Freedom Tower

World Trade Center Tower 1, or Freedom Tower, is the centerpiece building of the new World Trade Center complex currently planned for Lower Manhattan. The tower will be located in the northwest corner of the 16-acre (65,000 m²) World Trade Center site, bound by Vesey Street, West Street, Washington Street and Fulton Street. Construction on below-grade utility relocations, footings, and foundations for Freedom Tower began on April 27, 2006. By December 19, 2006, the first steel columns were installed in the building's foundation. Three other high rises are planned for the site along Greenwich Street, plus a residential tower that will surround the World Trade Center Memorial, which is currently under construction. The area will also be home to a museum, highlighting many of the different aspects of the past and future World Trade Centers.

Following the destruction of the World Trade Center towers in the September 11, 2001 attacks, there was much debate regarding the future of the World Trade Center site. Proposals began almost immediately, and by 2002, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who own the right to develop the site, organized a competition through the newly created Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to determine how to use the land. Public rejection of the first round of designs, the "Preliminary Design Concepts," led to a second, more open competition in December 2002, the "Innovative Design Study," in which a design by Daniel Libeskind was selected. This design went through many revisions, largely because of disagreements with developer Larry Silverstein, who held the lease to the World Trade Center site on September 11, 2001.

A final design for the tower was formally unveiled on June 28, 2006. To satisfy security issues raised by the New York City Police Department a 187-foot (57 m) concrete base was added in April of that year. The final design included plans to clad the base in glass prisms to address criticism that the base looked like a "concrete bunker." Contrasting with Libeskind's plan, the final design tapers the corners of the base outward as they rise. Its designers stated that the tower will be a "monolithic glass structure reflecting the sky and topped by a sculpted antenna." In terms of a completion date, Larry Silverstein stated "By 2012 we should have a completely rebuilt World Trade Center more magnificent, more spectacular than it ever was." On April 26, 2006, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey approved a conceptual framework that enabled foundation construction to begin while a formal agreement is drafted on the following day, the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Empire State Building. Construction began with a formal ceremony that took place when the construction team arrived. It is projected that steel for the building will be visible above ground in 2008, with a topping out in 2010. The building is projected to be ready for occupancy in the first quarter of 2011.

The World Trade Center's North Tower featured an occupied floor at 1,355 feet (413 m). Though not occupied by office space, Freedom Tower's observation deck is set to be higher, at about 1,362 feet (415 m). Currently, only the Sears Tower and Taipei 101 have occupied floors higher than Freedom Tower. International Commerce Center, Shanghai World Financial Center, and the Burj Dubai will have roofs and floors higher than Freedom Tower's highest roofs and floors.

If the spire and antenna height (the criteria of two categories of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat) are included, Freedom Tower will stand at 1,776 feet (541 m) (marking the year of the signing of the American Declaration of Independence). Freedom Tower was originally planned to be the tallest building in the world, but will no longer obtain this title, as the Burj Dubai has already broken the record for the tallest building at 1,822 ft (555 m), and it is expected to exceed 2,200 ft (670 m) by the time of its completion in 2009.

The Chicago Spire, currently under construction in Chicago, is set to be completed in 2010. It could also be taller than the Freedom Tower. At 150 floors, its roof will top out at 2,000 feet (610 m). Another proposed skyscraper, the Crown Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, would also be taller than the Freedom Tower at 1,888 ft (575 m). The height of Freedom Tower will probably not be increased before completion, due to the symbolism of having an exact height of 1,776 feet (541 m).

Even though several buildings throughout the world will be taller than the Freedom Tower, the tower will still most likely obtain the record for tallest office building in the world; no taller all-office buildings are currently proposed, approved, or under construction.