 |
| Render from Durst via the NY Times |
These renderings, via the New York Times from the Durst Organization, show the re-imagined spire (or antenna) of One World Trade Center. The former design was much more bulky and was an actual spire–the new design is simply an antenna mast, which would be used for communications.
The contrast is clear, as the old spire was much bulkier and larger, with the new antenna plainly mechanical. Besides the change in function, the official height of the building will also be different. The Council on Tall Buildings defines spires as architectural elements, a category antenna do not fall under. Thus, the design change also alters the building’s official height from 1,776 feet tall to only 1,368. The difference is trivial, but would make One World Trade’s reign as New York’s ‘official’ tallest very short, as 432 Park’s official height will be almost 1,400 feet.
Durst representative Jordan Barowitz said “We never have, never will, refer to it as an antenna,” but that doesn’t change the fact that the rendering on the right most definitely depicts an antenna rather than a spire. Semantics are everything when it comes to deciding the official heights of buildings. Durst is free to consider the antenna a spire, but anyone with eyes can see that it is plainly an antenna, and not an architectural addition to One World Trade.
Visit the New York Times Cityroom blog for the full rundown on Durst’s major alteration of One World Trade Center: World Trade Center’s Symbolic 1,776-Foot Height Is at Stake in a Redesign
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
love the new design!
Like everything. Throughout time everything goes to shit!!
This city is so pathetic. Absolutely hideous. This redesign would NOT fly in a civilized city like Paris.
Pathetic! Absolutely pathetic! I knew something like this would happen. They should’ve rebuilt the Twin Towers bigger & better than they were before, instead of foisting this watered-down, uninspiring monstrosity on us. Intended to symbolize our “spirit & resilience” as a nation, this truncated phallus now symbolizes (appropriately, I think) how pathetically weak & inept we’ve become as a people.
I don’t think the antenna is horrible, but it shows how everything gets value-engineered these days, even projects that are supposedly national icons… how iconic a bland structure like 1 WTC can be is up for debate, but it certainly looked better with a proper spire. Personally I would’ve preferred something that was 1,776′ to the roof…
wow this is crapy: im soooo emberrased at this
In Asia they eat these buildings for breakfast. It looks boring and blend, it’s hardly a skycraper, and it takes 15 pathetic years to build. But what could you expect from a city that buys it’s subway cars in Brasil, and their cabs in Japan. America has become the joke of the modern world, and this average building reflects this well.