On this 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, a shiny new skyscraper towers over what was once a smoldering pile. It’s touted as “an ever-present symbol of renewal and hope,” but the process to build One WTC, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, has been arduous and much-delayed. The project, which has had its share of critics, is finally set to open in early 2015.
Designed by the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, One WTC has been an intensely political project. The main agency overseeing the process has been the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which has struggled to find tenants to fill the mammoth structure.
These photos—dating from August 2007, shortly after workers broke ground, to April 2014—offer a glimpse of the immensity of the project:
