More updated details for KL118 Tower.

Finally, after months and months of speculation and secrecy surrounding Malaysia’s plan for the next tallest building of the country, more details had been revealed recently from the officiating ceremony. What is the project that I’m talking about? It’s the KL118 development. Now, it is renamed to PNB118 since PNB is the name of the owner’s company for this project. Well, I prefer KL118 more as it has more international appeal than ‘PNB’. Nobody knows (not only foreigners but also locals) what does PNB stands for.

Also known as ‘Warisan Merdeka’ (Heritage Independence), this development is located on a site just adjacent to the historic Stadium Merdeka and Stadium Negara. It is also located nearby to some very old buildings like Victoria Institution, Methodist Boys School (my former secondary school), Chin Woo Stadium, and Petaling Street (Chinatown). The project has been receiving heavy criticism due to its location on low-lying area which is also full of historical buildings and that this new modern supertall would not fit into this site context. I agreed. This project also receiving strong objection as the money put into this can be more beneficial for other purposes as the city does not need another supertall yet.

The iconic feature of this development would be the construction of an 118-storey tower, now named PNB 118 Tower. The final height of this skyscraper is still not confirmed but it is now fixed to be between 600 metres to 650 metres. Some sources said 610 metres or 630 metres while some even said it would be 644 metres tall which would make it even taller than the Shanghai Tower, the current world’s second tallest building. No matter what the final height is, this PNB118 Tower would still easily be the country’s new tallest building as well as one of top five world’s tallest buildings once it is completed. And it is announced recently that it is expected to be completed in 2024. Years ago, it is planned for completion by 2020 to coincide with Wawasan 2020 (Vision 2020) when the country would become a developed nation by year 2020. However, the project faced delay and it’s getting back on track now. It is now officially under construction.

The tower is designed by Fender Katsalidis Architects, an architecture office based in Melbourne, Australia which is previously famous for designing Eureka Tower in Melbourne. The design is also not that well received as many people commented that it is too simple, too glassy and do not possess timeless elegance like what Petronas Twin Towers achieved. I agreed to these opinions too. However, after its official rendering and an animation clip of the tower are out recently, some changed their mind and started to like the design. I’m one of them, but I still think that the design needs further improvement especially on its treatment to the top where it meets the spire. The spire is also a bit too long and out of proportion in comparison to the building form and volume. I knew it is just there to increase a substantial height for the building just to have it to be placed higher in the list of world’s tallest buildings later on.

So, here below are some new (latest) renderings, plan view and models’ images of the PNB118 Tower and also an animation clip for it by RSP Architects, the local design consultant for this project.

Looking forward to see this new skyscraper dominating the skyline of Kuala Lumpur as soon as possible. Hmm…I suddenly changed my mind and think that KL needs a new supertall now since Petronas Twin Towers have been here for almost two decades already. However, it is undeniable that the twin towers are still elegant and remain as icon of the country forever.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

 

Current KL: 5 tallest buildings completed, 5 tallest buildings under construction, and 5 tallest buildings proposed in the city.

My city, Kuala Lumpur is considered slow in terms of construction boom compared to many cities in China or even in our neighbouring South East Asian countries. However, there are several (actually multiple) interesting skyscraper projects on-going (either in construction stage or still in proposal phase) in the city currently that deserve some attention worldwide.

Before I proceed, do you know that building above 150 metres high is classified as a tall skyscraper. Building above 300 metres is then called supertall skyscraper while megatall skyscraper refers to building beyond 600 metres high (currently only three buildings in the world are megatalls; Burj Khalifa, Shanghai Tower and Mecca Royal Clock Tower). Based on data available from Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), Kuala Lumpur has about nearly 50 tall skyscrapers (above 150 metres high) with 3 of them being supertalls (Petronas Twin Towers as two and Telekom Tower). Kindly take note that KL Tower (421 metres high) is a telecommunication tower and hence, not to be included.

The present five tallest buildings in the city are (as of 2016):

1. Petronas Twin Tower 1 (452 metres, 88 floors)

2. Petronas Twin Tower 2 (452 metres, 88 floors)

 

3. Telekom Tower (310 metres, 55 floors)

4. Ilham Tower (274 metres, 64 floors)

5. Petronas Tower 3 (267 metres, 60 floors)

The five tallest buildings in the city are all beyond 250 metres mark. Wonderful. KL can be considered home to plenty of skyscrapers eventhough we still lose out to bigger cities like Hong Kong, New York, Chicago, Shanghai, Dubai, etc.

The five tallest buildings currently under construction in the city are (as of 2016):

1. KL118 Tower (644 metres, 118 floors, to be completed in 2020).

2. Fairmont Kuala Lumpur Tower 1 (370 metres, 78 floors, to be completed in 2019). (Surprised of very lack of real data of this project despite it is already under-construction now)

3. Four Seasons Place (343 metres, 65 floors, to be completed in 2018).

4. Fairmont Kuala Lumpur Tower 2 (278 metres, 71 floors, to be completed in 2018).

5. Banyan Tree Signatures (240 metres, 55 floors, to be completed in 2016, that’s this year!).

Glad that there are still many skyscraper projects under construction in the city despite the poor economic situation especially the current crisis in the country. Wishing for these buildings above to be finished quick.

The five tallest buildings proposed in the city are (as of 2016):

1. Tradewinds Square Tower A (608 – 775 metres, 110 – 150 floors). (Three unconfirmed designs shown below)

I personally prefer the first design; clean, simple yet elegant. The second and the third designs are average looking only.

2. Platinum Tower / TRX Signature Tower (430 metres, 90 floors). (Three unconfirmed designs shown below)

The first design looks like a shorter version of Shanghai Tower. Second one looks quite good while the third one charms from its crown treatment. Hard to choose if you ask me.

3. Oxley Tower 1 (380 metres, 83 floors).

4. Oxley Tower 2 (380 metres, 83 floors).

5. Tradewinds Square Tower B (288 metres, 61 floors).

Hoping to see at least some of the proposals above get to be materialized very soon. But like I said earlier, the economic downturn in our country currently is not looking good to ‘breath life’ into these amazing proposals. If most of these projects (under-construction or under proposal) are to be really completed in the next five or ten years, then Kuala Lumpur would become a much denser city with a more stunning skyline to enjoy in near future. I’m looking forward to that!

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

3 movies in a week! ‘Under The Skin’, ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ and lastly, ‘Birdman’

It’s now less than 2 weeks before the Oscars and it’s the perfect time for me to watch some remaining Oscars-nominated films this year before the awards presentation which is scheduled to take place on 22nd February 2015. ‘Under The Skin’ is the first one I watched this week. Eventhough it is not nominated in the Academy Awards, but it gained largely positive reviews and was named one of the best films in 2014 by over 100 publications. So, I will give it a go.

In the end, I am very annoyed. The movie had just wasted my time. The movie starred Scarlett Johansson as an alien seductress who preys on men in Scotland and with subsequent event that lead her to begin a process of self-discovery. Looking from this kind of plot, it should be exciting or intense at some points. But not at all. It is more of an artistic film that never suits me. It is very plain and boring. I’m not into this type of movie. The plot betrayed me. I am expecting that this may be a good or exciting science fiction thriller film, but it’s not. Things are creepily dull and silently ‘dead’ in this film. I can’t really appreciate the ‘values’ or the ‘meanings’ from this film. Out of 10 points, I can only rate it 6.0.

Next, is ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’. This film won Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical in Golden Globe Awards and received five awards from the British Academy Film Awards. It also secured 9 nominations in the upcoming Academy Awards, being the film with most nominations together with ‘Birdman’. Those achievements above encouraged me to try this one. And fortunately, I did. The film is strangely beautiful! It starred Ralph Fiennes as a concierge who teams up with one of his employees to prove his innocence after he is framed for murder. The storytelling is interesting and engaging. Ralph Fiennes’ performance in the film is also notably excellent. When I hear his voice, this would always come into my mind automatically; ‘Voldemort’ is back. Haha…The best thing of the film is from its wonderful and creative production designs. Extremely distinctive, fresh and the arts here worked for me. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ a total of 7.8.

Lastly, it’s time for ‘Birdman’ or ‘The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance’. The story tells on Riggan (Keaton), a faded Hollywood actor famous for his superhero role struggling to mount a Broadway adaptation of a Raymond Carver story. I watched this for the main purpose of checking out Michael Keaton’s performance here that won rave reviews and he is then considered a hot favourite to take home Best Actor in the coming Oscars. For me, I don’t think so. I still prefer Eddie Redmayne in ‘The Theory of Everything’ after seeing both of their performances. Michael Keaton is great in ‘Birdman’. This movie is there to propel Keaton into stardom again. This is his great comeback! But his role here is nothing that challenging compared to that Redmayne’s take on Stephen Hawking role.

Besides than Keaton, Edward Norton and Emma Stone also delivered brilliantly in ‘Birdman’ as supporting casts. Now, everyone is saying that if JK Simmons and Patricia Arquette aren’t in the awards season this year, then it shall be Norton and Stone’s victories in best supporting actor and actress categories. And I agreed on that. Naomi Watts is also great in this movie. Another compliment to the film is on its technique of shooting that appears as a continuous long take throughout most of the whole movie. That is interesting as the director said ‘we live our lives with no editing’. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Birdman’ a total of 7.9. ‘Birdman’ isn’t only a film; there lies a lot of mystery or uncertain meanings behind the story that makes the movie exceptional.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Movie review: As Above, So Below (2014)

‘As Above, So Below’ is a 2014 horror film that revolves on a team of explorers venturing down into the catacombs beneath the streets of Paris to find the legendary Philosopher’s Stone (reminded me of the chapter one of Harry Potter story…haha). As they goes deeper, they terrifyingly encounter strange phenomenons and eventually uncover the dark secret that lies within the city of the dead. The movie title itself looks interesting, and so does the plot.

The story relies on many historical aspects to help back up the whole thing as to make it more realistic and trustworthy. It may turns out that those historical elements may be exaggerated or even not real to some point, but it didn’t bother me. Instead, it adds more drama and value to keep the movie engaging. After watching the movie, I do a quick search of the meaning behind the phrase ‘as above, so below’. It is a philosophy under Hermeticism that circulate throughout occult or magical circles. Briefly it means what happens on one level of reality also happens on every other level; the microcosm and macrocosm behave alike. After the movie, I’m also interested to uncover more on the history and mystery of the catacombs, empire of the dead beneath Paris.

Ok…let’s get back to the movie. I find it enjoyable despite it received low ratings from most critics out there. It has a good story (at least it is not shallow and only shows the horror part). The movie also successfully sets the terrifying mood and haunting atmosphere through the found-footage approach, effective setting set-up (dark and narrow tunnels), creepy sound and echos, good performance by the casts, good-pacing story development, and of course some inevitable jump-scare moments in this kind of movie. There is one scene that really freak me out in that second or two. On the other hand, I will never go through that kind of tunnels (can easily gets claustrophobia) no matter how ambitious, brave or daring I am (like the main character Scarlett).

I also enjoy that the movie gets continuously intense in the last quarter of the film. As mentioned earlier, the casts (Perdita Weeks, Ben Feldman, Edwin Hodge, Francois Civil, etc) delivered impressive performances and I can really felt as though they were really in that fearsome situation. The story also has quite a good ending, not to mention that the deaths of several characters earlier are very much predictable. Overall, it’s quite an entertaining and a solid horror film. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘As Above, So Below’ a total of 7.4. Not bad. After this horror film, now I’m looking forward to ‘The Pyramid’, another horror film set to be released early next month.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Superb construction speed of the Shanghai Tower

Few months ago, I do check on the construction updates of several famous skyscrapers including the Shanghai Tower, which is a supertall under construction in Pudong district and would reach over 630 metres in height. For your extra information, there are three planned skyscrapers for the development of the Pudong district to become Shanghai’s most iconic metropolis zone. Two have already been built; 421m Jin Mao Tower built in 1998 and 492m Shanghai World Financial Center in 2008. Now, Shanghai Tower, the tallest of the three, is under construction and rising up quickly, just besides the two other skyscrapers….and it is rising up really quick.

I believe ‘Shanghai Tower’ is only a temporary name given to this supertall which is going to be the second tallest building in the world once completed in 2014, just behind Burj Khalifa. A more formal and official name would be announced soon. Do you know what is the architecture firm behind this fantastic slightly-twisted double-facade structure appearing like a dragon soaring to the sky according to Chinese perspective? It is Gensler, and this is their first skyscraper project. For your extra information, Cesar Pelli designed Jin Mao Tower and Kohn Pederson Fox designed Shanghai World Financial Center which is currently the tallest in China.

Going back to the construction progress of the iconic tower. Few months ago, the progress is seen that the tower is in its foundation stage. Now, when I look again at the same forum discussing on the tower from skyscraperpage.com, the progress stunned me. The tower’s construction has reached over 50 floors, which is about the height of over 230m as of current. Of course, there are many more floors up above, but looking at the speed of the construction, everything seems good, and the tower looks convincing to be completed before the deadline, two years later, somewhere in 2014.

Now, we see another gigantic structure rising in Shanghai. And it’s rising fast. Once this tower is completed which marked the end of the vision to have three supertalls in the Pudong area, I would want to go there and have a look, and perhaps going up to the observatories for amazing views too. Shanghai is a fast-developing city, and I found a picture from the same forum as well depicting the Pudong area back in decades ago and comparing it with its condition now. Huh…amazing! The pace is somewhat similar to Dubai. A piece of flat land turned to home of hundred of skyscrapers! Wow…

(The pictures above are from this thread: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=116595)

South Korea in favor of skyscrapers

Whenever someone thinks of building skyscrapers in recent years, the place must be either in China or Middle East as Asia is currently undergoing extensive economic development. However, when I browsed through on recent skyscrapers’ construction around the world, the concentration is on South Korea! Together with China, both strong Asian nations are currently building not only one, but several skyscrapers exceeding 500m easily which all would be seen completed around 2015.

Everyone knows that China is famous in building big, building tall, and building long structures. No one notice on the upper region above China, there lies several mega constructions of skyscrapers going on, in South Korea. One of it is called Digital Media City Landmark Building, designed by famous architectural firm, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) with an extreme height of 640m. The building would consists of 133 floors at Digital Media City, Seoul, the capital of the nation. When completed in 2015, it would be the third world’s tallest building, just behind completed Burj Khalifa and under-constructing Pingan International Finance Centre. The building would also holds records of world tallest observation deck and world highest hotel rooms. All functions of a futuristic, 21st century city are incorporated into the building, including the most high-tech office and residential spaces, a department store, luxury shopping malls, a large convention center, the world’s largest interactive aquarium, international restaurants and facilities for media, culture and exhibitions. So, it is a futuristic city within a complex of a single skyscraper alone.

Another landmark building (it’s twin buildings) going under construction at Songdo International City, Incheon, South Korea is called 151 Incheon Tower. The design consists of 151-floors twin towers reaching a height of up to 601m, connected by three skybridges and is designed by John Portman. When completed in around 2015, it will be the world’s top five tallest building, as well as the tallest twin buildings in the world, surpassing Petronas Twin Towers on the record. Petronas Towers have one skybridge, but this Incheon 151 is going to have 3! It is designed to represent Songdo City, which is a planned international Central Business District along Incheon Waterfront, a huge master project in creating a whole new contemporary city.

Another skyscraper undergoing construction at Lotte World 2, Seoul, South Korea is called Lotte World Premium Tower, which would stand at a height of 555m. It is a 123-floors skyscraper designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and is scheduled to complete in 2015, which would then make it into world’s top 10 tallest building. The conceptual design calls for a slender cone with convex, gently curved sides. An exterior of pale-coloured glass draws inspiration from Korean ceramics and features accents of metal filigree. The building would have an observatory at the top 3 highest floors (120-123).

There is still somemore. Busan Lotte World Tower, which should not be confused with the building mentioned above, is a 110-floor skyscraper under-construction in Busan, South Korea. The design of the skyscraper will resemble a standing ship, with grand curves reflecting the city’s harbour. There are several phases of construction for this mega complex which would consists of department store, mart, cinema, and a single skyscraper of luxury hotel, offices, cultural facilities and an observation deck. The height of the skyscraper would be exceeding 510m, taller than Taipei 101 by nearly two metres. The building is designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM). It is scheduled to be completed by 2016 and would then be among the world’s top 10 tallest buildings too.

There are several other skyscraper projects proposed at South Korea, which would even see some taller buildings in proposal, with one called as Dream Tower designed by Daniel Libeskind which would becomes world second tallest building at height of 665m, behind Burj Khalifa and would surpass Digital Media City Landmark Building (mentioned above) nearby. Some of these proposals would be approved for construction in near future, and by then, South Korea would be a famous nation of dominating supertall skyscrapers, having at least four of the world’s top 10 tallest buildings by 2015 or 2016. Don’t forget that the examples of skyscrapers given above on this post are ALREADY under-construction, ready to top the sky.

Do you know that the current tallest building in South Korea is Northeast Asia Trade Tower at Incheon which stands at only 305m. Such a great margin between this number with the numbers above, isn’t it? When you compare, it’s DOUBLE!

A building that celebrates US independence even it is now only under-construction

Today is 4th of July, usual day in Malaysia, but is a significant day to the United States of America, as the nation is celebrating 235 years of independence, a symbol of freedom for the country. Part of the focus of the celebration is on the rising of One World Trade Center, or more commonly known as Freedom Tower. From the name itself, it is obvious that it is a reconstruction of the World Trade Center complex that were destroyed on September 11th, 2001, approximately ten years ago. (the one with construction crane is the One World Trade Center rising in construction at the left of the pictures below) What a beautiful skyline view of only part of the New York city!

 

For marking the independence, even some special programmes are aired around these few days, relating to some important topics in the history of United States, and I did watched one of it from History Channel, entitled ‘102 Minutes that Changed America’. It is a collection of rare clips showing New York City and the World Trade Center on 911 attacks. I felt very emotional after watching this two-hours long programme, and I am still saddened by the case eventhough it is already 10 years ago.

Few new iconic skyscrapers are going to be built to replace the previous cuboid structures, with the most significant one, One World Trade Center soaring up to 541 m (1776 feet which represents year 1776, the year the nation achieved independence). So now you see the reason why this building is related to independence of the nation. So, it is nicknamed Freedom Tower, also as a sign of triumph over terrorism without the worry of height increment. For the design, you can see by itself without further explanation. It is actually quite a simple design with square base too, with addition of a long spire.

Now, it is still under construction and the expected year of completion is delayed from 2011 (this year) to 2013, and would be probably opened in 2014 as the tallest all-office building in the world. It will eventually be the tallest building of the nation too, soaring above the nearby Empire State Building. Half of the building is already cladded with clear glass, which almost fully reflects the sky and I think it is beautiful. See the video below, showing the effect of the glass facade of the building even when it is still under construction. Nice, right?

The construction recently has reached 73rd floor out of the full 105-floors design. So, I’m guessing the current height would be around 300 m. That spire would be adding a lot of height to that building. The huge area besides the tower covers few other skyscrapers, with some well over 400 m too, and two pools which are previously the site of former World Trade Center 1 and 2 with addition of National September 11 Memorial and Museum. (which you can see partly at the bottom left of the picture below with the One WTC clearly towering at the right)

Back to the site, in every anniversary of the 911 from 2003, ‘Tribute in Light‘ is performed which  is an art installation of 88 searchlights placed around the perimeter of former twin towers  to create two vertical columns of light in remembrance of 911 incident. I find the display to be very beautiful and I’m admiring the simple idea of creating two columns of light that really highlights the memorial of the incident.

Let’s not talk about sad things anymore. Two months later, it will be already the 10th anniversary of the attack, and not long ago, the leader behind the attack, Osama is killed which is a good news. Good things are coming for the nation, and the world. Many events would be held, like the fireworks display especially at the beautiful New York City which would lighten up the night for countdown to 4th July in hours later. (despite it is already 4th July here in Malaysia, which is just another typical boring day for me). Happy Independence to USA!

(All the information are from reliable sources including the pictures and video like from skyscrapercity forum pages on One World Trade Center)

Current Top 10 World Tallest Buildings (2010)

I remembered last year, I have created a post similar to this one, but the information last year is now different with the current version, since now is year 2010, no more 2009. Hence, it’s time for me to update the list again, of the official world top 10 world tallest completed buildings in year 2010.

I have discovered that many people have come out with the wrong list of the world top ten tallest buildings. To be exact, a building must be functional, occupied and completed to be inserted into the world tallest list. Hence, under-construction, proposed, unused, or even topped – out buildings should not be in the list.

Some even put the CN Tower into the world tallest buildings list. Many architectural related organizations, especially the main ones like CTBUH, Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, have clarified many times that CN Tower is not a building, it is a telecommunication tower. However, many other buildings are given names as ‘tower’ like ‘Bank of China Tower’, instead, these are actually buildings.

Okay, let’s come to the list, the official list of the world top ten tallest completed buildings in 2010 (which will show buildings that are to be completed by 2010, and has topped out)…the list will be correct not only at the time of the creation of this post but also correct for the whole year (hence topped out buildings are included too, since these buildings will be completed in 2010)…understand?

1 – Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates : 828m, 168 floors, completed in 2010.

2 – Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan : 509m, 101 floors, completed in 2004.

3 – Shanghai World Financial Center, Shanghai, China : 492m, 101 floors, completed in 2008.

4 – International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong, China : 484m, 118 floors, to be completed in 2010 (topped out).

5 – Petronas Tower 1, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia : 452m, 88 floors, completed in 1998.

6 – Petronas Tower 2, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia : 452m, 88 floors, completed in 1998.

7 – Nanjing Greenland Financial Center, Nanjing, China : 450m, 66 floors, completed in 2010.

8 – Willis Tower, Chicago, United States of America : 442m, 108 floors, completed in 1974.

9 – Guangzhou International Finance Center, Guangzhou, China : 440m, 103 floors, to be completed in 2010. (topped out)

10 – Trump International Hotel and Tower, Chicago, United States of America : 423m, 98 floors, completed in 2009.

Extra (to honour buildings over 400m in height as well)

11 – Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai, China : 421m, 88 floors, completed in 1999.

12 – Two International Finance Centre, Hong Kong, China : 412m, 88 floors, completed in 2003.

Great…currently, we have 12 buildings exceeding 400m in height…great achievements…few years later, the number is going to increase tremendously…

Out of the top 10, 8 buildings are in Asia ( 4 in China, 2 in Malaysia, 1 in UAE, 1 in Taiwan), and remaining two are in USA (both in Chicago). This simple analysis shows that China is an emerging country, with many constructions of supertalls going on. I heard from one famous quote, which is kinda suits this one too; ‘we see the rise of the East and the downfall of the West’…not to criticize the West, but the development is now seen much on the East. Agree?

The under-construction skyscrapers on New York’s Ground Zero

The project of rebuilding the World Trade Center in New York City after the disastrous 911 attacks is called as ‘ Project Rebirth’. This project is very much related to the former twin towers of World Trade Center, and it reflects on the memorial dedication to the 911 disaster.

The site plan of the project:

Currently, constructions are in progress on the large site. A memorial park is built, dedicated for the victims of 911 attack. Four buildings are under construction;

One World Trade Center (Freedom Tower)

• Height: 541m to top of spire. (417m to top of roof)
• 109 floors including rooftop.
• design: simple symmetry, more traditional design to complement with New York skyline.
• 2.6 million square feet office space, including observation deck, world-class restaurants, etc.
• designed to draw upon the themes of motion and light; a shimmering glass surface drapes the tower’s base and imparts a dynamic fluidity of form whose appearance will reflect its surroundings.
• As the tower itself rises from this cubic base, its square edges are chamfered back, transforming the square into eight tall isosceles triangles in elevation, or an elongated square antiprism.
• At its middle, the tower forms a perfect octagon in plan and then culminates in a glass parapet (elevation 1,362 feet (415 m) and 1,368 feet (417 m)) whose plan is a square, rotated 45 degrees from the base.
• A mast containing an antenna for television broadcasters—designed by a collaboration between Skidmore, Owings and Merill, artist Kenneth Snelson (who invented the tensegrity structure), lighting designers and engineers—and secured by a system of cables, rises from a circular support ring, similar to the Statue of Liberty’s torch, to a height of 1,776 feet (541 m). The spire will be an intense beam of light that will be lit at night and will likely be visible over a thousand feet (305 m) into the air above the tower.
• Estimated to be completed by year 2013.
• Architects: David Childs (SOM), Thomas Boada.

Two World Trade Center (200 Greenwich Street)

• Height: 411m to top of spire. (387m to top of roof)
• 79 floors.
• 2.53 million square feet of office space, including retail shops.
• Design: The sloping roof consisting of four diamonds inclined toward the memorial will provide a visual marker around the skyline of just where the original towers were.
• The tower is designed to resemble a diamond, with cross bracing intersects and indentations breaking up the sides.
• The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the following about 200 Greenwich Street’s wedged rooftop: “Designed by Lord Norman Foster, the tower incorporates WTC master planner Daniel Libeskind’s ‘wedge of light’ concept, and will cast no shadow on the memorial park on September 11.”
• Estimated to be completed by year 2012.
• Architect: Sir Norman Foster.

Three World Trade Center (175 Greenwich Street)

• Height: 383m to top of spire. (352m to top of roof)
• 71 floors.
• 2 million square feet of office space, including retail space.
• Design: The building slightly resembles the John Hancock Center in Chicago. The four spires in the design would give the building a pinnacle height of 1,255 feet (383 m).
• The design of the tower addresses on its central position on the site and accentuates the building’s verticality relative to the Memorial site.
• It is envisaged that the tower will consist of a central concrete core (steel encased in reinforced concrete) and an external structural steel frame which will be clad in stainless steel.
• Estimated to be completed by year 2014.
• Architect: Sir Richard Rogers.

Four World Trade Center (150 Greenwich Street)

• Height: 297m to top of roof.
• 64 floors.
• 1.8 million square feet of office space, including retail space.
• Design: The office tower is intended to assume a quiet but dignified presence at the site while also serving to enliven the immediate urban environment as part of the redevelopment efforts of downtown New York.
• Estimated to be completed by year 2011.
• Architect: Fumihiko Maki.

The Seven World Trade Center is built in year 2006.

• Height: 226m to top of roof.
• 52 floors.
• 1.7 million square feet of office space.
• Located just north of the WTC site, the rebuilt office tower combines a powerful infrastructure with ultra-efficient floors to offer tenants substantial operational efficiencies. With 45-foot column-free spans, high ceilings, and stunning views in all directions, the 40,000-square-foot floor plate provides unparalleled freedom to customize each space.
• From backup power systems, to abundant riser spacing, to above-standard electrical capacity and next-generation HVAC systems, the tower’s infrastructure anticipates and exceeds future demands in every way. And the sheer beauty of its shimmering external façade gracefully enhances any corporate image.
• New York’s first officially certified Green Building.
• Architect: David Childs (SOM).

 Future of the area:

From this:

To this by 2013 0r 2014: