The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 25

Parts of the curtain wall for the Freedom Tower are undergoing tests in the New Mexico desert and outside Los Angeles to ensure that the structure meets critical integrity tests. Thus far, the structures have passed with flying colors, which is crucial to actually building the Tower.

In recent months, two full-size mock-ups of a few floors of the glass and aluminum facade have been built and tested. One is outside Los Angeles, in Ontario, Calif. The other was at a site in central New Mexico that can be reached only over dirt roads in four-wheel-drive vehicles.

At 1,368 feet, with 23 acres of glass-clad surface area, 1 World Trade Center will be subject to tremendous natural forces. The building, also known as the Freedom Tower (at a symbolic 1,776 feet, when its mast is counted), will be the tallest in New York City and as the skyscraping phoenix on the site of ground zero, it may be the target of terrorist attacks, too.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is building 1 World Trade Center, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which designed it, said both mock-ups performed well. The facade, called a curtain wall, is being made by Benson Industries of Portland, Ore. The engineering firm Weidlinger Associates is the consultant in blast-resistant design.

“Physical testing is a confirmation that curtain-wall contractors are in fact meeting performance requirements,” said Carl Galioto, a Skidmore partner. “Full fabrication of the curtain wall cannot begin until the mock-up specimen passes these tests.”

Almost invisible to passers-by, the foundations of 1 World Trade Center are rising every day toward street level.

The tests include blast resistance and wind/rain loads that might be encountered during severe storms.

UPDATE:
For those that don't normally use the PATH system, the PATH terminal entrance has been moved from its location on Church Street to around the corner on Vesey Street near where the Survivors Staircase once stood. The move was necessary for the next phase of construction of the Calatrava transit hub to begin.

Also, various contracts have been entered into for other work on the Freedom Tower, including the following:

# an additional $4.2 million in planning for World Trade Center site planning and redevelopment. The increase will support ongoing project development efforts at the World Trade Center site;


# 1 World Trade Center LLC to allocate an additional $5.9 million for continued consultant services through December 2012 in connection with the design and construction of 1 World Trade Center, the Freedom Tower;# an agreement with Citigroup Global Markets Inc. to provide underwriting services to the Port Authority in connection with the sale of New York Liberty Bonds through the New York City Industrial Development Agency and other debt obligations to be issued by the Port Authority in connection with 1 World Trade Center, the Freedom Tower and the retail component of the World Trade Center site;

# 1 World Trade Center LLC, through its construction manager Tishman Construction Corp., to enter into a construction contract for hollow metal and finish hardware for 1 World Trade Center, the Freedom Tower;


# 1 World Trade Center LLC, through its construction manager Tishman Construction Corp., to enter into a construction trade contract for fire protection packages for Floors 22-88 of 1 World Trade Center, the Freedom Tower; and


# 1 World Trade Center LLC, through its construction manager Tishman Construction Corp., to enter into a construction trade contract for water-cooled air conditioning units for 1 World Trade Center, the Freedom Tower.