World Trade Center (2001–present) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids World Trade Center |
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The current brandmark of the World Trade Center.
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| General information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Mostly complete | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | New York City, New York, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 40°42′42″N 74°00′45″W / 40.71167°N 74.01250°W | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Groundbreaking | 2002 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Construction started |
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| Completed |
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| Opening |
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| Owner | Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Durst Organization | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The new World Trade Center (WTC) is a complex of buildings in Lower Manhattan, New York City, replacing the original seven buildings on the same site that were destroyed during the September 11 attacks of 2001. The area is currently being redeveloped with up to six skyscrapers, four of which have been finished as of 2024[update]; A memorial and museum is at the new plaza; which is the elevated Liberty Park adjacent to the site, containing the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and the Vehicular Security Center; the Perelman Performing Arts Center; and a transportation hub. The 104-story One World Trade Center, being the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, is the lead building for the new complex.
The buildings are among many created by the World Trade Centers Association. The original World Trade Center included the Twin Towers, were opened in 1973 and were the tallest buildings in the world at the time of their completion. They were destroyed on the morning of September 11, 2001, when al-Qaeda members hijacked two Boeing 767 jets and flew them into the towers in a coordinated act of terrorism, killing 2,753 people. The resulting collapse of the World Trade Center caused structural failure in the surrounding buildings as well. The process of cleaning up and recovery at the World Trade Center site took eight months, after which site redevelopment commenced.
Contents
Structures
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Overview of the World Trade Center site
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Six buildings, the 9/11 memorial and museum, a mall, a transportation hub, a parking lot, a park, a church, and a performing arts venue are to eventually occupy the new World Trade Center. As of January 2022, progress on the construction of the redesigned site was as follows:
| Name | Image | Date construction started | Date of completion | Height | Current status |
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| One World Trade Center | .jpg) |
April 27, 2006 | November 3, 2014 | 1,776 feet (541 m) | Completed |
| 2 World Trade Center |  |
November 10, 2008 | Unknown | 1,348 feet (411 m) | Base completed; Tower on hold |
| 3 World Trade Center | .jpg) |
November 10, 2010 | June 11, 2018 | 1,079 feet (329 m) | Completed |
| 4 World Trade Center | .jpg) |
January 22, 2008 | November 13, 2013 | 978 feet (298 m) | Completed |
| 5 World Trade Center |
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2025 | Unknown | 902 feet (275 m) | Approved |
| 7 World Trade Center | .jpg) |
May 7, 2002 | May 23, 2006 | 745 feet (227 m) | Completed |
| National September 11 Memorial | .jpg) |
March 13, 2006 | September 11, 2011 | Completed | |
| National September 11 Museum |  |
March 13, 2006 | May 21, 2014 | Completed | |
| World Trade Center Transportation Hub |  |
April 26, 2010 | March 3, 2016 | Completed | |
| Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center |  |
August 31, 2017 | September 13, 2023 | Completed | |
| Vehicular Security Center |  |
November 10, 2011 | 2017 | Completed | |
| Liberty Park |  |
November 20, 2013 | June 29, 2016 | Completed | |
| St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church |  |
October 18, 2014 | December 6, 2022 | Completed | |
| Fiterman Hall | _26_-_BMCC_Fiterman_Hall.jpg) |
March 2008 | August 27, 2012 | Completed |
Buildings
One World Trade Center (previously coined the "Freedom Tower" by Governor Pataki) is the centerpiece of Daniel Libeskind's design. The building rises to 1,368 feet (417 m), the height of the original 1 World Trade Center (The North Tower), and its spire rises to the symbolic height of 1,776 feet (541 m). This height refers to 1776, the year in which the United States Declaration of Independence was signed. The tower was a collaboration between Studio Daniel Libeskind and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill architect David Childs. Childs acted as the design architect and project manager for the tower, and Daniel Libeskind collaborated on the concept and schematic design. The building opened on November 3, 2014.
2 World Trade Center, also known as 200 Greenwich Street, was designed by British architect Norman Foster, with AAI Architects, P.C. as architect of record. Construction of everything up to street level was completed in mid-2013, but the rest of the building has yet to be built until tenants for 2 WTC can be found.
3 World Trade Center, located at 175 Greenwich Street, was designed by Richard Rogers Partnership, with AAI Architects, P.C. as architect of record. It stands across Greenwich Street from the Memorial's two reflecting pools. The below-grade foundations and the ground-level podium was completed by October 2013. After a two-year stoppage in above-ground construction, the tower project itself started in August 2014, and the building opened on June 11, 2018.
4 World Trade Center, also known as 150 Greenwich Street, was designed by Maki and Associates, with AAI Architects, P.C. as architect of record. The building opened in November 2013, making it the second tower on the site to open behind 7 World Trade Center, as well as the first building on the Port Authority property.
5 World Trade Center, which is to stand on the site of the Deutsche Bank Building, was originally designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox. Although the foundation was completed in 2013, construction on the main structure has not yet (as of 2021) commenced.
7 World Trade Center stands off of Port Authority property. David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the tower. The building is 52 stories tall (plus one underground floor), making it the 28th tallest in New York. It opened on May 23, 2006, achieving LEED gold status and being the first tower in the complex to reopen.
Memorial and museum
A memorial called Reflecting Absence honors the victims of the September 11 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The memorial, designed by Peter Walker and Israeli-American architect Michael Arad, consists of a field of trees interrupted by the footprints of the twin towers. Pools of water fill the footprints, underneath which sits a memorial space whose walls bear the names of the victims. The slurry wall, which holds back the Hudson River in the west and was an integral part of Libeskind's proposal, remains exposed. Walker and Arad were selected from more than 5,000 entrants in the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition in January 2004.
On October 12, 2004, the LMDC announced that Gehry Partners LLP and Snøhetta, an architectural firm from Norway, would design the site's performing arts and museum complexes, respectively, in the same area as the memorial. The Snøhetta-designed museum will act as a memorial museum and visitors' center, after family members of 9/11 victims objected to the building's original occupant, the International Freedom Center. The Ground Zero Museum Workshop is a privately run 501(c) nonprofit museum that is not connected to the official Ground Zero Memorial or Gehry's museum.
Construction of the memorial was completed by early 2011. The memorial opened on September 11, 2011, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the attacks. The museum was initially scheduled to open on September 11, 2012, but was delayed due to financial disputes and again when Hurricane Sandy significantly damaged the site. The museum was opened in May 2014.
Performing Arts Center
The World Trade Center's Performing Arts Center was announced in 2004, with the building to be designed by Gehry Partners LLP and Snøhetta. Construction was to begin in December 2014 when the removal of the temporary PATH station commenced. However, the original plans were shelved in September 2014. After a design was chosen in 2015, it was announced that Joshua Prince-Ramus was awarded the contract to design the building. In June 2016, the center was renamed after billionaire businessman Ronald Perelman, who donated $75 million to the center, and on September 8, 2016, a design was revealed for the new center. The underground parking garage started construction in 2017, followed by the building in 2018. The center opened on September 13, 2023.
The Performing Arts Center includes 129,000 square feet (12,000 m2) across three floors. The public floor is located at street level and houses a restaurant/bar to provide refreshments during show intermissions. The second floor consists of rehearsal and dressing rooms for theater actors, and the third floor has three theaters with between 99 and 450 seats. All three theaters are designed so that the walls will be able to rotate and expand to provide extra space for a single theater if needed. The theaters can fit approximately 1,200 people combined.
Liberty Park and constituent structures
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Liberty Park, a new elevated park, was built on top of a parking complex named the Vehicular Security Center at the southwest corner of the site. Construction began in 2013 when the Vehicular Security Center was completed. About $50 million was allocated to the park's construction by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in December 2013. The park opened on June 29, 2016. On August 16, 2017, the Port Authority installed the iconic sculpture The Sphere within the park, overlooking its original location in the old World Trade Center.
The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was originally supposed to be relocated, but the most recent plans call for the church to be built in Liberty Park. On July 23, 2008, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reached a deal with the leaders of the church for the Port Authority to acquire the 1,200-square-foot (110 m2) lot that the church occupied for $20 million, and relocate the church. Officials reneged in 2009, leading the Greek Orthodox Diocese of America to sue the Port Authority for failing to rebuild the church. On October 14, 2011, an agreement for the reconstruction of the church was signed that ended all legal action. The ground blessing ceremony and symbolic laying of the cornerstone took place in October 2014, with construction expected to be completed within two years. However, in December 2017, construction was halted due to unpaid expenses. Work restarted in August 2020. The church fully opened for regular services on December 6, 2022, the Feast of Saint Nicholas.
The 1-acre (0.4 ha) park, measuring 300 feet (91 m) long and located at a height of 20 feet (6.1 m), has a capacity of 750 people. A green wall is located on the Liberty Street facade. A walkway from the pedestrian bridge curves along the park; egresses include three stairways, the pedestrian bridge, and a straight ramp down to Greenwich Street. Of these exits, a wide staircase is located parallel to Greenwich Street and directly behind the church. There are wood benches and a small amphitheater-like elevated space at the West Street end of the park. Finally, there is an observation balcony along much of Liberty Street and another slightly curved balcony at the church's foot.
Fiterman Hall
The original Fiterman Hall opened as an office building in 1959 and occupied a block bounded by Greenwich Street, Barclay Street, West Broadway, and Park Place. It was donated to BMCC in 1993 by Miles and Shirley Fiterman, for whom the building was subsequently named. In 2000, the State of New York Dormitory Authority, which owned the building, began a massive renovation to better adapt the building for classroom use. During the September 11 attacks in 2001, Fiterman Hall's structure was severely damaged by debris from the collapse of 7 World Trade Center. The renovation was never completed, and the building was condemned and demolished in 2008. After a series of delays, a new building designed by the architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners broke ground in December 2009 and was completed in 2012.
Logo
The World Trade Center's new logo, revealed in August 2014, was designed by the firm Landor Associates and shaped like a "W". All the black bars, the empty spaces, and the "W" itself symbolizes something, giving the logo at least six meanings:
- The five bars in the logo represent the towers that will comprise the completed World Trade Center.
- The top half of the logo features bars cut off at a 17.76-degree angle, evoking One World Trade Center's 1,776-foot (541 m) height.
- Two white columns at the top symbolize the Tribute in Light memorial.
- Three black bars at the top symbolize the Twin Towers' trident-shaped columns.
- Two black bars at the bottom stand for the twin pools of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
- The logo, as a whole, is shaped like a "W", which stands for "World Trade Center" and "Westfield World Trade Center".
Landor Associates was awarded a $3.57 million contract in 2013 for redesigns, which comprised "the performance of professional services for the development and implementation of the World Trade Center (WTC) site-wide navigation, signage, and operational communications program" and included the development of the new logo. Douglas Riccardi, the principal in the design firm Memo, stated, "Its strength is its ability to be seen in many ways. You could never get more meaning in five little bars. The problem is that people may not bother to find out what the meanings are."
Related pages
Images for kids
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The original World Trade Center in March 2001
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Construction of the September 11 Memorial complex in December 2010
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Rebuilding progress in April 2011, looking west from the transportation hub's site
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Rebuilding progress in April 2014, looking east from the memorial
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View of Manhattan from One World Trade Center Skypod
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The completed South Pool in April 2012
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The WTC Hub as seen at night, 2016
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Liberty Island seen from One World Trade Center Skypod
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See also
In Spanish: World Trade Center (2001-presente) para niños
