The New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects has its 2006 Design Awards luncheon today, and according to David Lombino of the Sun, David Childs (right), of 7WTC honoree Skidmore Owings and Merrill, figured it would be a perfect time to trot out his latest drawings for the Freedom Tower. What, you didn't actually think "Fort Zero" was set in stone? Have you been paying attention lo these five years? Is it even going to be 1,776 feet anymore? They're going to need a whole wing of the museum just devoted to all the false starts on this thing.
· Freedom Tower Architect To Present Design Changes at Awards Ceremony Today [NYS]
· 2006 AIA New York Design Awards [AIANY]
UPDATE: Perhaps sick of hearing "Fort Zero," coined by the Post back in the day, Childs and co. are cladding the tower's "187-foot-high, bomb-resistant concrete base in a screen of glass prisms rather than metal panels." Other than that, the symbolic height's still on the blueprints as is the general obelisk design. And even Danny Libeskind has a smile for the occasion: "They have brought luminosity and a prismatic quality to the base, and made the tower more crystalline." Joy! [NYT]