Building Log: World Trade Center (Pre-9/11)

[rubik3 118]

Do you know if there are other parts visible from the street other than the garage access and coffee shop underneath the hotel?

[BigMac 24]

Not from what I have seen, other than those things.

[BigMac 24]

Close-up picture of Marriott front

[DoubleJ2K 3]

BigMac, I noticed that you made a comment about Team Twin Towers in the WTC download page and since I am a member, I thought that I would bring attention to it in the main thread.  We will probably never get the WTC back in its former glory, but TTT has done an amazing amount of work to get it restored to the bustling hub of commerce that it once was.  The Plan of the People represents the best of the former WTC site, while including elements of the new proposals.  Probably most importantly, it restores the Twin Towers to the site; bigger, safer and stronger than they once were.  There is a detailed PDF of the new plan as well as current rebuilding news at www.teamtwintowers.org .  Until ground has been broken on Libeskind's glass shard tower, there is still hope that we can do this the right way.

[BigMac 24]

Hi Double, I enjoyed visiting the site and learning more about Team Twin Towers; I spent a lot of time there and still check in sometimes. I do have reservations about how the current rebuilding plans are being executed (Michael Arad apparently has even threatened to leave the project entirely), but I hope wisdom prevails in the end. If not, then the Plan of the People was nonetheless a noble undertaking that gave encouragement to many people. Good luck to the team as you continue to publicize the effort.

[rubik3 118]

Well I've studied all the roof shots and really can't make out anything in particular so I need so ideas or thoughts about what was actually on the roofs.  The buildings would looks really out of place with a bare roof, yet I can't figure out anything to add.  Any satellites or receiver units would have been on top of the towers and all of the HVAC equipment had an enclosure around it.

 

But other than the roof clutter i'm ready to start working in GMax.  You can see the start of the Marriot sign...the rest will be done in Gmax since extruded text is not something AutoCAD handles very well.

 

[MTLT_17 27]

Man you are way to good at this! I wish I could do something like this. Oh well could you put the tower in by cut and pasting? just to see what it would look like?

[jcabassa 20]

Can we see a rendered preview?

 

-jcab

[kid_a 1]

I'm pretty sure there was like a step like roof arching from 1wtc to the right to 2 wtc. I'll see if I can find pics, it's kinda like the entrance of the Marriot from the Austin J. Toban Plaza.

[BigMac 24]

Here is a large diagram of the site plan showing some representation of the roof structure.

[kid_a 1]

The siteplan that includes the hotel is not accurate. It is just a field study plan that was taken into effect for the towers construction. The hotel turned out to be slightly different in the roof and other parts.

[BigMac 24]

Thanks; I wish there were more close-up pictures of the hotel roof available. The search continues.

[BigMac 24]

Here is the archived version of the website for Top of the World Trade Center. It is inevitably sad to browse through, yet enlightening in what it reveals about the activities that took place there.

Night photo of Marriott and twin towers
Another view of window washer machine
Decorative signs on one of the nine plaza lampposts

[kid_a 1]

I went through my galleries of the wtc, and look what I found! https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/9.gif>https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/9.gif> As the title

below explains..

 

 

 

[BigMac 24]

Good find, kid_a!

[kid_a 1]

----------------

On 3/12/2004 9:31:34 PM BigMac wrote:

Good find, kid_a!

----------------

Thanks...

Rubik if you want I have various satellite and arials of the complex and the complex details from the ground that I can post, but that's up to you if you want to finish the hotel first or not.

The images above appear to show that the roof had outer walls going up 10-20 feet to cover up any other roof stuff to make the hotel appear to be clean. Towards 1wtc there is a large building on top of the roof, but can not be visible due to the outer walls. Towards 2 WTC there is a smaller version of the building that can not be seen due to the walls (I believe that is located on your BAT Model where the location of the glass structure is). Various other small details can be made out on the roof, but I can not explain them in full detail. Basically that's why everything was so hard to see, cause the exterior outer wall extends into the air to cover the roof. =)

[BigMac 24]

Do you have these pictures online so that they are available to browse? I would love to see some of your other pictures.

[kid_a 1]

----------------

On 3/12/2004 9:39:54 PM BigMac wrote:

Do you have these pictures online so that they are available to browse? I would love to see some of your other pictures.----------------

Unfortunately no, I don't.

All the images i've gathered are off my TV program from watching tv, DVD screenshots (such as the Center of the world and the 8 others to my collection), and images i've found online. Yeah, i'm a bit obsessive...

I may put together a zip file of a ton, or an online directory, but i'm not sure right now. One thing for certain, now that I've gotten the hang of posting images on here, there will be a lot more for the WTC project.

[BigMac 24]

Here is a photo showing the right half of the Marriott roof.

[DoubleJ2K 3]

Rubik, I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but you might try www.911digitalarchive.org .  There is a LOT of miscellaneous material on the site, mostly dealing with events post-9/11, but you might be able to find photos of the top of the Marriott there.

[Woulfe 1]

There seem to be a number of sites w/ pics of the WTC complex out there....

Hopefully one of them will have what you're looking for Rubik....

Woulfe
* To Do Anything Less Then Rebulid What Once Was, Diminishs Us In The Eyes Of Our Enimies Who Want Nothing More Then To Do Just That.... *

[rubik3 118]

Sorry for the lack of updates but I've had a few export problems and I've been busy with a few rendering jobs.  Hopefully I'll have a gmax shot sometime early next week.

[DoubleJ2K 3]

Rubik, I have a couple of pics which I think may be of use to you:

This pic is from the cover of a book on the WTC I have

This is an early pic of the WTC in the same book.  Lots of roof junk visible in these.

This is an AWESOME view of the hotel.  It is from a panorama of the Trade Center by Blakeway Worldwide Panoramas.  I own this pic myself and I don't know why I didn't notice that this view was perfect earlier.

 

I know I also have at least 1 pic of 7 WTC's roof when you get to it.

 

Hope this helps,

Double J

[rubik3 118]

Those shots are perfect DoubleJ.  It also shows the top of the entry awning which I had previously guessed on.

 

I'm guessing the second one was shot in the early 80's.  The hotel is missing the large entry overhang as well as not having any shrubs in the planters.

[BigMac 24]

Great pictures, Double!

rubik, I came across this picture which appears to have been taken in the south tower facing the Marriott. If the wall blocking the view is part of the Marriott's entrance area, then the picture shows how close the entrance area came to the south tower.

[Smurfer2 7]

Thanks for the photos Big Mac and J2K. They're really great!https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/1.gif> Take your time Rubik. No rush exsists.

[rubik3 118]

Well i've finally gotten the whole model imported into GMax though I have about a thousand normals I have to manually flip.  But other than that setback everything is going ok. 

This will probably be the last time you'll see the whole complex together before the final lot.  I'm going to start splitting up the lot into it's individual pieces and render them seperately.

If you'll notice this render has building shadows being projected onto other buildings.  I can do this with the final render but it will end up looking out of place since no other simcity building recieves shadows.  So the question is, is do you want realistic shadows, or do you want it to blend with the game?

[falcon5018 22]

wow! that looks incredible!

I can go either way as far as the shadows go.

[Gemika 6]

WOW! Now this had to have taken you some time very nice work very nice. I can't wait to download it When do you think you'll have this wonderful structure finished?

[JimERyan12151979 1]

Keep up the good work (it looks great).