One World Trade Center is the main skyscraper being constructed at the new World Trade Center site in New York City, New York. This iconic tower will share the site with three other planned towers, a memorial for the nearly 3,000 people that lost their lives on the most tragic day in United States history, a museum that tells the story of 9/11 and each of the victims, a transportation hub, a retail center, a performing arts center, and a vehicle screening center for trucks and tour buses.
Rising 1,776 feet in the sky, One World Trade Center will be the tallest building in New York City and the Western Hemisphere, third tallest building in the world. It is considered the most expensive office building ever built with a price tag of $3.8 billion, but also the safest building ever built. One World Trade Center is expected to open for business next year!
Designed by Architect David Childs, One WTC rises 104 stories, 1,368 feet tall, the same height as the original North Tower, topped off with a 408 feet tall spire bringing the tower to 1,776 feet tall. The buildings many features include a 185-foot high bomb resistant base that consists of the lobby and five mechanical floors, 70 office floors with a total of over 3,000,000 square feet of office space, three floors (floors 100, 101, & 102) for observation, and topped off with a three-level communications ring and the spire. The building has a central reinforced concrete core with concrete walls up to three feet thick, where all the elevators, bathrooms, and emergency stairwells are located.
Construction on this building started in April 2006, I have been keeping myself updated on this massive project since 2010. Over the years, there have been many significant milestone achieved and many decisions made for this tower. I am writing this article because many of the decisions made are not right, I am not proud of them, nor do many other Americans that are aware of these bad decisions. This article will address these decisions made and explain what they mean. Hopefully this article will spread the word to more people and will influence any type of call to action for change. One of the decisions I will address will ultimately decide if the "Freedom Tower" should even be called the freedom tower...