Community Board 1 Responds to Freedom Tower by Etta Sanders Architect David Childs, towering over a model of what will be the tallest building in the world, gave a sweeping presentation to the Community Board 1's World Trade Center Redevelopment Committee at a meeting on Jan. 7. The "Freedom Tower," designed by Childs and unveiled last month, will have 2.6 million square feet of office space over 70 floors high, topped by an observation deck, the Windows on the World restaurant, and expansive meeting rooms. Above those floors, open air cabling will enclose wind-powered turbines that may provide as much as 20 percent of the building's power. At a corner of the building, a spire and antennae that is meant to mirror the up reached arm of the Statue of Liberty will rise to the symbolic height of 1776 foot, as originally presented in Daniel Libeskind's master plan. The committee members reacted favorably to the design, but questioned Childs about access through the site, environmental and safety features, and traffic flow. Childs said many of the details, including how to avoid harm to migrating birds from the windmills, are still to be determined, "There is much of the building that is yet to be designed," he said. The tower will occupy a block at the northwest corner of the site, bounded by West, Vesey, Greenwich and Fulton Streets and be bordered by 25-foot sidewalks to accommodate the large number of expected office workers and tourists, Childs said. At street level, the 'footprint' of the building will be 200 by 260-feet and then torque and taper to nearly half that size at the base of the spire. Board member Jeff Galloway expressed concern that a building that large and high profile will create a barrier for neighborhood residents. He urged Childs and John Lieber, director of World Trade Center development for Silverstein Properties who was also at the meeting, to come up with ways to accommodate the "almost paranoid levels of security that are going to be desired by tenants," while at the same time, he said "have maximum access for those of us who do not want to go through a metal detector to get from one side of our neighborhood to another." Childs said there is likely to be access to cross through other parts of the rebuilt site, but in terms of cutting through the lobby of a building, he said, "Those days are over." There was praise for the plan to use windmills to generate some of the building's energy supply, particularly in a spot that was known for its strong winds, but questions arose about how loud they would be. "Noise has a strange way of traveling through lower Manhattan," said board member Mark Ameruso. "The noise level is an issue," Childs admitted, adding that the noise from wind-powered turbines is comparable to that of a refrigerator. "Remember this refrigerator is up 1500 or 1200 feet in the air," he said "and certainly is going to be much less noisy than all those machines which cool buildings." Childs said they are planning other "green" features, such as the collection of storm water on the roof. Questions on the building's effect on traffic flow - the eventual width of Vesey Street and queing of black cars that undoubtedly will line the street - were left unanswered. The board has endorsed changing Vesey Street to a two-way street to improve traffic congestion. "Black cars were always an enormous problem down here," board chair Madelyn Wils said, telling Lieber that the developer would have to answer to the community. "This is going to be the blight of your existence if you don't help us address this," she said. "I'd consider that a warning," Childs quipped.