Project Spotlight

One WTC
by Robert S. Caporale, MSc photos by Joe Woolhead
The November and December 2001 issues of ELEVATOR WORLD include detailed accounts of the September 11, 2001, events and how they affected the elevator industry. Follow-up reports in EW have described personal experiences of those at or near the World Trade Center (WTC) site on that fateful day. And, throughout the following years, many EW issues have contained reports on the cleanup and redevelopment of the WTC site. Soon after 9/11, I longed for the day when we would be able to provide a detailed report on the rebuilding of the WTC site, the buildings it would contain and the elevator and escalator systems those would include. So, you can imagine how pleased I was when I received an invitation from ThyssenKrupp Elevator to come to New York City (NYC) to see the progress they had made on the installation of the elevators and escalators in One WTC. What follows is the rst in what will be a series of reports on the buildings at the site, which includes the accomplishments of ThyssenKrupp Elevator to date. It also describes the elevator and escalator systems included in One WTC and how the rebuilding of the WTC site has progressed throughout the last decade, including excerpts with permission from The Elevator Constructor.
Continued

September 2012 | ELEVATOR WORLD | 37

One WTC
A Walkthrough of One WTC

Continued

As I walked through the WTC site and within the still-under-construction One WTC tower with the ThyssenKrupp Elevator employees, my mind wandered back to what had been on this site prior to 9/11 and what was lost. My sadness passed as I saw the spirit and enthusiasm in the people around me in the process of rebuilding the WTC buildings. I, along with all other New Yorkers, are grateful to the entire ThyssenKrupp Elevator team and their counterparts in the other construction trades who are rebuilding this area of our beloved city and bringing downtown NYC back to life.

Hoistway construction in progress

WTC Site Redevelopment

Excerpted with permission from The Elevator Constructor During the years following 9/11 and after considerable discussion between NYC ofcials and realestate developers, it was decided the 16-acre WTC site in lower Manhattan would be rebuilt. The nal approved plans for the site envisioned a centerpiece main building and four surrounding buildings, a memorial to those lost on 9/11, a museum and a major downtown NYC transit hub. Numerous architects submitted plans for the site, and, ultimately, the master plan developed by David Libeskind and the concept for the centerpiece structure designed by David Childs were selected to be built. Childs design, originally identied as the Freedom Tower and now called One WTC, consists of a 105-oor ofce building, on top of which will be placed a 400-ft.-tall communication antenna. When completed, the total height from ground level to the top of the antenna will be a symbolic 1,776 ft.

Typical oor layout

Elevator equipment staging area at ground oor

38

| WWW.ELEVATORWORLD.COM | September 2012

There will be a great deal of additional symbolism at the WTC site when all of the buildings and the memorial are completed. The National September 11 Memorial, which has been completed, consists of two fountains, surrounded by bronze plaques engraved with the names of those who died during 9/11. These two fountains sit on the exact footprints of the towers that were destroyed. And among the trees that surround the fountains, the Survivor pear tree, originally planted at the Twin Towers 30 years ago and nursed back to health after the 9/11 attacks, has been replanted. Most important was the consideration given to public safety in the design of the new buildings at the WTC site in particular, of One WTC. At the insistence of the NYC Police Department, the base of One WTC consists of a 187-ft.-high concrete shear-wall structure shrouded with stainlesssteel panels and blast-resistant glass. The entire core of the building consists of 3-ft.-thick, reinforcedconcrete walls. Extra-wide pressurized stairwells (some of which are exclusively for use by reghters), biological and chemical lters provided throughout the ventilation system, and pressurized elevator hoistways are among the special safety features of One WTC. Many of these features will also be incorporated into the design of the other buildings on the site.
Continued

VERTICAL TRANSPORTATION RISER DIAGRAM Reprinted with permisson from Jaros Baum & Bolles
September 2012 | ELEVATOR WORLD | 39

One WTC

Continued

From May 2010, construction of the tower moved along at a steady pace of about a oor a week, and when the antenna is in place, the buildings height will surpass that of the Twin Towers by more than 400 ft. and make it the tallest building in NYC. It will also be taller than the Willis Tower in Chicago, which is currently the tallest building in the U.S. The vertical-transportation systems in One WTC provided by ThyssenKrupp Elevator consist of 71 elevators and 11 escalators. Five of the elevators will have a capacity of 4000 lb. and run at 2,000 fpm. They will have a travel of 1,293 ft. and be the fastest in North America. The New York Times has reported that the vertical-transportation contract for One WTC was in excess of US$88 million. ThyssenKrupp Elevator has also provided seven elevators and ve escalators in the below-grade 9/11 memorial museum. Under the leadership of Project Manager Joe Bremen; Construction Superintendent Mike DeNardo; Foremen Joe Majerscak, AL Jennings, Bill Bottiglieri, Dennis Chateld, Pete Goetz, Doug Lanahan and Ron LeCardi; and Head Adjuster Mike Siegler, a team of 90 ThyssenKrupp Elevator mechanics is scheduled to complete the project by 2014.

ThyssenKrupp Elevator and EW preparing to embark on 1 WTC tour

Preparing for a days work

One WTC ThyssenKrupp Elevator Fast Facts

The project represents a global engineering effort for ThyssenKrupp Elevator with participation from countries including Brazil, Canada, Germany Italy, South Korea and Switzerland. ThyssenKrupp Elevator will provide 73 elevators and 11 escalators One WTCs elevators consist of 5 geared, 64 high-speed gearless and 4 hydraulic elevators. The largest motors on the project weigh 50,000 lbs. The project will feature the fastest elevators in North and South America (5-J Bank elevators 10 MPS/2,000 FPM). More than 198 miles of steel hoist ropes will be used on the elevators. Destination Dispatch technology will be used for 58 of the 64 passenger elevators, managing passenger access and trafc ow while incorporating multiple levels of security. The elevators in 1 WTC will have the capacity to transport 15 percent of the buildings occupants in a ve-minute period. Four hundred ThyssenKrupp Elevator employees will be involved in the manufacturing and installation of the elevators.
(l-r) DeNardo and Majerscak

40

| WWW.ELEVATORWORLD.COM | September 2012

Duplex car safeties

Charles Costello Memorial

As one walks through the WTC site, the pride of those working on the project, and their spirit and dedication to rebuilding the site is evident. All the construction workers wear reminders that they will never forget those who died on what has become hallowed ground in and around the buildings under construction. And, a memorial has been set up to honor Charles Costello, a ThyssenKrupp Elevator employee who died during 9/11. Although he was not working on the WTC site on 9/11, Costello reportedly went into one of the towers to assist with the rescue operation and died during the buildings collapse. Another ThyssenKrupp Elevator employee bears a full-portrait tattoo of his brother, an NYC reghter who died at the site. The elevator-industry personnel, along with all the other construction tradespeople working at the WTC site, are dedicated to the task of rebuilding it into something of which we will all be proud. The new WTC buildings will be a tribute to the victims of 9/11 and an assurance that they will never be forgotten!

September 2012 | ELEVATOR WORLD | 41

L ast Glance
President Obama Visits One WTC
On June 14, U.S. President Barack Obama, along with First Lady Michelle Obama, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, visited the One World Trade Center (WTC) site to sign one of the nal steel beams to be added to the tower. Obama met and shook hands with ThyssenKrupp Elevator Site Safety Ofcer John Hook and Construction Superintendent Mike DeNardo, among others. Obamas written message on the beam reads: We Remember. We Rebuild. We Come Back Stronger. ThyssenKrupp Elevator is manufacturing and installing the elevators and escalators for One WTC.

Photo courtesy of Carolyn Kaster

176

| WWW.ELEVATORWORLD.COM | Insert Month and Year