NEW YORK - The skyscraper at New York's World Trade Center has been designated the tallest building in the United States by virtue of its spire, surpassing Chicago's Willis Tower, an international body said on Tuesday.
The Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) said its Height Committee ruled the mast atop the building, built on the site of the attacks of September 11, 2001 and formerly called the Freedom Tower, was a spire and therefore a permanent feature.
If the 124.4 meter (408 foot) mast were considered an antenna instead, it would be considered functional equipment and subject to change.
With the spire, One World Trade Center reaches 1,776 feet compared with 442 meters (1,451 feet) for the Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower. Counting its antenna, the Willis Tower reaches 1,729 feet.
"The design of One World Trade Center, as explained to us, reinforces its role as a symbol of resurgence on this important site," said CTBUH Executive Director Antony Wood.
"In particular, the spire which holds the beacon light, shining out at the symbolic height of 1,776 feet, is especially poignant -- echoing the similarly symbolic beacon atop the Statue of Liberty across the water."
The Declaration of Independence, when the US first broke from colonial power Britain, was written in 1776, so the height was chosen "to reaffirm the principles behind the nation's founding in the face of attacks that destroyed the original World Trade Center towers," the CTBUH said.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the public entity that owns the building, changed the name in 2009, saying it would make the office tower more marketable for tenants.
The council's Height Committee convened a group of 25 architects, engineers and facade consultants from around the world on November 8 to consider the issue, and ultimately decided the mast is a spire, the council said.
In deciding the title of the tallest US skyscraper, the committee looked at three criteria: the height to the "architectural top," which includes spires but not "functional-technical equipment," the highest occupied floor, and the height to the absolute highest point on the building, including antennas and flag poles.
Questions arose around a design change that led to the removal of architectural cladding on the antenna topping the tower, with some arguing it could no longer be considered a "spire" without it.
But the CTBUH ruled it was a spire and could be counted in the height.
Responding to Tuesday's decision, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel defended his city's skyline, telling reporters that, with "the Willis Tower, you will have a view that's unprecedented in its beauty, its landscape and its capacity to capture something."
That's "something you can't do from an antenna. Not that I'm competitive," he joked.
Because One World Trade Center is still incomplete, its designation will become official once the building is occupied in 2014, the council said. It is one of four skyscrapers planned at the site alongside a memorial, a museum, a transit center and a performing arts center.
It would then become the third-highest building in the world after Dubai's Burj Khalifa at 830 meters (2,717 feet) and the Makkah Royal Clock Tower in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, at 601 meters (1,972 feet).
However, four other buildings under construction in China and one in South Korea would be taller than One World Trade Center, according to Emporis, a database for building information.
The One World Trade Center is built on the site of the original World Trade Center, whose iconic twin towers were toppled on September 11, 2001.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks, including 2,753 in New York who are commemorated in a memorial that sits at the base of the new tower.
source: interaksyon.com
