One World Trade Center opens, supported by ArcelorMittal steel from Coatesville
01.26.2015
Since September 11, 2001, the tallest building in the New York skyline was the Empire State Building. That changed in November 2014, when hundreds of employees of Conde Nast began moving into new offices at One World Trade Center.
The building, formerly known as “Freedom Tower,” sits on the site of the Twin Towers, destroyed in a terrorist attack more than 17 years ago. It rises 104 stories high and, counting its antenna, is now the second tallest building in the United States. Supporting the tower – ArcelorMittal steel. Our company played a key role in the construction of this iconic structure, supplying plate and custom, flame-cut parts from ArcelorMittal Coatesville.
“Typically in a structure like this, our product is placed in the base, where it provides strong support for the upper towers. We provided between 20 and 30 thousand tons for use at the site,” said Ed Frey, general manager, eastern plate, ArcelorMittal Coatesville.
Providing plate for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center has special significance for ArcelorMittal. Coatesville provided material for the foundation and support beams for the Twin Towers. Those components were among the few elements left standing when the towers collapsed.
The architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, established in Chicago in 1936, designed One World Trade Center. According to the company, “this tower evokes the slender, tapering triangular forms of great New York City icons, such as the Chrysler Building and Empire State Building and replaces almost one quarter of the office space lost on September 11.
“As the tower rises from a cubic base, its square edges are chamfered back, transforming the square into eight tall isosceles triangles in elevation. At its middle, the tower forms a perfect octagon in plan and then culminates in a glass parapet whose plan is a 150-foot-by-150-foot square, rotated 45 degrees from the base. Its overall effect is that of a crystalline form that captures an ever-evolving display of refracted light. As the sun moves through the sky or we move around the tower, the surfaces appear like a kaleidoscope, and will change throughout the day as light and weather conditions change.”
About 5,000 people will be working in the new tower. In addition, Eataly – a high-end Italian food market – and other vendors and retailers have signed leases, filling about 350,000 square feet.
An observatory provides an unforgettable perspective of the New York streets 100 floors below.
Freedom Tower, One World Trade Center
Location: New York, New York
Project completion: 2014
Site area: 75,000 square feet
Project area: 3,500,000 square feet
Number of stories: 104
Building height: 1, 776 feet
Market: Commercial and office mixed use
Source: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
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