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The iconic twin towers of downtown Manhattan’s World Trade Center were a triumph of human imagination and will. Completed in 1973, the towers stood at 110 stories each, accommodating 50,000 workers and 200,000 daily visitors in 10 million square feet of space. They were the hub of the bustling Financial District, a top tourist attraction, and a symbol of New York City’s and America’s steadfast devotion to progress and the future. On September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center became the target of a massive terrorist attack that took the lives of nearly 3,000 people.
A new tower at 7 World Trade Center opened in 2006. The $2 billion 4 World Trade Center followed in 2013. The World Trade Center Oculus, a glass and steel transit concourse and shopping center designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, opened to the public in 2016, while the 1,155 foot tall 3 World Trade Center opened in 2018. Silverstein’s 2 World Trade Center and 5 World Trade Center remain incomplete.
In 2004, architect David Childs, known for designing both the Burj Khalifa and the Willis Tower, took over. The cornerstone was laid on July 4, 2004, but the building did not open until November 3, 2014. Architecture critic Kurt Andersen wrote, “The fact that it’s taken more than a decade to finish, I think —the gradualism—makes that sense of emblematic rebirth more acute and irresistible.”
The disaster also radically altered the skyline of New York City, destroying the twin columns of glass and steel that over the years had come to embody the city itself. A new tower at 7 World Trade Center opened in 2006. The $2 billion 4 World Trade Center followed in 2013. The World Trade Center Oculus, a glass, and steel transit concourse and shopping center designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, opened to the public in 2016, while the 1,155 foot tall 3 World Trade Center opened in 2018. Silverstein’s 2 World Trade Center and 5 World Trade Center remain incomplete.
The rebuilt 16-acre World Trade Center site also includes the National 9/11 Memorial designed by Michael Arad. His design, “Reflecting Absence,” includes two reflecting pools in the footprints of the former Twin Towers surrounded by bronze panels with the names of all 2,983 victims of the 1993 and 2001 World Trade Center attacks.
