Freedom Tower Time Lapse
Karlyn Hemmerling
Raisch Studios - The portfolio of Michael Raisch - Sports Branding Digital Content Producer \u2013 #OneWTC Time-lapse \u2013 The Football Atlas \u2013 CLIO award winning Senior Designer at Fanbrandz - One World Trade Center Time-Lapse - Digital Content - Digital Storytelling
Jump to a decade later. In late April of 2013, I was contacted by Paul McGuire of Pipeline 39 Entertainment to contribute to their upcoming film 'Crowning New York' produced for the Smithsonian Channel. When Paul came across my time-lapse work, we was excited for the straight on angle and closeness my work in Jersey City provided. It was an honor to work on a chapter in the September 11th rebuilding story along with Paul's studio. "Crowning New York" premieres on the Smithsonian Channel next Sunday, September 7th, 2014 at 8PM EST.
I've been able to photograph and witness the redevelopment from various angles over the last decade. In each image the public has been allow closer access to the site itself. In 2002, high construction fences keep viewers east of Broadway, over time as hard working crews restored Lower Manhattan the 16 acre space became more available to the public. These photos below are all taken from the southeast side of the site.
After the years passed in Jersey City, I'm in amazement to look back both myself and those 16 acres in Lower Manhattan. In that time I got married to my wonderful wife. We also welcomed our daughter into the world. As these life events played out, work at the World Trade Center saw a huge milestone, the topping out of the Spire on tower one.
Below is a sketch I drew in November of 2001, it is the ruins of the north wall of Tower 1 of the WTC. I choose to sketch as a photograph felt disrespectful to the victims of the attack. I placed the sketch along with the photo I took of the Spire, 12 years later as a the symbol of rebirth and renewal.
The September 11 attacks, often simply referred to as 9/11, were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks againt the United States that took place on September 11, 2001. Two hijacked airplanes were crashed into the World Trade Center twin towers, which eventually led to their collapse within an hour and forty-two minutes after impact. The attacks resulted in the deaths of 2,996 people and injuries to more than 6,000 others.
From that point forward, every few minutes for the next 20 years, Earthcam systems regularly captured photos and panoramic images of the area and the transformation of downtown Manhatten from over 100 viewing angles. The company says that the finished project required the capture of over 13.3 million photos.
When it was first built, the World Trade Center symbolized globalization and the economic power of the United States. After the devastating terror attacks on 9/11, it also became a symbol of American resilience.
After the idea for the World Trade Center was suggested by David Rockefeller to help stimulate urban renewal in Lower Manhattan, Port Authority named Minoru Yamasaki as the lead architect of the complex.
After acquiring the property and clearing thirteen square blocks of buildings, construction for the World Trade Center began. Since the site was located on landfill, a slurry wall was built around the west side to keep water from the Hudson River out.
From over 1,300 feet above ground, he rigged his own steel cable and used a custom made balancing pole. In 45 minutes, he made eight passes along the wire. Afterwards, he was charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct, but was later freed after promising to perform in Central Park.
On the 107th floor of the South Tower was a glass-enclosed observation deck. It was known as Top of the World, and included a miniature model of Manhattan, a theater, and video monitors with descriptions of points of interest throughout the city.
Located on the 106th and 107th floors of the North Tower, Windows on the World was a collection of dining, meeting and entertainment venues. There was the main restaurant, a smaller American steakhouse and a bar. In its last full year of operation, Windows on the World became the highest-grossing restaurant in America.
Led by Mafia member Ralph Guarino, a three-man crew gained maintenance access to the World Trade Center. They stole almost $2 million in cash from the Bank of America armored delivery truck in the North Tower. While they managed to escape from the complex, the criminals were all eventually arrested. Guarino later became an FBI informant.
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation was formed by NY Governor George Pataki to oversee the rebuilding process of the World Trade Center. They were responsible for organizing competitions to select both a site plan and a memorial design.
The process of cleanup and recovery at Ground Zero took a total of eight months, with rescue and recovery workers working 24 hours a day. The remains of all the other buildings in the World Trade Center were demolished.
Starting in mid-2002, LMDC hosted an open-design study in order to choose the best plan for rebuilding the World Trade Center. It was narrowed down to seven semi-finalists, who presented their ideas to the public in December 2002.
A separate competition was held to choose the design for the 9/11 memorial. Over 5,000 entries were received from over 60 nations. Reflecting Absence, designed by Michael Arad and Peter Walker, was selected as the winner.
The Sphere sculpture was originally installed in the plaza between the two towers. It miraculously survived the collapse of both towers and was placed in Battery Park for many years during the cleanup of Ground Zero.
After being closed for almost seventeen years after September 11, the Cortlandt Street subway station officially reopened in 2018. It was one of a few mass transit stations that had to be rebuilt in the aftermath.
The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church is scheduled to open by the summer of 2022. A performing arts center named for billionaire businessman Ronald Perelman is currently under construction. And both 2 and 5 World Trade Center are scheduled to begin construction as well.
The 102nd-floor observatory in One World Trade Center, set to open on May 29, will feature some incredible views, and, the Times reports, those views will begin (albeit virtually) as soon as visitors step into the elevators. The walls of the elevators will feature a 47-second time lapse spanning 515 years of the Manhattan skyline from 1500 to the present day. Somewhat controversially, the time lapse includes, briefly, 2 World Trade Center, which was brought down on September 11. "The event is certainly a key part of history," the head of Legends Hospitality, the company that will run the observatory, said. "We did not think you could ignore it. Having it appear in the year it did and disappear in the year it did was the respectful way of addressing the fact that it was part of the landscape."
Yesterday afternoon we took a short trip into New York City. The first place we visited was the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. The weather for the day was partly cloudy and actually ended up raining in the evening so not many timelapse opportunities. But when we got to the WTC my brother pointed out a cool view looking straight up towards the tower. When you get close to the tower it looks like a triangle pointing straight upwards. I decided to set my tripod with my camera pointing straight towards the top. The angle was tough to set-up looking straight upwards but I have a level bubble on my camera that helps establish the horizons. I had to use my 18.0-55.0 mm lens at 36 mm since there were a lot of trees near the base of the building and I wanted a composition with just the tower and nothing else in the image.
A new two-minute time-lapse video released by the international webcam technology company EarthCam shows One World Trade Center soaring into the Lower Manhattan sky - a process that, in reality, has taken more than six years.
The release of the video comes just days before the glass-and-steel structure, also known as Freedom Tower, is expected to once again surpass the height of the Empire State Building, which stands at 1,545 feet, becoming the tallest building in Manhattan and one of the tallest in the world.
One World Trade Center is being built on the site of the original Twin Towers, which were destroyed on September 11, 2001, when two planes hijacked by terrorists slammed into the buildings and caused their collapse, killing some 3,000 people.
The site known since the attacks as Ground Zero is also home to 4 World Trade Center and the 9/11 Memorial Plaza that opened to the public last September, in time for the ten-year anniversary of the attacks.
Much effort has been spent to recover from the emotional, physical and economic damage wrought by al Qaida hijackers on September 11, 2001, and perhaps the most visible symbol of that recovery is the construction of the new One World Trade Center. Known also as the Freedom tower, 1 WTC has risen steadily since April 2006, ultimately reaching 1,776 feet upward into the sky. It's already the tallest building in New York, and will be the third-tallest building in the world at its final height.The new World Trade Center is due to open late next year, and external construction is nearing completion. Advertisement
The webcam network Earthcam has put together a remarkable time-lapse of the tower's birth. It stands 105 floors high, as the final roof steel and antenna are still being installed, with the glass facade in place up to the 83rd floor.Advertisement
EarthCam started webcasting the activity at Ground Zero just days after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and has since been capturing high resolution images for this start-to-finish time lapse of One World Trade Center being built.