Every years around the anniversary of 9/11, there are a number of television specials recounting the events of that day. But twelve years out, there isn’t much new that can be said about an event that has been covered by the media as intently as any moment in history.
Instead of looking back, Nova takes a look forward at the future with Ground Zero Supertower. The special takes a look at the construction of One World Trade Center, the skyscraper rising up 104 stories and 1,776 feet from the site where the Twin Towers once stood. It’s an update of the episode Engineering Ground Zero and it gives viewers a chance to see some of the challenges facing the architects and builders who struggled to construct a building that was respectful of the site’s past, while still including some cutting-edge design.
The original sites of the two World Trade Center towers have been turned into memorials, with the new building being constructed off to one side. The architects faced a lot of challenges with the design, since the building needed to eventually attract a hundred floors of high-end tenants. To do that the building needed to be safer than any other office building in the world. It also needed to have the style and class to make the building a showcase for anyone looking for some expensive New York City office space.
Even in the best of circumstances, the construction of a 104 story building is a bit of a nightmare. Ground Zero Supertower gives viewers a sense of some of that as the building nears its completion. Architects gave the building a unique multi-sided design to help the structure slough off high winds and the builders created a novel mini-city of storage units (complete with a Subway), that was lifted from floor to floor as the building came together.
The special also takes a long look at the ongoing construction of the 9/11 museum, which is set to open next year. Built underground in the site where one of the towers originally stood, the museum will eventually contain more than 1,000 items from 9/11. They range from fire equipment damaged in the collapse of the buildings to a massive piece of one of the towers that was melted and bent by the explosion of a plane. Some of the pieces were so large they had to be lowered into the space at the beginning of construction, so the museum could be built around them.
In the beginning, there was a lot of discussion about what should happen on the site of the fallen World Trade Center buildings. Some people argued the entire site should be a permanent park, others argued for some mix of memorial and commerce. Based on Ground Zero Supertower, the site will ultimately be an area that is both respectful of the sacrifices but also highlights the best of the United States. In the end, we’re a nation of builders and in this case the result of that drive is the haunting and beautiful new One World Trade Center building.
Nova: Ground Zero Supertower airs on tpt2 Wednesday, Sept. 11 at 9:00 p.m. and Tuesday, October 1st at 11:00 p.m. It is also airing on tpt Life on Sunday, September 15th at 9:00 p.m.