New York, United States.
It is the skyscraper that replaced the New York sky at Twin Towers, reducated to ashes. Opened in 2014, the One World Trade Center, the tallest building in United States, 541 meters, became one emblematic tower of the economic capital of the country, symbol of resilience after the horror of the 9/11 attacks.
From its origin it was conceived as a witness of the New York resilience, A vision for the future despite the disaster, Says Kenneth Lewis, one of the architects of the SOM studio, which builds skyscraper all over the world.
Although the images of the twin towers in flames were trage, no one questioned the idea of erecting another skyscraper instead.
for the architects be the occasion of concretize concepts with whom they dreamed years ago.
“It was him beginning of the millennium, It was necessary to embody a new one building generation, both in terms of safety and environmental impact, ”says Lewis.
“Shield the heart”
Images of people jumping into the void per escape from fire they appear between most nightmarish of the 11 of September.
after the attacks, there was a lot of debate about how to evacuate people beyond the stairs: there was a discussion about a kind of cable that the person could tie up before launching into the void, or from a kind of giant garbage tunnel through which people could launch themselves, remember the architect.
A paratrooper did a cable demonstration. “It really gave by“It was unimaginable for someone who was a little overweight or a little shy to jump out the window,” he recalls with a smile.
In the end, the only solution was “Shield the heart of the building with reinforced concrete, and make it wide enough for the people can go out there. “
Many new safety standards were released in the “One WTC” and then became standard. For example, the extension of the ladder boxess to allow a rapid evacuation of this 104-story tower, or the installation of a light signal on the floor as in the planes.
Fire-resistant cameras and communication tools were also installed on each floor, to allow rescuers to track the situation at all times.
The ultimate goal, according to Lewis, era “Evacuate the entire building in a maximum of one hour “.
the firefighters they were invited to the working meetings. “It simply came to our notice then trauma such that they were to form part of the solution “, to Lewis.
They were mostly the ones who demanded one capable rescue system of palliating a fault of the generators, as happened September 11, 2001 in order to keep the electricity as long as possible for evacuate the building.
a fires it was not the only concern. In the fall of 2001 there were several anonymous anthrax letters sent to some media, and five dead linked to this deadly poison.
“We started thinking about one filtration system and in the quality of the air, no only in case of fire but also of attacks of this type “, explains.
“All needed to be identified threats cwhere a building must work “without transform it “In a fortress that no one wants to come to work anymore.”
“Wellness”
Almost 20 years later, due to the coronavirus pandemic and the extension of telecommuting, the One WTC and most of the famous Manhattan skyscrapers they remained empty for months.
“We thought people would go back to the office much faster, “Lewis admits.” We quickly look at the air filtration, how it circulates (…) most recent buildings have very effective filters, With particles, which also operate on the virus “.
Although the office towers have not yet returned to their pre-pandemic employment rates, no one questions the validity of the skyscraper in the New York sky.
A tower of 600 apartments is in construction in Brooklyn and by 2022 would become the first “super skyscraper” out of Manhattan. And about twenty similar projects are in the pipeline New York.
To the environmental priority, already very present, was added that of welfare, says Lewis.
see: Never-before-seen images of the terrible 9/11 terrorist attacks
“We are in 2021, we are talking about health, about creating outdoor spaces where people can work, about terraces like workplace, to meetn … We are really at a crossroads “.
Meanwhile, the One WTC has made a place among the iconic imagess of New York.
when the Memorial to the victims of 9/11 symbolizes “the void” created by the bombings, according to Lewis, the tower “represents the positive “, “A place of innovation and reflection, bearer of modern security concepts.”