Freedom Tower has a willing captive
Julie Earle-Levine, New York
June 07, 2007
MARC Colella knows a thing or two about pressure cooker work environments. The Melbourne-born structural engineer is in charge of New York's Freedom Tower, being built on the World Trade Centre site.
The Freedom Tower, also known as Tower 1, will be 105 storeys tall with a 120m spire, and will project the city's image of resilience after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Colella's client for the tower is the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the architect is David Childs of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.
The huge rebuilding project at the World Trade Centre site - where four new office towers, memorials and a Performing Arts Centre designed by Frank Gehry - is well under way.
As an associate for WSP Cantor Seinuk Structural Engineers Colella, 34, is working hard to ensure the Freedom Tower delivers the architect's vision. He is also overseeing three office towers, or 555sqm of offices, for developer Larry Silverstein, a memorial site and a structure to retain the Hudson River and the force of soil on the site. "After the destruction of the towers there is a 20m deep basement, what we call the bathtub, in that part of Manhattan.
"We have a huge involvement in the WTC rebuilding. The only area the company is not involved in is the transportation hub by architect Santiago Calatrava," Colella says.
Colella was working in London when the WSP Group acquired US company Cantor Seinuk, now WSP Cantor Seinuk. "I always wanted to develop a career in high-rise buildings, and I was offered the job."
He started working in 2002 on Building 7, the third building that collapsed, just north of the WTC site.
Colella heads a large team of engineers - about 10 on the Freedom Tower alone, and spends much of his time in offices overlooking the site.
"It can be difficult. It is an emotionally charged environment, but I tell my team this is just another building, and we have to get on with the job. I tell them not worry about the political aspects, or the emotions.
"I say, work with me guys, please. Don't feel that it is just an event that happened on American soil."
Colella often attends meetings about the memorials, involving families of people who died in the terror attacks.
"The memorial design has taken a long time but is finally moving forward. Most families have approved it, some individuals don't like it, but I think it is a fabulous design."
The foundation at the Freedom Tower is almost finished. "That is always a nervous time for a structural engineer and now all of our work is being constructed," Colella says. Public complaints about the long lead time have been frustrating.
"People are upset but they don't realise the infrastructure below street level is incredibly complex," Colella says. "A lot of agencies are involved, and a lot of interests."
Colella says criticism by some developers that the Freedom Tower is a mistake, or a legacy of poor planning and decision making, is unfortunate. "The architects involved in all of these towers are the best in the world, assembled to showcase their artistic style on one of the highest profile sites in the world. I like to call the site an architectural sculpture park."
The architects for Silverstein's three towers are Britain's Sir Norman Foster and Sir Richard Rogers, and Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki (of Maki and Associates).
There will be restaurants, below-ground shopping and access to subway trains, as well as the World Financial Centre in the Freedom Tower. Hotel developers are planning new hotel rooms that will help to revitalise Lower Manhattan.
There are also plans for new streets, footpaths, parks and transportation. The area remains a central business district, as big investment banks move back. Goldman Sachs is building a new, 186,000sqm headquarters in nearby Battery Park City, but the area is becoming more of a residential community than it was. According to the Downtown Alliance, a business group, the residential population has grown by 16,000 to 39,000 since the attacks.
Freedom Tower is expected to be completed in 2011 - on September 11. "We are still on target for that, but there won't be any construction above street level until the middle of next year," Colella said.
Does he lose sleep over the impending deadline? "Constantly. It is not a normal project, it is intense and we are working around the clock. When you pass a major deadline or submission, something bigger comes up, but it is a challenge. Aussies can do that, I am up for it."
Copyright - The Australian