One World Trade Center: Beacon of Hope

One World Trade Center opened in October 2014 as the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. One World Trade Center is a 104-story, 1776-foot-high New York landmark and welcome addition to the New York skyline. Its footprint is identical to the original Twin Towers.

David Childs, the Center’s primary architect, designed an artistically beautiful and practical building for visitors and tenants alike. He sought to combine the traditional with the contemporary by using simple symmetries and traditional New York skyline motifs.

One World Trade Center is built upon a 185-foot concrete base clad in shimmering prismatic glass and steel. LED lights behind the panels light up the base at night.

As the tower ascends from the base, its edges chamfer to form eight isosceles triangles (forming an elongated square antiprism) of glass and steel: A perfect octagon is formed at the center.

One World Trade Center’s structure climaxes in a square, glass, crystalline parapet, where light refracts to the day’s sunlight in a kaleidoscope-like manner.

Crowning the tower is a 408-foot spire consisting of a mast and a communication platform ring—reminiscent of the Empire State Building’s and the Chrysler Building’s spire. From this platform ring, a beacon sends a horizontal light beam one thousand feet skyward.

Where death and destruction once reigned, life and hope flourish. From the midst of death and destruction arises a building, but much more than a building, a symbol of the enduring American spirit. As light from the crown’s platform ring shines into the heavens without apparent end, the American spirit likewise shines into the future without end.

One World Trade Center is a bright beacon of freedom and hope for New York, the United States, and the entire world.