A group of architects are about to rule on the official height of New York’s new 1 World Trade Center building and determine if it is the tallest building in the country. However, the group is based in Chicago, the home of the Willis Tower and current holder of that title.
The Associated Press reports that the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, which is widely recognized as the group with the final say on building heights around the world, will have to decide whether or not to include the World Trade Center’s 408-foot tall needle in the building’s official height. If they do, the building will officially stand at 1,776 feet and will be the tallest building in the country. If not, it will be considered 1,368 feet and the Willis Tower keeps the title.
“Most of the time these decisions are not so controversial,” Daniel Safarik, a spokesman for the group told the AP. The committee is made up of 30 architects who meet in Chicago, since that’s where the first skyscraper was built in 1884.
The reason why 1 World Trade Center’s height is an issue now is because of a design change. Initially, the spire was supposed to be enclosed in a decorative cladding, but the developer decided to do away with that, since it would be hard to keep it in top shape. Now, the spire - planned to be used as a broadcasting antenna - might not be considered part of the building’s overall design, since it could be removed.
According to NBC Chicago, if the antenna isn’t counted as part of 1 World Trade Center’s height, the building will not only fall behind Willis Tower, but it will be behind Chicago’s Trump Tower as well.
The new World Trade Center building is expected to open next year and was built on Ground Zero, the site of the original Twin Towers.
image: Annaline Dinkelmann of Wall Street Walks/Wikimedia Commons
