The Freedom Tower

Today work was like a field trip. Well, besides getting up before the sun, driving into the city because the trains don't run early enough (upside: no traffic at 5am, not even going into the Holland Tunnel), and because field trips usually don't include heavy lifting or safety equipment. I'm also not sure of many field trips where you need special insurance or one where you have an extensive safety discussion to prevent concussions, falling off a 70-story building, or death. Other than that, totally was like a field trip.
If you couldn't already guess where I am, it's the top of World Trade Center Tower 1, or more affectionately known as the Freedom Tower.

As I write this on my crackberry I am currently 70 stories up; higher than any building in New Jersey (currently over my left shoulder) and 90% of all the buildings in Manhattan. From this vantage point the top of the Empire State Building is about eye level and looking beautiful on this fine, sunny New York morning.

In order to reach this height we had to take 2 separate hoist elevators to the 60th floor and then hike up 10 floors of exterior construction stairs. These stairs were outside the perimeter wall of the building, 700 feet high and encased in canvas. Basically my thoughts as I climbed the stairs with 30+ pounds on camera rigging equipment on my back was 'don't-look-down-because-there's-nothing-but-air-and-sidewalk'.

Just another day right?



Once we reached our destination, we entered back into the building and on to one of the derrick floors. This is where the ironworks do their work, welding, bolting, etc.  At this point, we weren't at the very top because not even the floors are complete up there. That's just the connectors, the cranes and the steel. These floors are well above the concrete work so this is not like walking on solid ground either. It's uneven, there's equipment and tools everywhere, there are places that are less weight-bearing and less secure, not to mention the holes in the floor for ladders or passing of tools between floors. 

This job is certainly never boring or lacking in challenges.



The purpose of today's shoot is to capture a hotel jump. The hotel system is a new innovation for the WTC project. It's a series of storage containers that contain climate controlled offices, bathrooms, dressing room and even a Subway restaurant! That's right here on the 70th floor of Tower 1 is the highest Subway in the world, and rising with the tower every 10 days.

How cool is that?


The reason for them is to eliminate time lost going up and down the building at lunch and breaks. Without them hundreds of workers would be traveling 15 to 20 minutes each way, up and down the tower for lunch, coffee and office work. This way they now have some creature comforts 700 feet up. And the other cool thing is that it's all self-sustaining. Besides food deliveries to Subway nothing needs to be brought up or down to these 'hotels'. Any waste from Subway or the bathrooms is composted.

TMI? Sorry. I think it's pretty ingenious.


So today we're here to film them rising the four 3-story hotel systems to top.


Side-bar....
Since I did 2 months of transcribing and sometimes return to my past of transcription when the need arises, I have become acquainted with all of the major characters involved in each project and each episode. Actually I would say acquainted isn't quite strong enough. I have listened to their life stories, I know the ins and out of their speech patterns (do they say 'like', 'um' or 'ya know' all the time?) and in some cases I've seen them talk about some of the emotional events in their lifetime. I know these people. However, I have come to realize that they do not know me. I once saw Ron Vega (mentioned in '') on the street walking to work and I nearly waved. That would've been awkward.

Today I saw a pair of the studdly ironworkers that feature prominently in the Tower 1 episodes. We've been following them for 18 months and I was the one who transcribed both of their sit-down interviews so of course I 'know' them. And of course, I found myself staring at them in awe of the strength and agility. Just a few minutes ago one walked past me and said, "what's up, Sweetie?" All I could manage was a weak "Hi". Of course, it was the married one, but nonetheless I felt like I had met some kind of celebrity. Lame I know. But have you ever seen George Clooney or Brad Pitt maneuvering tons of steel 100s of feet off the ground with little more than a harness? I think not.


Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

Parts of the day were uneventful but I will say that lunchtime was pretty exciting. Not only did we get to venture into the hotel system's Subway, but in order to get there we had to climb to the top of the building. And by top I mean TOP. Nothing between you and the heavens, only a 3-foot siderail along the perimeter and you could see for miles. Definitely the highlight. Although seeing a blimp pass by right at our altitude was pretty neat too.

I don't know if it's the adrenaline of the whole situation but I am totally enamored by this whole experience.
And Bonus, it's been a gorgeous day! However, now that I am home 16 hours after I left the house I seriously need to go to sleep and stay asleep until a decent hour.