One World Trade Center

One World Trade Center is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. One WTC is the tallest building in the United States, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, and the sixth-tallest in the world. The supertall structure has the same name as the North Tower of the original World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The new skyscraper stands on the northwest corner of the 16-acre World Trade Center site, on the site of the original 6 World Trade Center. The building is bounded by West Street to the west, Vesey Street to the north, Fulton Street to the south, and Washington Street to the east. The building's architect is David Childs, whose firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill also designed the Burj Khalifa and the Willis Tower. The construction of below-ground utility relocations, footings, and foundations for the new building began on April 27, 2006. One World Trade Center became the tallest structure in New York City on April 30, 2012, when it surpassed the height of the Empire State Building. The tower's steel structure was topped out on August 30, 2012.

Original building (1971–2001)

For comprehensive information on the original World Trade Center, see World Trade Center (1973–2001).

Construction

The first One World Trade Center under construction in 1971
The construction of the World Trade Center, of which the Twin Towers (One and Two World Trade Center) were the centerpieces, was conceived as an urban renewal project and spearheaded by David Rockefeller. The project was intended to help revitalize Lower Manhattan.[19] The project was planned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which hired architect Minoru Yamasaki. He came up with the idea of building twin towers. After extensive negotiations, the New Jersey and New York State governments, which supervise the Port Authority, consented to the construction of the World Trade Center at the Radio Row site, located in the lower-west area of Manhattan.[20] To satisfy the New Jersey government, the Port Authority agreed to buy the bankrupt Hudson & Manhattan Railroad (renamed to Port Authority Trans-Hudson), which transported commuters from New Jersey to Lower Manhattan.[21]

The towers were designed as framed tube structures, giving tenants open floor plans, unobstructed by columns or walls. The framed tube design was introduced by Bangladeshi-American structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan in the 1960s.[24] The design was accomplished by using many closely spaced perimeter columns, providing much of the structure's strength, with the gravity load shared with the core columns. The elevator system, which made use of sky lobbies and a system of express and local elevators, allowed substantial floor space to be used for office purposes by making the structural core smaller. The design and construction of the towers involved many other innovative techniques, such as wind tunnel experiments and the slurry wall for digging the foundation. Yamasaki also incorporated elements of Islamic architecture in the building's design, having previously designed Saudi Arabia's Dhahran International Airport with the Saudi Binladin Group.

Construction of the North Tower (One World Trade Center) began in August 1966; extensive use of prefabricated components sped up the construction process. The first tenants moved into the North Tower in October 1971.[29][30] In the 1970s, four other low-level buildings were built as part of the World Trade Center complex. A seventh building was built in the mid-1980s.

Located in: Westfield World Trade Center
Address: 285 Fulton St, New York, NY 10007, United States
Height: 541 m, 546 m to tip CTBUH
Floors: 94
Hours: Closed ⋅ Opens 9AM
Top floor: 1,268 ft (386.5 m)