answer: No, not at all," Jonathan Hakala, spokesman for the advocacy group "Team Twin Towers," said at a news briefing.
"Team Twin Towers" said it is speaking on behalf of New Yorkers and Americans who want to see the towers rise again over lower Manhattan. The rebuilding of the site as it stood before the September 11, 2001, attacks would be the best way to restore the New York skyline, the group said.
Last year, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, announced plans to build at the former World Trade Center site a skyscraper dubbed the "Freedom Tower" and a memorial to the 2,749 victims of the attacks by Islamic militants. (Interactive: Freedom Tower specifications)
More than 5,000 proposals were submitted to the design competition. "Team Twin Towers" was not able to complete its design before the competition closed.
More.............
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Northeast/02/19/twin.towers.reut/index.html