How the World Trade Center Was Rebuilt

this video was made possible by curiosity stream the twin towers of the world trade center had become synonymous with the skyline of the city and replacing such symbols seems like an impossible task for this video i have mapped exactly how the site has been redeveloped and doing this has helped me understand city planning from a completely different site learning what some of the best architects around the world do when given an impossible task this is the world trade center complex before the attack consisting of the two iconic twin towers as well as towers three through seven and the central plaza in the middle as a result of the north and south towers collapsing enormous voices were released debris flew and fires spread affecting the entire area around the world trade center building free world trade center was a marriott hotel which was located directly between the towers and was completely destroyed when they collapsed buildings 4 5 and 6 were very similar 8 and 9 story tall office buildings large parts of these buildings also collapsed leaving behind a completely destroyed ruin world trade center 7 was a 47 story building the north side of it was destroyed by heavy debris causing fires that continued into the afternoon eventually this building collapsed there was also a mall at the world trade center which was extensively destroyed this underground mall provided retail space and connected the subway to the world trade center there were also a number of buildings that were not part of the world trade center complex but were still affected the collapse of world trade center 7 severely damaged the fitter man hall across the street which was no longer usable and was finally demolished in 2009 on the other side of the complex the collapse of the south tower destroyed buildings including this small church building originally built in the 1830s this residential building had been converted into a greek orthodox church now standing in striking contrast to the high-rise buildings all around it while the building has survived over 150 years of urban change in new york standing alone surrounded by a car park where other buildings once stood the horrific attacks of september 11 brought down this church as well the other side of the street the deutsche bank building was also badly damaged as shown in this image with a large part of debris from the south tower hanging in the facade this building also had to be demolished and many other buildings were severely damaged but could be preserved the attack had torn a large hole in the middle of lower manhattan which was soon commonly known as ground zero and the debate about what should be done with this area began first of all the question arises as to who actually owns the land and is in charge of rebuilding almost the entire world trade center complex originally belonged to the port authority of new york and new jersey an organization that reports to the respective governors of the two states in order to reduce costs new york governor george pataki who was elected to office in 1995 wanted to change the ownership structure and initiated the privatization of the world trade center the shopping center beneath the world trade center was leased to westfield a corporation that operates shopping centers worldwide for the twin towers as well as buildings 4 and 5 a bid from the american real estate investor larry silverstein was accepted who acquired them on a 99-year lease larry silverstein wasn't completely new to the side as he had already owned world trade center 7 since the 1980s free world trade center the marriott hotel was leased by the port authority to the hotel's real estate subsidiary and sixth world trade center had already been leased to the us government which used it as an office building for several federal agencies after the attacks in order to facilitate an orderly redevelopment of the site the port authority tried to regain the leases marriott hotels reached an agreement with the port authority to terminate their release the us government also terminated the lease and promised that it will instead become a tenant in future buildings on the side also the westfield lease was acquired back by the new york port authority however the company will later still be involved in creating new retail space on the side meanwhile the port authority also took over the site of the deutsche bank building which will now officially become part of the world trade center complex larry silverstein however retained his rights under his lease which means that the port authority will have to come to an agreement with him on how the site should be redeveloped the question of what to do with ground zero was discussed widely because in addition to the owners it was a question that also concerns the families of victims of the attack the twin towers of new york had become a symbol of the city and any new use of the area would also be interpreted as a sign for how the city and the country deals with grief a number of very conflicting proposals emerged in the years that followed and while some have criticized the lack of progress on ground zero others have criticized the urgency with which some investors want to place new buildings on the side you've got to think about it from the point of view of a soaring beautiful memorial and then if we do that right if we do that part right then the economic development will just happen then millions of people will come here and you'll have all the economic development you want and you can do the office space in a lot of different places while new york mayor rudy giuliani spoke out against creating office space in his farewell speech larry silverstein on the other hand was interested in rebuilding the lost office space as quickly as possible silverstein was still obligated to pay the new york port authority monthly lease payments of 10 million dollars it turns out no matter how committed the public discourse on the subject was ultimately something like this cannot be decided free of economic and political constraints silverstein annoyed at the slow process immediately began building a new world trade center 7. this was possible because he had acquired this building years before he had acquired the rest of the site which is why the insurance claims were settled separately construction on the new seven world trade center started in 2002 and was completed in 2006. the glass office building is therefore not part of a master plan that was drawn up for the rest of the site during this period because unlike silverstein the new york port authority wanted to develop a concept for the use of the entire area before developing any buildings the new york state government created the lower manhattan development corporation the idea was that this new body should be able to mediate between the various interests a design competition for the redevelopment was launched and already in 2002 the finalists were presented to the public the designs made by some of the most renowned architects on the planet deal very differently with the site's past for example there was this design with two open lattice towers that commemorate the original twin towers and act as a memorial to the attack these towers connected in one place are not buildings with usable office space but an open structure intended to allow visitors to climb to towers but with some investors eager to recreate the lost office space some of the negative reactions to this proposal show a difficulty with designing for the site architects need to find a compromise between a structure made to remember what happened and one made to redevelop another proposal deals with this exact challenge somewhat differently and tries to solve this compromise by combining both aspects the centerpiece of the plan designed by english star architect norman foster are new twin towers which are architecturally connected at several points and triangular in their shape and shining through the transparent elements is the building's internal structure which is directly reminiscent of the original towers that once stood this proposal deals very directly with the fact that the missing towers will always be a part of the collective memory of new york's skyline therefore the new buildings are designed so that if the lighting conditions are just right these memories of a past skyline can reappear for some the proposal was a successful symbol while others warned that these direct references to the twin towers will make the attacks the sole defining event for the city for all time to come [Music] another radical proposal envisions the construction of two white buildings each consisting of several interconnected towers the lattice-like shape may recall the skeletal structure of the original twin towers and the architects hoped that the unusual shape with solid building elements pierced by voice will symbolize presence and absence and how they interact with each other [Music] it is not the only proposal that completely redefines the skyscraper as such there was also this plan by a group called united architects who designed a large building complex with twisting sections their design appears somewhat as if several independent buildings have merged into one solid crystal however none of these designs ultimately prevailed over daniel liebskin's memory foundations [Music] liebuskind envisioned several buildings standing along an arch around the original side of the twin towers and the buildings are designed to align in ascending order of height when viewed from the statue of liberty liebuskind who himself immigrated to the united states as a boy skillfully uses the symbolic power of the skyline and his approach stands out for how personal it is i'm doing it because i believe in it i believe in contributing a thought about how to develop the site and what the site means to me personally also centrally plant is a single skyscraper with the symbolic height of 1776 feet commemorating the year of the signing of the declaration of independence the building should have an office part as well as a thinner glass spindle that extends upwards in which gardens are located and the spire of the building will not be centered as usual but sit on the side again referring to the statue of liberty's side mounted torch but as much as the focus was understandably on the symbolic center pieces the design competition was actually more of an order for architects to draw up concepts for how the space should be used in other words planning the street layout and where office buildings should stand and where the memorial site can be built the mock-ups of specific buildings such as liebeskin's garden tower only serve to offer the public a better idea of what it could become at the same time the mock-ups can also be understood as an indirect application by daniel liebuskin to also be hired to design some of the buildings at a certain point you told one journalist i'm not here just to design the curves of the streets well i hope not i hope that i get to design some buildings on the site absolutely but you're having to fight your corner well nothing is given in life larry silverstein felt that this competition wasn't necessary after all he considered himself to be able to select architects on his own and he has chosen the architect david child from the architecture company skidmore orings and merrell in the years that followed there were countless compromises and changes to liebuskin's plan with only the basic layout remaining while the original world trade center represented a large block within manhattan libriskin's plan partially restored the city's original grid as it was before the twin towers were built therefore greenwich street and fulton street were rebuilt another central aspect of liebskin's design that prevailed was the idea of making the original side of the twin towers a memorial and a museum however where liebuskin could not assert himself was with the design of the new one world trade center silverstein had commissioned david chiles to have his own design made which looked like a 64 floor tall office tower which is extended with an open air structure in which an array of wind turbines will be located in an attempt to compromise the two architects then developed a joint proposal combining the different plans creating a building that once again had the spire desired by liebskind after all the private negotiations and this enforced collaboration will freedom tower end up looking as it does in the latest model if we rebuild the world trade center in the form of a skeleton freedom tower the terrorists win the compromise proposal failed and charles was commissioned to redesign the building again without the ambitious open air structure the plan for the building as it stands today came about [Music] a twisting glass monolith that would become the country's new tallest building [Music] but in order to actually implement his plan it was first necessary to facilitate a complex exchange of property rights and leases larry silverstein was legally entitled to build new buildings at the place where the twin towers had once stood however since the memorial is to be built here a swap deal was necessary this resulted in a long-running dispute between the new york port authority and silverstein over the development of child's new high-rise building silverstein wanted to build it himself but hardly had the means to handle the project together with all of the other buildings eventually silverstein ceded his rights to use the original twin tower site as well as to build world trade center tower 1 to the new york port authority and provided part of his insurance proceeds for these projects in return he received the right to build three new office towers world trade center 2 3 and 4. for the design of the memorial site a separate competition had been launched with lots of innovative ideas for example one design suggested stairways along the outlines of the twin towers that lead visitors into an underground room filled with lights or another design that envisioned the creation of two memorial gardens where the towers originally stood of all the drafts the proposal reflecting absence by michael arrett and peter walker was selected as the winner two pools were built outlining the shape of the twin towers on the inner walls of these pools an artificial waterfall blocks out the noise of the city located along these pools are the names of the victims of these september 11 attacks and the victims of the 1993 world trade center bombing on this side there is also a pavilion entrance to the museum which is located underground the lot adjacent to one world trade center is also owned by the new york port authority and a performing arts center is under construction here the building went through several financing difficulties and a change of architect but is now scheduled for completion in 2023 now let's look at the three lots that were part of the swap between the new york port authority and silverstein developed by silverstein the four world trade center opened in 2013. it is a glass skyscraper that offers plenty of office space due to its large footprint free world trade center also is an office tower it is an additional six floors taller and was opened in 2018 to world trade center a building that will significantly shape the city's skyline in the future due to its direct proximity to one world trade center has not yet been built and the plans for this building have changed several times in the past an original plan by the design studio foster and partners envisioned a sloped roof consisting of four diamond shaped elements that in their arrangement faces the memorial site however silverstein properties struggled to find enough tenants for the future building which delayed the project as part of discussions between silverstein and 21st century fox and news corp who were considering relocating their headquarters to this new building architecture studio bjerg ingalls group was commissioned to create a completely new design now tailored to the needs of media corporations but after this tenant deal ultimately did not materialize foster and partners were again put back into the chair to produce yet another draft this is the current plan showing a building divided into different vertical elements and characterized by large green terraces but it remains to be seen whether there is enough corresponding demand for office space so that the building can be constructed it is a problem that also affects five world trade center which is to be built in this area it turns out that as much as there was a desire and part of the investors to rebuild the lost office space of the original site manhattan's needs have changed over the course of two decades although this building was not part of the deal between the port authority and silverstein eventually silverstein properties were still chosen to develop the site this time together with brookfield properties the planned building was designed by architecture studio cone painters and fox and is predominantly a residential tower offering living space the construction is expected to start next year the area directly in front of it on the other hand is already mostly developed let's go back to look at what was located here originally the lot at the corner of liberty street and west street was where the parking lot and the historic greek orthodox church were located after the attacks the plan arose to rebuild this church but with a much larger building which also offers space for a museum not far from the original location a building designed by spanish architect santiago calatrava was built with a circular domed center and four side towers the project has been plagued by delays and increased costs but it is well advanced in construction now with an opening expected soon and while the original church was in architectural contradictions with its surroundings the new building is fully integrated into the concept for the entire site [Music] adjacent to the church is the newly built liberty park located above a parking garage and finally in addition to the church the architect santiago calatrava was able to design yet another prominent building at the new world trade center one where pedestrian traffic will probably be the highest the world trade center station before the attacks access to public transport was located below the world trade center right where the shopping mall was to this day it is an important transit point in the city as it connects the new york subway system and the path system which runs between new jersey and manhattan as a center piece for this transit hub calatrava designed the so-called oculus building the ambitious design is characterized by white steel ribs which on the outside create a shape reminiscent of a white dove a symbol of peace and the same arrangement of ribs creates a light-filled elliptical dome that is accessible to the public to access the underground stations at the top of this hall is a skylight which is angled to frame the one world trade center while also serving as a memorial every year the skylight was designed so that it can open and close which is done only once a year on september 11 for exactly 102 minutes the length between the first impact and the collapse of the world trade center the arrangement is also aligned in such a way that the sunlight shines directly through this gap at that time unfortunately there have been technical issues with this roof for years yet overall the station is an intriguing design and a strong feature of the site today and the large hall serves as the westfield shopping mall with two floors of retail space while westfield had initially leased a mall under the twin towers they have been heavily involved in creating this new space the current world trade center is fulfilling many of the same tasks as the original one providing office space for tenants of real estate investors silverstein a transit hub as well as retail space for westfield and a new greek orthodox church but it also fulfills a completely new task as a memorial side there has been much criticism of individual buildings here as well as about the power that investors like larry silverstein had in shaping this process oftentimes working against the vision planned in daniel leafskin's plan but leap skinned when asked about these difficulties in 2004 at a time amidst intense debates about the site expressed understanding if you read the new york times quote the incredible shrinking daniel liebskin how ground zero's architect went from master planner to minor play if being minor player means that i believe in democracy and i believe in compromise and i believe in evolution that i'm very happy to be five foot three as i am even if the site as it is today is the result of countless compromises with radical architectural ideas oftentimes not able to assert themselves it is also this exact squabble of interest that can be seen as a democratic development that maybe amidst all valid criticism there is also value to the fact that interests were weight that this wasn't one top-down vision but an open process for me personally mapping out these changes has made me understand the local history of events that fundamentally shape the global context i grew up in if you go to the site today there are remnants of the original world trade center the bronze sphere designed by fritz kernick originally located on the plaza in front of the towers is now standing in liberty park a tree originally planted in the 1970s survived the attacks and is now found in the memorial park and when you go into the underground museum you will see an exposed wall that had been built to dam the hudson river for the construction of the twin towers i have made another full-length video about the fascinating construction of the twin towers explaining why it was necessary to build this giant wall the video goes over the groundbreaking new methods used to build these towers that paved the way for the modern skyscraper as we know it today and together with this video it really rounds up the story of this site the video is part of my ongoing nebula original series underexposure in which i explore often overlooked aspects of topics we all know about i have made videos about the investigation into flight mh17 or about the kuwaiti oil fires and you can also watch my video about the refugee crisis as well as highly produced original content from other independent creators all available on our own site without any ads the best way to get access to nebula is through the curiosity stream nebula bundle deal which at its current sales price is less than 15 a year to get full access to both sides and curiosity stream has absolutely incredible documentaries such as getting frank gehry about the unique design approach of this world-renowned architect so not only do you get access to two streaming sites you will also support me and other educational creators in making the videos we always wanted to make so go start watching these videos right now by clicking this button on screen or following the link in the description thank you so much for your support

Channel: neo

Views: 1,465,045

Keywords: wtc, new york, new york city, nyc, silverstein, daniel libeskind, architecture, explaining, maps, understanding, world trade center

Id: aqKGJgZyiHw

Length: 28min 30sec (1710 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 06 2022