Design Plan for Freedom Tower

Introduction

Freedom Tower, the first building to rise on the World Trade Center site, recaptures the skyline and establishes a new civic icon for this city and our country. Extending the long tradition of American ingenuity and innovation in skyscraper construction, Freedom Tower incorporates the highest standards of design, safety, quality and technology in what will be the tallest building in the world.

Master Plan
Freedom Tower adheres to and extends the numerous design principles set out in the Memory Foundations Master Plan. Freedom Tower culminates the spiraling composition of the Master Plan while incorporating this dynamic movement in the unique geometric torque of its form. This asymmetrical form of the tower evokes the dynamic twisting form of the Statue of Liberty. The tower's soaring offset spire further evokes the Statue's profile and marks the symbolic height of 1,776 feet above ground.

Program
Freedom Tower's program is similar to that of the old World Trade Center with 2.6 million square feet of commercial office space. At the base of the building, street-level lobbies provide access to both the office spaces and public areas - such as observation decks, restaurants and event spaces. Retail concourses below grade connect directly to MTA and PATH transit hubs.

Design
The design of Freedom Tower develops from the clear and logical relationship of its parts. At ground level, the tower reinforces and extends the unique pattern of streets and neighborhoods in Lower Manhattan. The parallelogram-shaped base of Freedom Tower takes its shape from the meeting of the rigorously linear east/west streets and the angle - caused by the Hudson River - of West Street. As the tower ascends, it tapers and torques to meet the prevailing winds and harness their substantial energy. The tower, clad in shimmering glass, culminates in an elegant spiral.

High above the office spaces, broadcast antennas will rise to serve the tri-state region. Exploiting the structure required to raise these antennas high into the sky, and to take advantage of the strong prevailing winds off the Hudson and East Rivers, we have integrated wind turbines into the space between the occupied floors and the antenna platform.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
December 2003