Durst Organization and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey gave the public an up-close glimpse of 1 World Trade Center‘s base by releasing new renderings to the New York Post. The 185-foot-wide cube podium, designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill, will have vertical glass “fins” that suggest texture by varying patterns and extend from stainless steel panels. Aluminum screens behind the steel will illuminate the base.
Like the altered plan for the spire, the new design is represents a slight change from David Childs’ original design, which had called for custom-fabricated glass that some feared would shatter too easily. The Post calls the new design “a shimmering, richly textured facade on four sides of glass, stainless steel and aluminum … [that] will be left for future generations to judge.” [Post]