7 World Trade Center

Construction on the new World Trade Center won't be completed until at least 2013, but there's already one awe-inspiring building standing in the area to embody the resilience of New York and the American spirit: 7 World Trade Center.

The original 47-story, trapezoid-shaped 7 World Trade was destroyed in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when falling debris from the North Tower caused a fire that compromised its structure and caused it to collapse. In 2002, construction began on a second incarnation. Opened in May 2006, the new 7 World Trade Center is, at 52 stories and 1.7 million square feet, bigger than the first... and incomparably more impressive architecturally.

Designed by Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill (SOM), 7 World Trade was built with safety on the brain. The building boasts a
reinforced concrete core, a steel superstructure, wider stairways, and more fireproofing, and well exceeds New York and Port Authority building safety codes.

If that sounds like the recipe for an eyesore, be assure that the building is anything but. Artist and MacArthur Fellow James Carpenter collaborated with David Childs and
the SOM team to design the building's exterior podium wall and its lighting, giving it a sleek modern feel. And, to add a flourish to the lobby, conceptual artist Jenny Holzer contributed an animated-text installation that scrolls prose and poetry on a 65'x16' glass wall behind the reception desk.

Commercially speaking, the building contains 42 column-free tenant floors, which house the offices of Silverstein Properties (the owners), Moody's Corporation, the law firm Darby & Darby P.C., Ameriprise
Financial, and magazine publishers Mansueto Ventures. The lower floors are reserved for mechanical facilities and a Con Edison substation.

And did we mention that the U.S. Green Building Council has certified 7 World Trade as the first "green" commercial office building in all of New York? So it's a visual wonder, and it's safe for both people and the environment. Sounds like the future of architecture has arrived.

By Tom