Monday, May 23, 2011

Blog 8: NYC Trip






What I thought to be the most interesting part of Architecture that we looked at, was the rebuilding of the World Trade Center buildings. Its so crazy that it has already been 10 years since 9/11. But the city of New York is rebuilding at ground zero, and also constructing a memorial in the honor of those who had their lives taken on that day. I did some more research after the trip to see what each building was going to have. Overall there is going to be four towers.

At 1 World Trade Center, the building is going to be 1,776 feet. The actual building will be 1,362 feet, with the illuminated antenna soaring it to 1,776 feet. The design of the new tower evokes classical NY skyscrapers in the elegance and symmetry of it. It also references the design of the Statue of Liberty. It will feature an outdoor observation deck at the height of the original North Tower. In the design of this, they wanted to make sure that the building would be safe. Architect David Childs shrunk the buildings base to 200 square feet and reduced the footprint draws, leaving a larger public area and more room for at-gate security. The building will have a steel frame and a vertical core enveloped by two feet of concrete. It will be among the countries safest skyscrapers.

At Tower two, which is located at 200 Greenwich street just east of the Freedom Tower, will be 1,254 feet (78 stories). The British architect for this building is Lord Norman Foster. This building will have 2.3 million square feet of office space and 143,000 square feet of retail space. Aka: 60 office floors, four trading floors, 11.5 floors of building mechanicals, a sky lobby, and a 65 foot tall entrance lobby. This tower is going to be made of four slim blocks that top off in diamond shapes, creating the illusion of four separate mini towers. The roof of the building will be made of glass and slants upright on the west side of the 59th floor. The roof supports the "wedge of light" concept, which means it casts no shadows on the memorial on the day of September 11 each year. Thats pretty cool!

At Tower Three, on 175 Greenwich, the Group Richard Rogers Partnership were the designers. It has a central position to the memorial site. Its a vertical, 71- story tower, rising to 1,155 above street level. It will include 54 office floors, 2.1 sq feet of office space, and five trading floors.

At Tower Four, located on 150 Greenwich street, it was designed by Maki and Associates. It is a 61 story tower, and will be the fourth tallest of the 4 buildings. Its 947 feet from street level and includes 53 office floors and 2 below grade for retail use. Below story 46, the building has a normal skyscraper floorplan, but above story 46, the building starts to form a trapezoid.

Big thanks to http://www.renewnyc.com/ThePlan/world_trade_center_towers.asp for all this information!






This memorial for the the firefighters that lost their lives was really touching. The carvings were very detailed and cool. I really liked the quote that was written above the mural. May they never be forgotten.



New York Stock Exchange



Wall Street


Mies Building, Seagrams.


Mitsvah Tank! Haha


This sculpture of a teddy bear with a lightbulb, worth entirely too much money.



It was really cool to see all of the skyscrapers in New York, and take in their culture that is very different from ours in Baltimore. I enjoyed people watching and taking the subway everywhere just as much as the architecture.

Had a great trip ! (:

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