New Freedom Tower design unveiled

[dlewis23]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The redesigned Freedom Tower at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan, planned to become America's tallest building, will be a monolithic glass structure reflecting the sky and topped by a sculpted antenna, the architects said on Wednesday.

Symbolic of the Declaration of Independence, the reworked 1,776-foot centerpiece of the World Trade Center site unveiled by architect David Childs will have a base sheathed with rolled, heat-treated glass over concrete.

The tower is planned as a symbol of New York's revitalization after the September 11 attacks in 2001, which claimed more than 2,700 lives at the World Trade Center.

Rebuilding has been dogged by almost five years of acrimony over designs, security, insurance and control of the 16-acre site at Ground Zero.

The new design uses a high-tech laminated safety glass, which if attacked by a truck bomb would shatter into falling pebbles, not break into flying shards.

The previous design featured a 200-foot metal and concrete base, added after New York police said the building would be vulnerable to truck bombing. The design was also criticized for looking too bunker-like.

The new plan for the building -- construction began in April and is hoped to be completed by 2010 -- was made after consulting New York police counterterrorism experts as well as state and city officials.

The exterior glass to be used is rolled with molten metal and the design features a vertical triangular rib motif, echoed throughout the building and on the antenna.

The tower will be surrounded by groups of steps leading to the entrance, serving as a public plaza and security buffer zone. A series of thigh-high rectangular slabs on the site's perimeter -- resembling tombstones in an artist's rendering -- will guard against truck bombs.

The antenna, to be used by radio and television broadcasters, has been given a more sculptural feel by Kenneth Snelson, a sculptor best-known for his Needle Tower, installed in New York's Bryant Park in 1968.

The antenna raises the building from 1,338 feet -- the height of the original World Trade Center's 110-story twin towers -- to the full 1,776 feet.

Unlike most other glass-clad office buildings, the Freedom Tower will appear clear because they will remove the iron, which tints glass green, Kenneth Lewis of architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill told reporters at a preview.

"We've tried to make it more monolithic," he said. "It's reflecting the sky and the changing light's character as the day goes on."

The architects have drastically rethought Daniel Libeskind's original twisting design for the Freedom Tower because it would have been too hard to build and too vulnerable to attack.

Source: http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-06-28T153450Z_01_BAU845676_RTRUKOC_0_US-PROPERTY-WTC.xml&pageNumber=1&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage1

[kol]

that looks nice and big 

[disturbed]

the name....freedom tower...blah - half of the talk is about it being harder to destroy in a case of a bombing....i guess they are already thinking ahead 

[tommie gorman]

It looks pretty nice. But doesn't it say, "Try again"?

[resopalrabotnick]

it's too damned small. they should have gone wirh something like this:

[tommie gorman]

resopalrabotnick now that is a building and a half. 

[dlewis23]

it's too damned small. they should have gone wirh something like this:

thats just a litte too much.

[cholla]

What ever they end up building it needs one of these on top or the updated version.If it had one in the first place the Twin Towers would still be there.

(That's if the planes are really what caused the collapse)

I think every building in the US over a certain height should have one.They could be manned by the US military .Take them out of Iraq & put them to loading & maintaining these.

This is just one article on this awsome weapon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_CIWS

[dlewis23]

cholla that would be great to have on top of a building.

[coknuck]

Cholla thats pretty wild.

[resopalrabotnick]

the phalanx CIWS is an automatic radar guided enclosure for the GE M61 20mm gatling cannon. this enclosure tracks incoming targets and outgoing cannon shells to make the two meet.

this system was conceived for point defense of naval vessels.

if an incoming threat is detected the system will engage it with cannon fire. threat classification is automatic and does not utilize IFF systems.

there is a land based version that is fairly identical but uses a different type of ammunition to prevent friendly fire injuries. the land based version fires a high explosive instead of an armor piercing round to pepper the target with fragments and reduce the risk to ground personnel from rounds that missed the target. since its targets are meant to be incoming rockets and mortar shells the damage caused by the fragments should suffice to destroy the target.

as for using this system for point defence of buildings, it does not seem like such a great solution. had the WTC been so equipped the system would likely have been able to down the airliners. given the effective range of a cannon of that caliber (1 to 2 miles) the airliners would likely not have crashed into the towers. they would however have crashed into new york city regardless, causing significant harm. the other problem is the amount of air traffic generally existing in a large city. how long do you think it would take before an automatic target classification or operator error shot down a police chopper or a chopper trying to land on a highrise helipad?

from the article you cited:

The Phalanx system has not been credited with shooting down any enemy missiles or aircraft.

and further:

In February 1991, during the first Gulf War, the USS Missouri and the Phalanx-equipped USS Jarrett were in the vicinity of an Iraqi Silkworm missile (often referred to as the 'Seersucker') that had been fired, either at Missouri or at the nearby HMS Gloucester. After Missouri fired a bundle of chaff, the Phalanx system on Jarrett, operating in the automatic target-acquisition mode, fixed upon Missouri's chaff and fired a burst of rounds (not destroying the incoming missile). From this burst, four rounds hit Missouri, she being two to three miles from Jarrett at the time. There were no injuries.[1] The Seersucker missile was then intercepted by a Sea Dart missile launched from the British Royal Navy warship HMS Gloucester. Incidentally, this is the first validated, successful engagement of a missile by a missile, during combat at sea. Earlier successes of the same weapons system during the Falklands War have never been officially validated.

[disturbed]

What ever they end up building it needs one of these on top or the updated version.If it had one in the first place the Twin Towers would still be there.

(That's if the planes are really what caused the collapse)

I think every building in the US over a certain height should have one.They could be manned by the US military .Take them out of Iraq & put them to loading & maintaining these.

This is just one article on this awsome weapon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_CIWS

engineered by general dymanics hehehe lolz - i had an internship with them lolz

[Bird Fan]

What ever they end up building it needs one of these on top or the updated version.If it had one in the first place the Twin Towers would still be there.

(That's if the planes are really what caused the collapse)

I think every building in the US over a certain height should have one.They could be manned by the US military .Take them out of Iraq & put them to loading & maintaining these.

This is just one article on this awsome weapon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_CIWS

Yeah, but would they use it? They could have saved a lot of lives on 9/11 by just shooting the "hijacked" planes down.. It's not like the government didn't know about the hijackings before they hit their targets.

[disturbed]

its very easy to say what should and should not have been done - we can only speculate about made decisions

[tommie gorman]

Nice thought and gun cholla, but like resopalrabotnick said it would indanger others also. And it might not happen again for over 100 years.

[cholla]

I agree the phalanx CIWS wouldn't be a perfect solution but what would.It could be set for fairly short range detection & yes the shot down airplane would have debri that would land on other things & probably people.But still if you believe that the fuel from the planes caused the Twin Towers collapse.The parts wouldn't have the fuel or a lot less of it.

As for choppers & high rise helipads I guess the people that use them would have to give them up in some areas.

I still like the weapon it probably just needs some more fine tuning.If the Missouri hadn't fired the chaff & let the phalanx take care of the Seersucker missile it probably would have.

[Roco]

Nice thought and gun cholla, but like resopalrabotnick said it would indanger others also. And it might not happen again for over 100 years.

Hi Tommie I have kept out of this topic, coz  it is you guys decision on what to replace , twin towers with,

Just want to tell you guys my feelings on that day,

I was at work at a old folks home , one of them said ,come and look at this ,

I looked at her T.V.  I thought it was a trailer for a film . when it sunk in it was for real, I knew the world had changed forever,

Support and regards from Roco  UK .

p.S Tommie just hope you are right

[tommie gorman]

Believe it or not Roco. It might have created a good thing. There is more Patriotism and open eyes now. I don't believe there are near as many American's burning flags anymore, and now we watch our backs. So good things do come out of bad.

Maybe not more Patriotism, but it has increased in volume anyway. 

[resopalrabotnick]

well, cholla, that is the exact problem. woulda, shoulda, coulda. but what if the missouri had ignored standard procedure and not fired the chaff. would the system have locked on to the missile? would it have been able to defeat it? there is an operator on the system that is supposed to help ensure that the right parameters for engagement are set and that the right target is being engaged. apparently the system never saw or locked on to the missile in the first place, otherwise it would have tried to get a volley off at the missile. or the operator shut it down on the report or the realization it was engaging the wrong target. in that case the missile would have hit a ship in the normal "running around with your head up your ass time" which it would take everyone to figure out what happened and let the system operate alone again.

these kinds of weapons are meant solely as weapons of last resort, a shotgun for a last ditch effort. the british missile system did its job. this is why carrier battle groups have guided missile cruisers, destroyers and frigates in attendance. to offer a long range air defense umbrella. if the incoming gets past the long range standard sams and the shorter range sea sparrow then the system has already failed and one can hope for, not count on the phalanx doing its job.

and don't forget that those anitship missiles are designed to defeat exactly the kind of point defense weapn like the phalanx.

as for the judgement call wether or not spreading two airliners all over manhattan would be better than having them hit the towers, i don't want to be in that position. look what happened at the pentagon. even though it was an aircraft of similar size the damage done was comparatively small because there was no building to collapse. (nothing comparable to the towers anyway). but what if that airliner instead of being intact when it hit the ground and skidded into the building had spread burning debris all over the building?

[Dark06]

Only 1 tower????????

That Sux

we need a biger tower with better engenering

something that says hey thx 4 clearing that space that building look to old look at this 1 its more futeristic

[tommie gorman]

Only 1 tower????????

That Sux

we need a biger tower with better engenering

something that says hey thx 4 clearing that space that building look to old look at this 1 its more futeristic

That's funny! I had to laugh! 

Some might not agree, but some humor should come out of it. 

[peepnklown]

[cholla]

there is an operator on the system that is supposed to help ensure that the right parameters for engagement are set and that the right target is being engaged. apparently the system never saw or locked on to the missile in the first place, otherwise it would have tried to get a volley off at the missile. or the operator shut it down on the report or the realization it was engaging the wrong target.

these kinds of weapons are meant solely as weapons of last resort, a shotgun for a last ditch effort.

and don't forget that those anitship missiles are designed to defeat exactly the kind of point defense weapn like the phalanx.

So it may have been the operator that made the weapon fail in the attack on the Missouri.I don't suppose he admitted it was anything he did.

On buildings this would be a last resort when the military failed to stop an of course plane before it gets that close to a city.

It may be a missle next time but the Towers were brought down by hijacked commercial airplanes so it probably have been set to target those sucessfully.

I don't know if the peices would have resulted in a higher death rate or more property destruction .I don't think it would have.If you consider not only those in the Tpwers & their immediate rescuers.What about health problems that occured in people exposed to the debri many that may not have shown up yet.& may not be linked to the debri bit were actually caused by it.

So I would opt to use the Phalanx on tall buildings in major cities especially coast cities.& I guess the only way to find out if it was better or not would unfortunatly take another terrorist act:that hopefully would be deterred by knowing the buildings were equipped with the Phalanx.Or target smaller cities without the weapon.

I don't expect to be making this decision myself.

If they target anything in my area it would probably be the Pantex nuclear weapons assembly /disassembly plant about 20 miles for here.If terrirists are sucessful at that I probably won't be here to do anything about it.Hopefully it has a better defense system than I know about.I personally believe that  if they hit this plant just wrong it would destroy most if not all the life on Earth.If rumor is correct there is more weapons grade  nuclear material stored there than anywhere else.Some of this might be degraded because it was removed from old nukes American & Russian(Yes they contracted to disassemble Russian nukes & store the waste.)So it would be bad if hit.

[Dark06]

That's funny! I had to laugh! 

Some might not agree, but some humor should come out of it. 

Hey u got to laught

It's in the past yes the past hurts but it'sin the past

lets not drag it into to the future

let our brothers know that we hold them dear but we choose to live on instead of always tourtoring ourselves by remembering

Let The Past Be The Past

abd The Future a towering Image Of the Shadow that the past created

[resopalrabotnick]

well, if you're gonna put a weapons system on buildings make it a decent missile system. that way you have greater range and accuracy. not that shotgun approach from a gatling gun. "if we fire 100 rounds per second at the target we should be able to hit it most of the time."

what concerns me is the congested airspace over cities. that would throw up a shitload of targets for the system. and if it decided to engage one...

and then there is the cluttered radarscape in a city. all those buildings throwing radar images back at the system. someone next door opens the rooftop access door to repair an A/C evaporator. the changing radar image caused by the metal door swinging open triggers the target criteria and BLAMMO! no more repairman.