A city is not just a place or a group of people; it is also about the physical structures.  The buildings, roads, transit lines and the entire infrastructure intertwine to create the most wonderful artwork, a canvas painted by millions of artists.  And so it is with New York City.  NYC is defined by its skyscrapers; it has more tall buildings than any other city in the world, and pioneered many of the construction techniques necessary to build them.  Some of the well-known skyscrapers are the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, 40 Wall Street, the G. E. Building (Rockefeller Center), and up until 2001 The World Trade Center Twin Towers.  I had a chance to visit Ground Zero where the former World Trade Center once stood.  Times Square has always been an iconic landmark and a symbol of NYC that draws thousands of people each day but after visiting Ground Zero and seeing the masses of people visiting this site and paying homage, one can feel that there is now a huge heartfelt pull of the masses to Lower Manhattan.  The feeling I got while walking around Ground Zero was that of unity and togetherness; a sense of closeness.  You talked to people not strangers.  It was like bumping into a relative or an old friend.  Everyone on the street shared in the same loss.   I heard peoples’ stories and also learned interesting things such as the master plan architect for One World Trade site’s redesign is Studio Daniel Libeskind.  (Same architect as the recent renovation of the ROM)  The new ‘Freedom Tower’ will rise to the symbolic height of 1,776 feet, the year in which the United States Declaration of Independence was signed.  I also learned that the Empire State Building in 1945 and 40 Wall Street Building in 1946 were both accidentally hit by planes.  

WORLD TRADE CENTER RE-BUILD