New York reaches for the sky
2003-12-11 07:43
New York - Design plans for the Freedom Tower in New York City envision the huge structure reclaiming the title of the world's tallest building with its tip stretching 609.6m into the sky, The New York Times said on Wednesday.
Final plans for the massive tower are due to be unveiled by New York governor George Pataki next week, the newspaper reported.
Freedom Tower, as Pataki has dubbed it, is due to replace the twin towers at the World Trade Centre site in southern New York that were destroyed by terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
The design is largely the work of David Childs, the architect for the tower's developer, Larry Silverstein.
However, the height of the open-air structure - above the 70-storey office space below - which is expected to reach 541.3m was conceived by Daniel Libeskind to evoke the signing of the US Declaration of Independence in 1776.
The 70-storey occupied part of the tower would touch 335.2m, but an antenna on its roof is expected to reach 2,000 feet above the city.
At this height, it would become the world's tallest structure, snatching the title from Taipei 101 which is being built in Taiwan.
The tower would also put Malaysia's Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur in the shade. Those towers are the tallest building in the world at present.
The report said no one would be forced to work higher than 70 storeys in the new tower.