7 World Trade Center :

Emotions abound, construction begins at the New World Trade Center, and life goes on. If this is a pretense of things to come, get excited. Plans for the New 7 World Trade Center call for more light, more height, and less bulk, a precedent to be followed at Ground Zero. Architect David Childs of Skidmore Owings and Merrill envisions a "light emanating shaft", which he compares to "the great obelisk leading into Luxor". The aftereffect of a special skin that will change colors with the changing conditions, in a sense a transitional work of art. "You see the changing clouds and the color of the sky actually penetrating into the skin, something that's never been done before that we [SOM] think will be a dramatic statement about this building being open and strong," said Childs. The program for the new 7 World Trade Center calls for more than just a replacement. Rather in the words of Childs "a dramatic gesture of the way we should design buildings, not only in this area but throughout the country."

A breath of fresh air, the new 7 WTC should come alive in lower Manhattan amid a previous generation of heavy-handed towers and canyons, of which the former was among. "Our greatest goal is to put back that shaft of light that comes down from the north to the water" said Childs. Its transparency could provide further counsel to future designs at Ground Zero, but in a complimentary way, it won't prove intrusive. "We're not just going to recreate what existed on Sept. 11 of 2001," added Pataki. "We're going to move beyond in ways that make us all proud to be New Yorkers."

The bottom 115 feet of the New 7 World Trade Center is reserved for a Con Edison substation that was destroyed in the collapse of the original building. A glass sleeve will visually connect the base with the tower, extending upwards and genteelly finished with a back lit crown. The substation is scheduled to be finished by September or October of 2003, and operational by that summer. The entire building is to be finished by the end of 2005.

-AS