HIGH RISE BUILDINGS

ASSIGNMENT NO-6
WORLD TRADE CENTER,NEW YORK
ARCHITECTURE
ARCHITECT-Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM)
MASTER PLAN ARCHITECT-Studio Daniel Libeskind
CONSTRUCTION STARTED-2006
COMPLETED-2014

• The new shape plays with geometry and perceptions.

• The sese is a 200ft x 200ft (61m x 61m) square and the first 20
storeys rise straight up, aligned with this square.
• The design was revised twice in June 2005 and in June 2006 to
cover the concrete base with a screen of glass prisms.
• The parapet at the top of the topmost floor
clearly marks elevations of both 1,362ft and
1,368ft. These represent the heights of the
destroyed twin towers.
• From the 20th floor up to a 1,368ft-high parapet,
the edges chamfer back, creating eight triangular
planes.
• The square rotates until the 102nd-floor square
has turned 45° from the square on the 20th floor.
• The eight, elongated, isosceles triangles form a
neat configuration on the façade. The
downward-facing triangles slope inward
slightly, which is to say that the footprint of
each floor shrinks slightly at higher points.
MATERIALS
• 1 World Trade Center is clad in ultra-low-iron glass with
stainless-steel for the corners. The stainless-steel harks back to
the twin towers, where the corners catch the rays of the setting
sun and glow at sunset.
• In order that the building is not read as a bunker, the 20-storey
base of 1 World Trade Center is encased in prismatic glass. As
demonstrated in mock-ups, the prisms will refract and reflect
light, trees and the sky by day, then shimmer at night.
• On the west plaza of the tower, illuminated, stainless-steel
steps serve as a gathering place, providing a gentle transition
between the building and the plaza itself. This is an
improvement over the twin towers, which had a much more
abrupt transition.
SAFETY FEATURES
Given the controversy over the structural soundness of
the twin towers, safety has been a key construction
issue. 1 World Trade Center incorporates systems that
far exceed the requirements of the city’s building code.
• The building features structural redundancy and extra-
strong fireproofing. The elevators are housed in a
protected concrete building core. Moreover, the extra-
wide, pressurised stairwells lead directly to outside
streets and other stairwells are dedicated for use by
fire-fighters.
• Additional safety features include concrete-protected
sprinklers, emergency risers and enhanced emergency
communication cabling. The entire World Trade
Center site is supported by a police command centre.
 STRUCTURE
• The core of each tower was a rectangular area 87 by 135
feet (27 by 41 m), and contained 47 steel columns
running from the bedrock to the top of the tower.
• The columns tapered after the 66th floor, and consisted
of welded box-sections at lower floors and rolled wide-
flange sections at upper floors.

• Another notable feature designed into the structure is the fact that
from the base to the parapet, or top of the roof, the structure is the
same height as the twin towers, 1,368 feet (417 meters).
• Engineers designed the total height with the tower on top to
be 1,776 feet (541 meters).
• That number should ring a bell to any American watching, as
1776 is the year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
 Why the Sears tower was a landmark building in the history of the high rise buildings.

• OFFICIAL NAME-Willis Tower (Sears Tower)

• COMPLETION DATE-1974
• USE TYPE-Commercial Office
• ARCHITECT-Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
• STYLE-Mid-Century Modernism
• For nearly 25 years after its completion, the Willis Tower, formerly
known as the Sears Tower, held the title of tallest building in the
world.
• Standing 110 stories tall.
• Its black aluminum and bronze-tinted glass exterior has
become emblematic of Chicago, a city crazy about its
architecture.
• Although its record-breaking height has been
surpassed several times over, its innovative structural
design remains noteworthy. The Willis Tower laid the
foundation for the supertall buildings being built today.
• When this 110-story tower was designed, architect
Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan of 
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) utilized the 
bundled tube system to address structural problems
never before seen at this scale. Their use of the
innovative system ushered in a whole new era of
skyscrapers.
• The tower is comprised of a cluster of nine tubes connected together to act
as a single unit. The tubes support one another, strengthening the structure
as a whole. Meanwhile, the variations in tube height disrupt the force of the
wind
• Willis Tower has a rentable area of 3.8 million square feet.
• Each floor of the building is divided into 75-foot column free squares, or “mega-
modules” which provide maximum planning, flexibility and efficiency.
• Some of the finest materials like travertine, stainless steel, granite and other
decorative features are used throughout the buildings common areas to highlight
the property’s prestige.
• In 2017, 125,000 square feet of new amenity space including ‘Tower House’ and
‘Altitude’, were built exclusively for Willis Tower tenants.
• Tower House is located on the 33rd and 34th floors featuring a bar, café, conference
center and 30,000 square foot fitness center called TONE.
• Altitude is located on the 66th and 67th floors featuring a café, relaxing lounge
seating, informal meeting spaces, and breathtaking views of Chicago’s lakefront.