World Trade Centre: Rising from the ashes

The decision to reconstruct the fallen World Trade Centre was taken almost immediately after the September 11 attacks by impassioned New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani.

“We are going to rebuild, we are going to come out of this stronger than we were before,” he announced just days after the atrocities. Insistent that the attacks would not break American spirits, President Bush joined Giuliani in the call to resurrect the iconic structures. Central to the plans were the memorial to those who lost their lives – with many possible tributes suggested by planners.

World Trade Centre buildings

Whilst the initial blueprints were being drawn together for the site, developer Larry Silverstein was able to start the reconstruction of 7 World Trade Centre [WTC] in 2002 – the third tower to collapse after the Twin Towers fell on September 11. Though not an integral part of architect Daniel Libeskind’s ‘World Trade Centre Master Plan’, 7 WTC was designed to suit the style of the main 1 WTC – commonly referred to as the ‘Freedom Tower’.

7 WTC opened in May 2006 and is taller and narrower than its predecessor, standing at 741 feet. As yet this is the only completed tower in the World Trade Centre project – which is set to be fully complete by 2015. Centerpiece to Libeskind’s ‘Master Plan’ is 1 WTC which will stand 414 feet taller than the original Twin Towers. As the pinnacle of the site, 1 WTC will tower above the other four structures which decrease in size clockwise.

The ‘Freedom Tower’ as it has become known, is set to open in 2013 – two years before the completion of the 2, 3 and 4 WTC towers. ‘The Freedom Tower’ will differ in style and design from the original Twin Towers, featuring a central spire seen on the Empire State and Chrysler buildings. Avoiding the construction of a carbon copy was decision taken to commemorate rather than replace the Twin Towers.
    
World Trade Centre memorial

“I don’t think the two towers, as they existed before, should be put up in that manner,” Giuliani said in 2001. “I think that you have to begin with a beautiful, inspirational and fitting memorial. We have to accept the fact that this is going to be the burial ground for many people – so it will be a sacred place,” he added.

The main WTC memorial consists of the two largest manmade waterfalls in North America, both nearly an acre in size. The ‘memory pools’, conceptualized by architects Michael Arad and Pete Walker, were built on the foundations of the Twin Towers and contain the inscribed names of the near 3000 people who perished in the terror attacks.

[Gallery: Rebuilding the World Trade Centre]

Also memorialised on the pools are the names of the seven who lost their lives in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, an attack which occurred below the WTC North Tower. The inscriptions are split between the north (WTC North Tower, Flight 11 and 1993 attack victims) and south (WTC South Tower, Flight 175, Pentagon, Flight 77 and Flight 93 victims) ‘memory pools’.

The pools are situated in the ‘Memorial Plaza’ which will have more than 400 trees conveying “a spirit of hope and renewal”. Each tree was specifically harvested by crews from within a 500-mile radius of the WTC site, supplemented by ones coming from locations in Pennsylvania and Washington DC impacted by the terror attacks. The memorial will open 11 September to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the atrocity.
 
World Trade Centre Memorial Museum

Housing memories and artifacts from the original Twin Towers, the World Trade Centre Museum will be located between the north and south ‘memory pools’. The site attests to “the triumph of human dignity over human depravity and affirms an unwavering commitment to the fundamental value of human life”.

Some of the more poignant exhibits within the museum will include a recording of flight attendant Betty Ong moments before her death onboard American Airlines Flight 11 and images of people plummeting to their death from the collapsing towers. Pictures of the 19 hijackers will also be presented as ‘criminals’, confirmed museum director Alice Greenwald.
 
The museum’s historical exhibition is split into three parts – ‘The Day 9/11’, ‘Before 9/11’ and ‘After 9/11’. Each will contain film, images, audio and artifacts to chart the history of the World Trade Centre. By 2015 the reconstruction of the World Trade Centre site will be complete with the museum, ‘memory pools’ and five WTC towers.