Buildings
Major Step at Ground Zero: 7 WTC Opening
(archrecord.construction.com - 05/17/2006)
By Sam
Lubell
 |
 |
 |
| Images courtesy
Silverstein Properties, © David Sundberg (top), Joe
Woolhead (bottom) |
Almost five years after the attacks
of September 11, the first major project near Ground Zero
is about to open. Seven World Trade Center (7 WTC), a 52-story
tower designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, and developed
by Larry Silverstein, will be completed on May 23. It is located
just north of the World Trade Center site.
The 1.7 million-square-foot, $700 million
building stands out downtown largely because it does not stand
out. Its glass curtain facade is made of ultra-clear, low-iron
glass, making it appear much lighter in color than any of
the area’s surrounding buildings. Behind the glass, curved
stainless-steel spandrels reflect sky-like blue light back
onto the windows. The relatively narrow building was pulled
back from its eastern property line while adhering to the
Manhattan street grid, which gives it an off-center floor-plate.
The setback allowed room to build a small, but lovely park,
designed by Ken Smith. This acts as an entryway to the rest
of the Trade Center site, which unfolds in front of it in
dramatic fashion.
In many ways the building is a preview
of the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower, which is also being designed
by SOM and developed by Silverstein. Like the Freedom Tower,
7 WTC has a concrete base, in this case to provide security,
and to house a Consolidated Edison electrical substation and
the building’s mechanical systems. The 10-story base’s
solid surface is fitted with an installation of reflective
metal panels designed by New York artist James Carpenter.
During the day, the surface reflects outside light conditions,
and at night they are animated by LED projections that mimic
the movement of passersby, thanks to motion detectors. Carpenter
also designed a glass ceiling in the lobby that changes color
throughout the day. The lobby also features an installation
whose moving text reminisces about New York’s history,
and was created by New York artist Jenny Holzer.
Above the lobby most floors, which are
column-free and relatively lofty, are still bare because tenants
will not move in until the fall. The most dramatic element
is the view: floor-to-ceiling glass reveals dramatic cityscapes
on all sides. One can look down from the south side at progress
on the Freedom Tower site, which just began in recent weeks.
To the west, one sees construction beginning on the Goldman
Sachs building, and condominium projects seem to be going
up everywhere else.
|
The building, the first high-rise in
New York to complete its LEED certification, is also said
to be one of the greenest skyscrapers in the U.S. Rainwater
is collected for irrigating the park and cooling the building;
recycled steel was used in construction, and high-efficiency
cooling, heating, and plumbing systems were installed. Daylight
is provided to about 90 percent of the building’s occupied
space. According to Silverstein Properties, the electricity
costs for the building will be about 35 percent lower than
in the average Manhattan office building. Not surprisingly,
the building also contains myriad safety features. Besides
the concrete base, the building rises around a thick concrete
core. Exterior columns are built so that if any are compromised,
the load will shift elsewhere. Exit stairwells are about twice
as wide as the old 7 WTC’s, and fans and vents ensure
smoke will never fill the areas. Because fuel tanks for diesel
generators were thought to have stoked the fires which caused
the original 7 WTC to collapse on 9/11, emergency power supplies
for the building have been located off-site.
The project still has few tenants, a
sign that Manhattan office properties are not filling as quickly
as residential ones. Most tenants of the old World Trade Center
signed 10-year leases when they relocated after 9/11, says
Silverstein Spokesman Dara McQuillan, so they won’t be
able to think about leaving until 2011. Seven WTC’s major
tenants at this point are Ameriprise Financial, China-based
Beijing Vantone Real Estate, and the New York Academy of Sciences.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called for more residential
development at Ground Zero, but McQuillan says that Silverstein
is convinced that the World Trade Center will be successful
as a business complement to the area’s residences, hoping
it will be a “21st-century Rockefeller Center.”
Officials from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation,
which is in charge of development at the site, say that cycles
will shift, and that demand will increase once transportation
hubs, which are being designed by Santiago Calatrava and Nicholas
Grimshaw & Partners respectively, are completed.
|
