Suspended Animation

Continuing to build the World Trade Center site.  

Suspended Animation

Prism

Angles as viewed from the coffee truck line.  

Prism

Carless Night

A rare moment where there are no cars on Church Street next to the new World Trade Center buildings.  

Carless Night

World Trade Center #1

This is the entrance to the new largest building in the United States.  

World Trade #1

Spines

The World Trade Center Transportation Hub that is under construction has slowly been assembled.  The ultimate design which you can see in this link, looks somewhat like a giant bird with needle spines making up the wings.  

Here is the last spine being lifted into place.

The Last Spine

With a little bit of movement, half standing in the street, a new juxtaposition becomes possible.  

Spines

Cylinder Master

Number 4 World Trade Center is almost done, but not quite.  

Cylinder Master

Got Lucky

Every morning construction workers take their breakfast break from the work they are doing on the World Trade Center site.  There are these massive boulders in place to serve as protection for the site against any kind of terrorist activity.  They leave very small places for the tourists and commuters to get through.  And, then the construction workers sit on the boulders and make it even harder to pass.  But, they don't care.  They are enjoying themselves.  Especially this guy, who looks pretty cheerful at this time in the morning.  I'm guess he had a good night.  

Got Lucky

One World Trade Center

One World Trade Center is still under construction, but it is the largest building in the US.  When you approach it though, if you are too close, and just around a corner, it can't be scene.  It hides behind other closer buildings.  When you make the turn, then it is suddenly there.  

One World Trade Center

Awe

Just across the street from One World Trade Center, the largest building in the US.  

Awe

Underpass to the Future

I regularly travel through the PATH train station that lands beneath the downtown World Trade Center site.  Since the event in 2001, there has been constant rerouting and construction within the underground pathways of the facility.  Ultimately, a new station will emerge designed by Santiago Calatrava which will feature rows of curved arches.

Two weeks ago, one of the wooden construction walls deep below was opened.  For years, I was unaware there was anything work going on at that spot.   Suddenly, a new tunnel was revealed with a design that matches what the roof will become.  

I took a walk through, and got this look at the new futuristic design.  

Underpass to the Future

More Steel

Here's another from the "Out of My Offices windows" series.  Obviously we overlook a pretty damn interesting view.  

More Steel

Revolving Glass

The front of Seven World Trade Center provides all kinds of glass, reflections and angles.  The mix of angles, architecture, and people sometimes makes a nice contrast.  

TrudgeGrand Entrance

The Tower Tree

I've previously mentioned the brilliant view my office has overlooking the World Trade Center site.  We've witnessed visits from the President and the Queen, and watched as the site develops into its future look.  

The growing One World Trade Center, now the largest building in New York City, even before it has been completed, now has a seasonal look.  Mixed lights now capture the holiday spirit.  It resembles something like a Christmas Tree.  

I hooked up my Gorillapod tripod to handle the low light, blocked out much of the window reflection, and took these shots.

The reflecting pool memorials, in the footprint of the former twin towers, create a third presence reflected in the glass of the new building being built at Four World Trade Center.  

Later I went down to the street and took this shot.  It's a time exposure, so some of the moving figures on the street create a ghosting effect.  

Three hundred feet above the President

StreetObservations.com - With the excitement of the elimination of Bin Laden, President Obama made a visit to Ground Zero to greet the families of those stricken on 9/11.  As it happens, my workplace happens to overlook this landmark.  It is a fantastic view of the site, but is 32 floors above, which is pretty high up.  

Here what the view generally looks like (FYI - this series of pictures is best viewed large, just click it for the big version).   This shot was taken in March.  The primary building here is One World Trade Center (originally called the Freedom Tower) which will eventually be 1776 high, that is about 3 to 4 times the height which it was here.  As I write this it is a bit higher (about 63 stories). 

A group of workers from our office stood along the windows waiting for Obama to arrive.  The time wasn't completely certain so it took a couple of visits amidst other work before there was activity. 

Even if the President was down there, I wasn't certain that I would be able to clearly identify which one might him.  I recall a visit to Ground Zero by Queen Elizabeth.  I rattled off 50 photos focused on a woman in pink, certain that I had captured her, until I watched the Nightly News and saw that she was clad in yellow.  

The first signs of pre-Presidential activity was an awareness of sharpshooters setting up on the nearby roofs.    

It was helpful that there was a live feed of the President's motorcade on CNN visible on the computers in our office, so we were able to correlate the real events with the "perceived".  Eventually, the roads grew still and the cars appeared on the West Side highway.  It is believed that Obama was in the big black van here at the very far right of the picture.  

Meanwhile down below, some bleachers had been constructed the day before for the seating of the families.  The main event was the laying of a special wreath.  The families waited.  

The car moved into the center of the plaza.  This gave the appearance that he would emerge from there.  Everyone up on the 32nd floor focused on this car, snapping away with our cameras. 

But we had been fooled, as a minute later, this group of dignitaries was spotted further down. The CNN feed confirmed that this was the President here.  Besides Obama, the group behind was NJ Governor Christie, NY Governor Cuomo, NYC Mayor Bloomberg, and the head of the MTA (I think that's who he was).  Even though my Canon 40D is a decent camera, my zoom 135mm lens was overmatched and even after cropping the picture, the 32 floors proved to be a bit much for getting an upclose shot.   

He approached the reception line.

Then he began shaking hands individually.   

He walked the wreath over to place on a pedestal.  

At this point, we had been waiting/watching the tiny little folks below for about 45 minutes.  I had delayed a business meeting to watch, but it became slightly boring.  And, it was time to leave for the meeting.  I assume he got out of there okay.

9/11 View

This is the view from my office's window on the 32nd floor looking down onto the World Trade Center site yesterday, on the 9/11 anniversary. They added the flag just for the day.

Street Block

They are preparing for the September 11th memorial services at Zuccotti Park (across from the World Trade Center site) by closing off adjoining Liberty Street. They are securing the area by installing temporary heavy duty concrete blocks. I also noticed that all the garbage cans in the surrounding blocks have been removed.

They are simultaneously beautifying the park by putting in rows and rows of flowers. (Pictures taken with an iPhone).

WTC down below

There is some progress now becoming visible at the World Trade Center site. Some parts of the construction are now above ground level (primarily the Freedom Tower, which has been renamed to "One World Trade Center", it is at the upper right of the picture).

This is what the site now looks like from the building across the street (height 32nd floor). I would need a bit more of a wide angle to get it all in. The square shaped construction with the square metal hole in it is in the footprint of one of the former buildings and will be a memorial. I think the second memorial is part of the square pattern below that area and to the left of it.