September 11: 20 years later, the World Trade Center between commemoration and reconstruction
The One World Trade Center tower, in New York, September 8, 2021 © Anne Bernas / RFI
Text by: Anne Bernas Follow
6 mins
In a few hours on September 11, 2001, the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York collapsed, struck by a double terrorist attack.
Twenty years later, life has resumed on the site, and the architecture of the new places is no stranger to it.
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From our special correspondent in New York,
The workers are at work, the construction trucks march past, cranes several hundred meters in length dot this vertical landscape. A painstaking job as the place is gigantic. New towers have been built at Ground Zero for several years now. The One World Trade Center, the skyscraper that replaced the Twin Towers, is enthroned in this perpetual construction site. The project started in 2005. Opened in 2014, the tallest building in the United States is giddy: the Freedom Tower (as it was once called) 541m, 104-storey glass tower is pierced by the rays of the sun that shine on it. give an unusual appearance; a few clouds haloing it on both sides.
Perhaps a sign in memory of all the victims of
September 11, 2001
.
That day, two airliners crash into the Twin Towers.
Another gutted the Pentagon, before a fourth crashed into the countryside before they could reach its target - the Capitol, in all likelihood.
The attack is carried out by al-Qaeda terrorists.
Almost 3,000 people die that day in what is considered the bloodiest terrorist attack in history.
Rediscover the light
“
The main object of this One World Trade Center is light.
Its role is to create a beam of light which will mark the site in the sky.
It's a tower that will always interact with light,
”says Rami Abou-Khalil of the architecture and town planning firm SOM, which built the tallest towers in the world, including the famous Burj Khalifa, and who is the origin of the One World Trade Center.
The construction of new towers at the scene of the tragedy intends to symbolize rebirth after death.
Or how to look to the future after an unprecedented drama.
And by contemplating the place, there is no doubt that the economic lung of New York is not dead, on the contrary.
An experience on a human scale and on an urban scale
From the 28th floor of 7 World Trade Center, which has 52 of them, the view of this almost 16-hectare complex is breathtaking. Until 2001, it housed the twin towers; today, only the footprints of the two collapsed towers are visible. At the heart of this damaged space are among others, for the moment - the work is still in progress - the tower number 1, number 4, number 7, the 9/11 memorial opened in 2010 surrounded by a forest of oaks. as well as a museum. “
This creates a very strong site, which marks the absence of these towers,
” says Rami Abou-Khalil. And the architect explains that the new skyscrapers “
needed to respond not only to trauma, but also to new security needs
”.
Indeed, how to build on a place where the whole world saw in real time people jumping into the void to escape the flames that swept away the Twin Towers twenty years ago? “
The memorial is there for everyone to remember. At the same time, rebuilding higher means showing that this tragedy has not defeated us.
“Hence the desire to rebuild stronger, bigger. Bear up. The Freedom Tower thus goes beyond all understanding: 305,000 m2 of glass outdoors, 241,000 m2 of surface area, a spire 124 meters high, the tallest in the world.
In this skyscraper, new safety standards have been put in place to evacuate, whether at the level of the stairs or the elevators, but also at the level of the base of the building, a square of 63 meters side, a little raised above ground level to prevent ram car attack.
The heart of the tower is also different from the destroyed towers since the concrete was reinforced there.
Its base is made of metal and reinforced concrete.
The One World Trade Center aims to be evacuated in a maximum of one hour.
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Humility in excess
"
But the most important place of this site being the memorial, the One World Trade Center is architecturally very humble
", tempers Rami Abou-Khalil. Indeed, the shape of the tower may seem simple, but very iconic, "
so that a child can draw it if he sees it
". “
And over time, thanks to its simplicity, New Yorkers love this place more and more.
"
Today the inhabitants of the city are indeed back on the site, even if the Covid pandemic has removed many people working in the tower offices.
Healed, although the scar is indelible, the World Trade Center site has regained a taste for life, and the memorial seems to have catalyzed the healing of this unique place.
Strolling near the inverted fountains on which the names of the victims are engraved, in the heart of Manhattan, looks like a pilgrimage between meditation and joie de vivre.
Roses are placed near the names of the victims on their birthdays.
A symbol of resilience in this “new” place, more human than ever, where memory and life coexist.
Chronology of September 11, 2001. © RFI
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