The Freedom Tower

The destruction of the World Trade Center – the Twin Towers – spurred on a tallest-building boom – in the United States, Great Britain and elsewhere in the world.
It answered the question that was asked immediately after the 9/11 attacks: would developers take on building such massive buildings again.
We now know the answer is yes because men – women dream of achieving great heights, even when those dreams depict disasters, unspeakable sometimes.
When dreamers awake, what do they have to hold onto?
In the wake off 9/11, the dreamers dreamt up bigger buildings that are now rising in the desert emirate of Dubai, Hamburg, and cities in smog plagued cities in the far reaches of China where builders are all reaching to break height records.
The AP says:
“After Sept. 11, I kept asking, ‘Does this mean we’ll build shorter buildings?,’ and I guess the answer is ‘No,”‘ said Bill Hudnut, a fellow at the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C. and former mayor of Indianapolis.

Experts say the booming real estate market is the major _ but not the only _ reason for the skyscraper surge.

“Tall buildings are a matter of ego. Tall buildings are a sign of success,” said George Efstathiou, managing partner at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, the architecture firm behind the new Freedom Tower in downtown Manhattan, and the Burj Dubai, soon to be the world’s largest “ultratall” building.

Builders of the Burj Dubai said Friday that the tower had reached the height of America’s tallest building, Chicago’s Sears Tower, and still has a long way to go. Its ultimate height is a secret, but developers say it will be at least 2,300 feet, surpassing the current world’s tallest building _ the Taipei 101 at 1,671 feet _ in July.”