In a site where things were developed normally and incompetent people like Pat Foye would have never been involved, some partnerships like that could’ve happened, long ago.
But its impractical to separate the observation from the dining, and 1 is the main skyscraper of the site and it’s supposed to be the iconic tourist centerpiece, after all.
I think the translucent model makes it look a lot more disjointed by letting you sort of see all the cutouts at once rather than just the half that are facing the camera, and it doesn’t help that it shows the cutouts as completely empty. The inner curtain walls and the external columns/fins would help soften their appearance in reality:
(official rendering by VisualHouse)
I’ve given my rendering less visible foliage, which may be closer to how the terraces would actually look:
(photo by NYGuy on Skyscraperpage)
Even without as many trees, I think this is a decently solid-looking design.
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I can’t explain it, but the massing reminds me a tower rubble piece from Ground Zero.
for some reason this picture reminds me of skyscrapers in Australia … weeiirrd
As much as I’d love for this latest iteration to have white stripes (akin to One Vanderbilt without the terracotta) and not just be giant panels of glass, I feel it’ll be value-engineered to look like the façade on 4WTC 
This thread hasn’t been this alive in many years, but yet it might turn out in months or many years of silence again.
I have no idea how long negotiations last but is there any estimation when we -might- expect some good or bad news. In the end it’s just yes or no 
If it’s a no and time passes it’s very likely we’ll see another design again, one that might be even worse than tumbling tower of boxes of Bjark Ingels. (one that would better fit in Hudson Yards imho)
They’re supposed to be photovoltaic cells if i recall.
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Judging by the renderings so far, the white stripes on the southern facade look like horizontal sunshades that are attached over the curtain wall, rather than integrated curtain wall units like on One Vanderbilt. If so, they shouldn’t be that expensive to fabricate and install.
Some similar shades being installed on Foster’s Salesforce Tower in Sydney:
The mention of photovoltaic cells didn’t specifically refer to the horizontal shades IIRC, but it sounds like it makes sense to have them there.
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“In Lower Manhattan, Larry Silverstein hinted that he is close to moving ahead with plans to erect the final office skyscraper at the World Trade Center, a 2.8 million-square-foot tower designed by architect Norman Foster.
Rumors abound that Silverstein is close to signing a large lease with American Express that would allow the project to proceed.
“Just stay tuned” was all Silverstein would say about the possible deal at the tower, 2 World Trade Center.
Silverstein said he was certain other tenants would fill up the remainder of the building’s available space once construction is underway.
“When you put everything this buildings has all together, it’s superior,” Silverstein said. "It never left my mind that someday we would succeed in accomplishing Tower 2 – and that’s where we are today.’”
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Got larrys book talking about his involvement with the wtc. One of the pages has the new design for 2 wtc on it
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Get to a printer and scan that jawn!
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Also in larrys book he says the new design features 3 million sqft of office space and the cost is $5 billion. Apparently silverstein properties had requested $3.9 billion from the goverment under the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement financing fund. This due to the fact that the building is connected to the PATH lines and mechanical equipment for the transit lines are located in the tower
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You might as well credit the renderer (which posted it here) and clarify its not an official one 
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Just dont respond to them, they’re a spam account across multiple forums including this one.
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Well, we can confirm the crown lighting in that render, very similar to what @ThreeWentDown speculatively did in a render too.
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If the design stays exactly as depicted that is*
At this point I’m not confirming anything based on anything present until an actual tenant signs on and whether the tower will be built as is.
But to the point of the night render, the crown is internally lit like a lantern, that could look good or really bad.
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I think it would be really good if this is utilized for the other 3 visible tubes (say with external projectors). Doing it with just one makes the design even more inconsistent.
It does look similar to the lighting I imagined up a year ago! Just bringing it back to this thread, photo by @TK2000 :
I think the tip of the highest tube really lends itself to a lantern-style lighting scheme, I’d be happy with just that one lit up if that’s what they go with.
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