The new One World Trade Center opened its doors on Monday to welcome the 175 employees of Condé Nast who were reporting for their first day on the job at the new office. The 104 story building was constructed on the original site of the South Tower of the World Trade Center and overlooks the National Sept. 11 Memorial Museum as well as the two reflecting pools that were built in the footprint of the fallen Twin Towers.
Over the next few months it is expected that 3,400 employees will begin filling in the desks and offices of the new tower.
The new skyscraper's design was one of dozens that were submitted to occupy the northwest area of Ground Zero. The tower was designed to be 1,776 feet tall with the spire - which is also the same year that the Declaration of Independence was signed.
Originally referred to as the "Freedom Tower," on March 26, 2009; the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey made the announcement that the skyscraper would henceforth be called by its legal address 'One World Trade Center.'
Wendy Schoeler, who works as an executive assistant in the new One World Trade Center, revealed that coming to work for the first time at the site was bittersweet.
"[I am] nervous, excited and feeling hopeful and positive about it. I am thinking it's a new chapter and a new start," she said.
EarthCam has released a time-lapse video of the construction of the One World Trade Center beginning in Oct. 24 to Sept. 2013. According to the video description, the time-lapse film was painstakingly created from hundreds of high-definition photos that were captured over nine years and hand-edited for the project.
The employees at the skyscraper towering over near the site where the original twin Towers fell in 2001, feel honored to be working in a building that all at once recalled the tragedy of the events on Sept. 11, yet also represent a lighthouse of hope moving forward and rebuilding with a new start.
