ALBANY, KOMPAS.com – World Trade Center (WTC), New York, which has been rebuilt since 2003 after the 11 September 2001 attacks, is now hit by a pandemic Covid-19 which makes the activities in it almost die.
In 19 years ago, the WTC which is famous for its twin towers was destroyed by an attack by Al Qaeda hijackers, which killed 2,753 out of 3,000 people.
In 2003, the skyscraper was rebuilt with a master plan designed by Daniel Libeskind, which encouraged diversification of the local economy.
According to the Port Authorities of New York and New Jersey, the public and private sectors have invested about $ 25 billion (Rp. 369.8 trillion) in reconstruction projects.
The disaster zone then metamorphosed into a tourist attraction and a business center with 3 skyscrapers, a transportation center, a museum and a 9/11 memorial.
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“Everyone who comes to New York wants to come to Ground Zero. It’s downtown New York. It’s a great public space,” Libeskind said in an interview.
At the heart of the building are 2 pools designed by Michael Arad, marking the footprint Twin Towers which once stood, with a pair of 4-sided waterfalls flowing down.
The names of the 9/11 victims were engraved on the rim of his bronze.
Before coronavirus pandemic, the place was bustling again with hundreds of visitors gathered.
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However, on a recent afternoon there was only a family from Wichita, Kansas, as the only people in the south tower pool, according to a report cited from Reuters on Tuesday (8/9/2020).
“People are a lot more worried about someone coughing at them than someone blowing up a building,” said Vishal Garg, chief executive of mortgage refinancing startup Better.com.
It is headquartered on the 7th floor of the World Trade Center which is adjacent to a site known as Ground Zero.
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The nostalgia for the Twin Towers grew after they were destroyed along with so many innocent lives, but they were not loved at the time.
Completed in the 1970s, the World Trade Center was renovated into what became known as Radio Row with a large block containing the Twin Towers and whatnot.
The site is often called the “windy plaza.”
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“The problem with the World Trade Center has never been better,” said Carl Weisbrod, a former town planning official who worked on rebuilding the new site after 9/11.
The new site planning aroused public emotions related to the 9/11 attacks in the United States, loss of life and fear of working in tall buildings again.
“What emerges is a central business district that is now a model for the 21st century and not some kind of 20th century historical artifact,” Weisbrod said.
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