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Old Posted Apr 1, 2009, 11:29 PM
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http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20...ce-on-freedom/

Help Put a New Face on Freedom

By David W. Dunlap
April 1, 2009

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has a big problem. And we think City Room readers will have an answer. The problem: How do you market the tallest skyscraper at the World Trade Center site to prospective tenants? When readers were reminded last week that the authority had — largely for leasing reasons — quietly been replacing the symbolic name “Freedom Tower” with the more prosaic (but also symbolic) “1 World Trade Center,” hundreds of comments followed. Many included alternative name suggestions; about which, more in a moment.

This week, we’d like more than comments. Following the terrific response to our 2007 exercise in taxi logo redesign, we hope the designers among you — amateur and pro — will consider drawing up a hypothetical logo proposal for the new building. Image files in JPG or GIF formats are preferable, sent as e-mail attachments to cityroom@nytimes.com by 5 p.m. Friday. You’re free to use whatever building name suits you, but please relate the appearance of the logo to the words. (We’ve prepared a few examples, to the left and below, of what we’re talking about.) The best logos will be displayed on City Room next week. There is no reward other than the satisfaction of seeing your work on the site. To learn more about the building, visit the Port Authority’s Web site.

As for names, City Room readers have offered an abundance — some with tongue in cheek, others with megaphone in hand. Leading the serious suggestions were Memorial Tower, Liberty Tower, Phoenix Tower and Unity Tower, each from a couple of readers. There was also Big Apple Building, from William R. Bauer; Democracy Towers, from Captain Democracy; Ethical Tower, from Mark Green (not that Mark Green, he told us); Freedom World Trade Center, from Mike; Independence Tower at 1 World Trade Center, from Dave; New World Trade Center, from Jo Jo; 1 Freedom Tower, from Ron Tunning; 1 World Freedom Center, from Karen Blair; 1 World Tower, from Betir; 3 World Trade Center, from Todd, who proposed reserving Nos. 1 and 2 in memory of the victims; Tower of New York, from T-Bone; and World Tower, from rick85

Mission Accomplished Tower, submitted by a few readers, is a commentary on the Bush administration’s post-9/11 policies. (The former president is frequently credited with — or blamed for — the name “Freedom Tower,” even though it was the coinage of Gov. George E. Pataki.)

Political critiques from right and left were embodied in names like Freedom Fries Tower, from several readers; the Haliburton Tower, from Mick, “as a reference to the profiteers who benefited from the jingoism that this project was a part of”; and, from letsBfairUSA, the This Is What Happens When the U.S. Does Nothing When Terrorists Take Over Our Embassy in Tehran, Murder 241 U.S. Marine Peacekeepers in Beirut and Tolerate Iranian-Supported Terrorism in Iraq and Elsewhere and an Iranian Nuclear Weapons Program Building. (You might reach the top of the tower by the time you’d finished saying this name.)

References to the economy were inevitable. And more than one reader reminded us that there already is a Freedom Tower, in Miami. But some readers were gently humorous. They proposed Erich Fromm Tower, which would “at least provide some context as to the freedom we have,” Scott said; Swiss Re Tower, “since that’s the lead insurance company that forked out the lion’s share of the money needed to have the thing built,” said Walt Mitty; 1 World Trade Center Version 2.0, from doppleclutch; 1/2 World Trade Center, from BG; the Whitherston Mercantile Institute, from Ken, on the theory that such an unremarkable name would be less likely to raise a red flag. And Nino noted slyly that Sears Tower is newly available.

The twin towers were known to insiders as Nelson and David, after the Rockefeller brothers who played a critical role in government and financial circles getting the trade center built in the 1960s and early ’70s. So it seemed that someone was especially erudite in saying, “I think they should name the building ‘Bob.’” Then we noticed the signature. It was from Bob.


World Trade Center logo before 9/11.


The number 1 is inscribed with hairlines inspired by the tower design.


We asked George Hahn, a Web site designer, to draw up an example.


A reminder, in Helvetica, that now there is one where there once were two.



There are stripes, but not stars, in a patriotic version of the building name.
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