Interpreting

New York's new icon - The One World Trade Center

On September 11, 2001, two passenger jets slammed into the twin towers of the original World Trade Center in the center of New York. This horrible terrorist attack destroyed the two high-rise office buildings which, when opened to the public in 1973, had been the tallest buildings in the world. Today, two waterfall pools mark the exact places where the twin towers had once stood. The twin waterfall pools are surrounded by bronze plates to commemorate the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Now, about two decades later, One World Trade Center (One WTC) has become the new icon of the New York skyline.
From base to top floor, One WTC matches the heights of the original World Trade Centers twin towers - 1,368ft - before its crowning mast takes it up to the symbolic height of 1,776ft, reflecting the year of the signing of the Declaration of lndependence and making it the tallest tower in the western hemisphere. One WTC was constructed to be one of the safest commercial skyscrapers ever built, with several cutting-edge safety features including a set of stairways exclusively for emergency workers such as firefighters and a ventilation system with biochemical filters. One WTC is also one of the most environmentally-friendly office buildings in the world as up to 70% of its power comes from green energy. And - as a result of the huge amount of natural light flooding in through its enormous glass fronts - people do not have to turn on the lights 90% of the time and a lot of electricity can be saved.