Archinect - News

Tallest Lego model in the U.S. unveiled: One World Trade Center in all its pixely might

2016-07-05T12:55:00-04:00

Just in time for the Independence Day weekend, Legoland is showing off an extensive remodel of its New York miniland, dominated by a towering replica of Manhattan’s One World Trade Center. [...] Nearly a year in the making, the redesigned New York area includes a number of new buildings, a dozen more moving automobiles and a subway system with new cars and tracks that are illuminated and feature sound effects that mimic the real thing.

The Legoland announcement proudly boasts these details:

"The One World Trade Center LEGO model is built with more than 250,000 LEGO bricks, and took eight Master Model Builders more than 1200 hours to build. This dynamic structure weighs more than 1,000 pounds and towers at a record breaking 26 feet, making it the tallest LEGO model in the U.S. For the first time ever, guests can use a special LEGO tower viewer giving them a skyscraper view of Miniland U.S.A. The area also features LEGO model replicas of the 9/11 Memorial’s twin reflecting pools, the grove of memorial trees and the impressive World Trade Center Transportation Hub."

11 years of One World Trade Center construction in one short time-lapse video

2015-06-05T18:33:00-04:00

Say what you want about One World Trade Center (and much has already been said here on Archinect), but it sure is a heck of a construction project.

From the laying of the symbolic cornerstone on July 4, 2004 to the recent opening of One World Observatory on May 29, 2015, it took the tower eleven years to fully push its 104 floors into the world.

A fascinating new EarthCam time-lapse video now presents the lengthy building process in a handy less-than-two-minute montage.

Scroll on for some screen shots and the video below.

Michael Kimmelman Reviews 1 World Trade Center

2014-11-30T13:14:00-05:00

“It’s not so bad,” offered an architect who has a window facing the building. Alas, it is. Like the corporate campus and plaza it shares, 1 World Trade speaks volumes about political opportunism, outmoded thinking and upside-down urban priorities. It’s what happens when a commercial developer is pretty much handed the keys to the castle.

The growth of a skyscraper: One WTC in photos

2014-09-11T15:49:00-04:00

On this 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, a shiny new skyscraper towers over what was once a smoldering pile. It’s touted as “an ever-present symbol of renewal and hope,” but the process to build One WTC, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, has been arduous and much-delayed. The project, which has had its share of critics, is finally set to open in early 2015.