LF: World Trade Center's Freedom Tower to become New York's tallest skyscraper (but read the disclaimer*)

Title: World Trade Center's Freedom Tower to become New York's tallest skyscraper (but read the disclaimer*)
Source: Associated Press
URL Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art ... kyscraper-read-disclaimer.html
Published: Apr 29, 2012
Author: Associated Press
Post Date: 2012-04-29 19:27:48 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 1043

One World Trade Center, the giant monolith being built to replace the twin towers destroyed in the September 11 attacks, will lay claim to the title of New York City's tallest skyscraper on Monday.

Workers will erect steel columns that will make its unfinished skeleton a little over 1,250 feet high, just enough to peak over the roof of the observation deck on the Empire State Building.

Beacon of hope: One World Trade Center - the lit-up building on the left - will lay claim to the title of New York City's tallest skyscraper on Monday

Workers are still adding floors to the so-called 'Freedom Tower’ and it isn't expected to reach its full height for at least another year.

At which point it is likely to be declared the tallest building in the U.S., and third tallest in the world.
Those bragging rights, though, will carry an asterisk.

Crowning the world's tallest buildings is a little like picking the heavyweight champion in boxing.
There is often disagreement about who deserves the belt.

In this case, the issue involves the 408-foot-tall needle that will sit on the tower's roof.

Count it, and the World Trade Center is back on top. Otherwise, it will have to settle for second position, after the Willis Tower in Chicago.

'Height is complicated,’ said Nathaniel Hollister, a spokesman for The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats, a Chicago-based organization considered an authority on such records.

Experts and architects have long disagreed about where to stop measuring super-tall buildings outfitted with masts, spires and antennas that extend far above the roof.

Still growing: Workers are still adding floors to the so-called 'Freedom Tower¿ and it isn't expected to reach its full height for at least another year

Still growing: Workers are still adding floors to the so-called 'Freedom Tower' and the building isn't expected to reach its targeted 1,776 foot height for at least another year

Consider the case of the Empire State Building: Measured from the sidewalk to the tip of its needle-like antenna, the granddaddy of all super-tall skyscrapers actually stands 1,454 feet high, well above the mark being surpassed by One World Trade Center on Monday.

Purists, though, say antennas shouldn't count when determining building height.

An antenna, they say, is more like furniture than a piece of architecture. Like a chair sitting on a rooftop, an antenna can be attached or removed.

The Empire State Building didn't even get its distinctive antenna until 1952. The record books, as the argument goes, shouldn't change every time someone installs a new satellite dish.

Excluding the antenna brings the Empire State Building's total height to 1,250 feet. That was still high enough to make the skyscraper the world's tallest from 1931 until 1972.

From that height, the Empire State seems to tower over the second tallest completed building in New York, the Bank of America Tower.

Yet, in many record books, the two skyscrapers are separated by just 50 feet.

That's because the tall, thin mast on top of the Bank of America building isn't an antenna, but a decorative spire.

Spiky issue: Experts disagree about where to stop measuring super-tall buildings outfitted with masts, spires and antennas that extend far above the roof, as with the Empire State Building [centre]

Spiky issue: Experts disagree about where to stop measuring super-tall buildings outfitted with masts, spires and antennas, as with the Empire State Building [centre]

Under construction: Purists say antennas shouldn't count when determining building height as an antenna is more like furniture than a piece of architecture and can be attached or removed

Pin point: Spires, however, are considered part of the building. It's a tradition that harkens back to a time when the tallest buildings in many European cities were cathedrals

Pin point: Spires, however, are considered part of the building and are always counted. It's a tradition that goes back to a time when the tallest buildings in many European cities were cathedrals

Unlike antennas, record-keepers like spires. It's a tradition that harkens back to a time when the tallest buildings in many European cities were cathedrals.

Groups like the Council on Tall Buildings, and Emporis, a building data provider in Germany, both count spires when measuring the total height of a building, even if that spire happens to look exactly like an antenna.

This quirk in the record books has benefited buildings like Chicago's recently opened Trump International Hotel and Tower.

It is routinely listed as being between 119 to 139 feet taller than the Empire State Building, thanks to the antenna-like mast that sits on its roof, even though the average person, looking at the two buildings side by side, would probably judge the New York skyscraper to be taller.

Designs call for the tower's roof to stand at 1,368 feet - the same height as the north tower of the original World Trade Center. The building's roof will be topped with a 408-foot, cable-stayed mast, making the total height of the structure a symbolic 1,776 feet.

Tall order: Without a spire, the completed One World Trade Center would be smaller than Chicago's Willis Tower at 1,451 feet but bigger than the Empire State Building at 1,250 feet (not including antennas)

Skyscraper enthusiasts: While debate over which buildings can truly claim to be the tallest, the Council on Tall Buildings is leaning toward giving One World Trade the benefit of the doubt

So is that needle an antenna or a spire?

'Not sure,’ wrote Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the building.

The needle will, indeed, function as a broadcast antenna. It is described on the Port Authority's website as an antenna.

On the other hand, the structure will have more meat to it than your average antenna, with external cladding encasing the broadcast mast.

Without that spire, One World Trade Center would still be smaller than the Willis Tower in Chicago, formerly known as the Sears Tower, which tops out at 1,451 feet (not including its own antennas).

Debate over which of those buildings can truly claim to be the tallest in the U.S. has been raging for years on internet message boards frequented by skyscraper enthusiasts.

As for the Council on Tall Buildings, it is leaning toward giving One World Trade the benefit of the doubt. (8 images)

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