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One World Trade Center
One World Trade Center is a very tall glass tower in New York City. A thin spire points up from its top. From far away, it shines in the sun.
One World Trade Center is a skyscraper in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is 1,776 feet (541 meters) tall, a number chosen to recall 1776, the year of the Declaration of Independence. It was built on the site of the original World Trade Center and opened in November 2014.
Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and built by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey with the Durst Organization, One World Trade Center rose from 2006 to 2014 on the site of the World Trade Center destroyed in 2001. Its 104-story, 1,776-foot form tapers from a square base through an octagon, and its parapet marks the heights of the original Twin Towers.
Photo: King of Hearts / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover One World Trade Center
A skyscraper is a building so tall it seems to scrape the sky.
One World Trade Center is in New York City. It stands where two older towers once stood. Today people work in its offices and visit the top to look out.
One World Trade Center stands at the northwest corner of the World Trade Center site, in Lower Manhattan, the southern tip of New York City's island of Manhattan. Its architects describe it as the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
Its height, 1,776 feet including its spire, was chosen to recall 1776, the year the Declaration of Independence was signed. The tower has 104 stories. Most of them are offices, and near the top is an observatory where visitors can look out over the city.
The tower occupies the northwest corner of the 16-acre World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. Both its architects, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), and the Port Authority describe it as the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. SOM gives it 104 stories and 3.5 million square feet; the Port Authority's page gives 3.1 million square feet.
The 1,776-foot height, kept through the 2005 redesign, invokes the year of the Declaration of Independence. It was built by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Durst Organization in a public-private partnership, with Durst responsible for marketing, leasing and managing the property. The Port Authority's page calls it the global headquarters of Condé Nast, and the One World Observatory occupies its upper floors.
- Where
- Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States
- Height
- 1,776 feet (541 m), with its spire
- Stories
- 104
- Built
- construction began 2006; opened November 2014
Rebuilding the World Trade Center
Long ago, two very tall towers stood here.
They were destroyed in 2001. Afterward, people planned a new tower. It took many years to build, and it opened in 2014.
The first World Trade Center, with its famous Twin Towers, opened in 1973. In 2001 it was destroyed in the attacks of September 11. Afterward, New York began to plan how to rebuild the site, with a memorial and new office towers.
The architect Daniel Libeskind drew up the master plan for the whole site in 2003, and David Childs of the firm SOM designed the new tower. Its first stone, a 20-ton block of granite, was laid on July 4, 2004. Construction began in 2006, the last piece of the spire was lifted into place in 2013, and the building opened in November 2014.
The original World Trade Center, designed by Minoru Yamasaki, had its ceremonial opening in 1973; its Twin Towers rose 110 stories, to 1,368 and 1,362 feet. It was destroyed in the attacks of September 11, 2001. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, created that November to plan the rebuilding, sponsored the competition for the memorial; Daniel Libeskind's design for the site was chosen in 2003, and in July 2003 David Childs of SOM was selected to design the main tower, then called the Freedom Tower.
Mayor Bloomberg laid its cornerstone on July 4, 2004: a 20-ton granite block inscribed 'enduring spirit of freedom'. On June 29, 2005 the design was revised for security, set back farther from West Street, while the 1,776-foot height was kept. Construction began on April 27, 2006; the last piece of the spire went up on May 2, 2013; and SOM announced the official opening in November 2014, more than 13 years after the project began.
Concrete core, steel frame, giant glass
Deep inside the tower is a strong concrete middle.
Around it is a frame of steel. The outside is covered with huge sheets of glass.
One World Trade Center is held up by two things working together: a very strong concrete core running up the middle, and a frame of steel around the outside. The steel pieces were bolted and welded together, and the two cranes that lifted them were the largest ever used in New York City.
The outside is covered in glass. Each panel is 5 feet wide and more than 13 feet tall, reaching from one floor to the next with no frame in between. The tower's tapering shape also helps it stand up to the wind.
SOM describes a hybrid structure: a high-strength concrete core with massive shear walls, surrounded by a perimeter moment frame of steel that adds rigidity and redundancy. The steel members, bolted and welded, were hoisted by two Manitowoc cranes, which SOM calls the largest ever used in New York City. The tapered, aerodynamic form reduces wind loads and the amount of structural steel needed.
The curtain wall uses insulated glass panels 5 feet by 13 feet 4 inches that span floor to floor with no intermediate structure, which SOM calls a first in skyscraper construction. SOM also reports that its structural steel was made from 95 percent recycled material, that more than 40 percent of construction materials had recycled content, and that its elevators can generate power through regenerative braking. The building has LEED Gold certification.
From a square to an octagon to the sky
At the bottom, the tower is a square.
As it goes up, its corners are cut away into long triangles. At the very top is a thin spire with a light.
The tower starts as a cube. As it rises, its edges are cut back, so its sides become eight long, thin triangles. Halfway up, the tower is an eight-sided octagon, and at the top it is a square again, turned at an angle.
Its architects say the faceted glass looks like a kaleidoscope, changing with the weather and the position of the sun. Above the offices is a three-level observatory, and the top edge of the tower marks the heights of the original Twin Towers. Above that rises a tall spire with a light at its tip.
Rising from a cubic base, the tower's edges are chamfered back into eight elongated isosceles triangles; at mid-height it forms a perfect octagon in plan, and it ends in a glass parapet, a 150-foot square rotated 45 degrees from the base. SOM likens the effect to a kaleidoscope, the faceted glass changing with the weather and the sun.
Above a 50-foot public lobby and mechanical floors forming a podium clad in glass fins and embossed steel, 71 glass-clad office stories rise to well over 1,000 feet, topped by a three-level observatory whose parapet marks the heights of the original Twin Towers. Communication rings and a 441-foot cable-stayed spire with an LED beacon crown the tower. Each of the four entrances is 60 feet tall.
- Shape
- square base, octagon at mid-height, square parapet turned 45°
- Parapet
- marks the heights of the original Twin Towers
- Spire
- a 441-foot cable-stayed spire with an LED beacon
- Office stories
- 71 glass-clad office floors above the base
On the skyline today
In the photo, the tall tower stands in the middle of the city's skyline.
Water is in front. Many other tall buildings stand around it.
In the photo, One World Trade Center rises above the other towers of Lower Manhattan, seen across the water from Jersey City. Next to it, on the World Trade Center site, is the National September 11 Memorial, with two pools where the Twin Towers once stood.
Today the tower is full of offices, and visitors ride up to the One World Observatory to look out over the city. Plazas with trees around its base give people places to sit and rest.
The photo, taken from Jersey City in November 2014, the month the tower opened, shows it above the skyline of Lower Manhattan across the Hudson. SOM writes that while the adjacent memorial speaks of the past and remembrance, the tower's faceted form speaks of the future; the memorial's two reflecting pools lie in the footprints of the Twin Towers.
The plazas around the base, planted with trees, link the tower to nearby neighborhoods and to the memorial. The building is reached from several directions, including through the Oculus, which connects it to the World Trade Center PATH station and many subway lines.
Amazing facts
-
The tower is 1,776 feet tall, a number that matches a famous year.
The tower's height in feet, 1,776, matches 1776, the year of the Declaration of Independence.
The 1,776-foot height, kept through the 2005 redesign, invokes the year of the Declaration of Independence.
-
The tower's first stone is a big block of granite.
The tower's cornerstone is a 20-ton block of granite, laid on July 4, 2004.
The cornerstone, laid on July 4, 2004, is a 20-ton granite block inscribed 'enduring spirit of freedom'.
-
The tower's steel was made mostly from old, recycled steel.
SOM says the tower's structural steel was made from 95 percent recycled material.
SOM reports 95 percent recycled content in the structural steel and 'green concrete' made with fly ash from coal plants.
-
The top of the tower is as high as the old towers were.
The top edge of the tower, called the parapet, marks the heights of the original Twin Towers.
The glass parapet above the observatory marks the heights of the original Twin Towers (1,368 and 1,362 feet).
Words to know
- skyscraper
- a very tall building with many floors
- spire
- a tall, thin, pointed structure on top of a building
- parapet
- a low wall or edge around the top of a building
- octagon
- a shape with eight sides
- core
- the strong central part of a tall building, often holding elevators and stairs
- observatory
- here, a high floor where visitors go to look at the view
Discovery challenge
-
In which city is One World Trade Center?
In which city does One World Trade Center stand?
In which part of which city does One World Trade Center stand?
- New York City
- London
- Sydney
Show the answer
New York City
New York City!
New York City, in Lower Manhattan.
Lower Manhattan, New York City, on the World Trade Center site.
-
How tall is the tower in feet?
How many feet tall is One World Trade Center?
What height in feet, matching a famous year, was kept through the 2005 redesign?
- 1,776 feet
- 176 feet
- 17,760 feet
Show the answer
1,776 feet
1,776 feet!
1,776 feet, the same number as the year 1776.
1,776 feet, invoking the year of the Declaration of Independence.
-
What covers the outside of the tower?
What material covers the outside of One World Trade Center?
What forms the tower's curtain wall?
- Glass
- Wood
- Bricks
Show the answer
Glass
Shiny glass!
Huge glass panels, each reaching from one floor to the next.
Insulated glass units 5 ft by 13 ft 4 in, spanning floor to floor.
-
What shape is the tower at the bottom?
What shape is the tower halfway up?
What shape does the tower form in plan at mid-height?
- A square at the bottom, an octagon halfway up
- A circle all the way up
- A triangle all the way up
Show the answer
A square at the bottom, an octagon halfway up
A square at the bottom!
An octagon, with eight sides; it starts as a square.
A perfect octagon, between a cubic base and a rotated square parapet.
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate New York City and describe One World Trade Center as a 1,776-foot tower opened in 2014.
- Explain how a concrete core and a steel frame work together to hold up a very tall building.
- Understand that a new building can remember the past, through its height and the memorial beside it.
Recommended ages: 4 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might the builders have chosen a height that matches the year 1776?
- Why might a tall building be shaped to taper as it rises?
- How can a place remember something sad while also building something new?
Try at home or in class
- Fold a square of paper into a tall square tube, then cut its corners back into triangles to see how a square can become an octagon.
- Stack paper cups into a tower; then try with a cardboard tube in the middle as a core and see which stands better when you blow on it.
Key vocabulary: skyscraper, spire, parapet, octagon, core, observatory
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- One World Trade Center , Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's One World Trade Center Opens Today , Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
- History of the World Trade Center (timeline) , World Trade Center (Silverstein Properties)
- One World Trade Center , Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
- One World Trade Center (Supertall!) , The Skyscraper Museum
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.