The map shows the location of the new tower, plus a Memorial Park and Promenade. The design restores many of the roads around the site while protecting the footprints of the original twin towers. In addition, it builds higher than before as a firm response to the terrorists, yet still acknowledges the reality that more people will prefer being lower rather than higher in such a landmark (Lower floors have more space than higher floors, and the very top is used for a memorial).

The signature piece is a new World Trade Center formed from a catenary or parabolic dome centered on Ground Zero —imagine the Gateway Arch spun on its axis to form a dome and then stretched into a tower — with the footprints of the north and south WTC towers cut away. In these cutouts, black granite and dark-tinted glass soar above reflecting pools to the point where the planes impacted, with gold-tinted glass rising from their to the height of the original towers.

One doesn't have to sacrifice strength for uniqueness -- catenary domes are inherently strong, while the cutouts are no weaker than a normal boxlike building. The curved sides of the new WTC tower are of white granite and mirrored windows, rising over and uniting above the original towers, showing that despite our loss, our hope and our unity rise even higher.

At the top of the tower is a memorial museum and observation deck, where people can see the history of the towers and the awful attack, and then step to the observation window and look down 111+ stories into the reflecting pools and feel even more empathy for those who lost their lives. At night, the pools can be lit, with one light for each person lost in each tower.

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