Interactive by Krista Fuentes. One WTC photo courtesy Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Subscription Center
What was once called the Freedom Tower should soon become the tallest building in the U.S. It will also be among the best prepared in the nation for a terrorist attack or other emergency
| September 9, 2011 | 13
Interactive by Krista Fuentes. One WTC photo courtesy Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
See what we're tweeting about
DNLee5 Can it be too hot (outside) for sex? In Ancient Egypt, the answer seems to be No. http://t.co/R0fseHAiP6 from @HuffPostScience
David_Bressan 33 Years Ago Today … Mount St. Helens exploded with a fury that surpassed expectations http://t.co/T963e4QkUT #SciAmBlogs DNLee5 Suddenly feeling warm. Why? My fan isn't working. Look up, the powerlight to water heater is off. Another blackout #dispatchesDNLee
Deadline: Aug 31 2013
Reward: $100,000 USD
The Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer’s Initiative (GBFAI) is launching the 2013 Geoffrey Beene Global NeuroDiscovery Challenge whose
Deadline: Jul 25 2013
Reward: Varies
This challenge provides an opportunity for Solvers to build a web-based or mobile “app” to explore data relationships in scholarly conte
Powered By: 
YES! Send me a free issue of Scientific American with no obligation to continue the subscription. If I like it, I will be billed for the one-year subscription.
13 Comments
Add CommentI'm proud to see the progress being built into this tower.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGreat American！
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe technology of safety is of course very advanced but the look of the main building is..well..boring..the kind of design that would have been created by a committee finding compromise. Consider all the fantastic skyscrapers in other countries from the Middle East to Asia and this building in the city that invented the genre is..lacking.. Too late but also too bad.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am NOT impressed ! But I think there are lots of other more interesting features but they just won't tell.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBTW, why would a magazine publisher need 20 stories in what will certainly be the most expensive square footage in the US if not in the world. Stay put SciAm!
As far as security against 9/11 style airline attacks, that's easy: just mount some surface-to-air missiles on the 80th or 90th floor of the tallest building in the area (or a few of the tallest if in a dense area like Manhattan). Let's see someone try to crash a plane into a building then.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh, and before you give me any crap about shooting down a civilian aircraft, remember: every single person on the plane will die when it hits the building, guaranteed. Those people are dead the moment the plane is hijacked and they discover they can't retake it, the only question is how many outside the plane will die.
Actually, the World Trade Center offers a cheaper solution for office space compared to offices in Midtown (where Conde Nast currently resides). Midtown is the most expensive, downtown is not. This is why so many companies are interested in moving downtown.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.wtc.com/news/the-rebirth-of-downtown-new-yorks-business-district
What are your opinions of the original towers then? Their design was even more basic. Honestly, I'm glad they didn't go crazy with the design, because it would look out of place in the New York Skyline. This is classic and beautiful. Sometimes the simplicity of something makes it better.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am particularly impressed!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am not impressed at all. What you have here is a structure just like every other structure. There is a thicker than average concrete core (that still would not stand up to a comercial jet plane smashing into it), a 15 meter blast wall on 2 of 4 sides, and an extra stair well that, when smashed by a plane, will be completely useless. Most, if not all, new major construction projects are LEED certified, so that's nothing to write home about either. This is just another tall building that's no different that the rest. You Americans have to stop, look around, and realize that you are no longer 1st at everything. The USA has long been surpassed in skyscraper construction, engineering, and design. This building has no significance in the world of skyscrapers other than the address.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPlease do not interpret my last comment as any kind of disrespect to those that were affected by the events on 9/11/2001. That was not my intent. The long and short is that I fully expcted a Pheonix to rise from the ashes and what I see here is more like a sparrow.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRegards,
Sharknet (Aaron)
One of your freindly neighbours to the north.
"You are no longer 1st at everything. The USA has long been surpassed in skyscraper construction, engineering, and design."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHmmm. Let's see. Tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa. Architecture and engineering by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill of Chicago, with Adrian Smith as chief architect and Bill Baker as chief structural engineer.
You can sit down now.
If my interpretation of the "tower of BAbel" story is correct, this is the tower.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisoh, well how about this crap. Your proposing that we shoot down a civilian aircraft over a huge city, not only killing everyone on-board but also many people on the ground and no doubt causing millions of $ in damages across the city.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this