World Trade Center Towers New York: 9/11
post updated September 11, 2026
2,977 Lights Rise Over New York Harbor
Tribute in Light display – a breathtaking memorial honors the lives lost in the 2001 attacks.
On the night of September 9, 2026, 2,977 lights rose over New York Harbor, slowly rebuilding the Twin Towers in the night sky.
One light represented each person killed in the September 11 attacks.
The lights first gathered into a rising helix, swirling upward before transforming into the familiar form of the Twin Towers at their full architectural scale.
The installation, 2,977 Lights Over New York Harbor, was created to mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11, with its design shaped through conversations with 9/11 families, survivors and first responders.
World Trade Center Towers New York City buildings:
photo : Grandmaster E, CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia Commons
Among those involved was retired FDNY responder Tim Brown, who helped shape the installation as a tribute to the 343 firefighters who lost their lives. Three of the lights represented his friends Chris Blackwell, Terry Hatton and Michael Lynch.
The display was developed in dialogue with New York’s annual Tribute in Light. Rather than two powerful beams projected into the sky, however, thousands of individual lights were brought together to trace the outlines of the buildings themselves.
The original World Trade Center complex in March 2001. An aerial view of WTC, and surrounding area of New York, with Downtown Manhattan in the foreground, looking north easterly:
photo : Jeffmock, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
For a moment, the towers appeared above the harbor once again.
Then the formation slowly dissolved, breaking apart into thousands of individual points of light.
The towers disappeared.
The 2,977 lights remained.
And each one represented a person who was lost.
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Previously on e-architect:
post updated September 11, 2021
Marking twenty years anniversary since the 11 September attacks
Sep 9, 2011
World Trade Center New York
“9/11 – Ten Years On : CTBUH Reflections”
WTC New York – Manhattan Skyscraper Building Design
photo © John Doe / Wikimedia Commons
In the week that we mark the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 events and the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has commissioned a number of articles from industry leaders, reflecting on how the world of tall buildings has changed since then. What has been the direct impact of 9/11 on the typology? How has that impact varied with geography and culture around the world? What has become of the predictions of the end of the skyscraper typology which immediately followed the event? Has too much changed, or too little?
The new World Trade Center Towers, within the Manhattan skyline – 200 Greenwich Street building design:
image : Foster + Partners
Contributors include Leslie Robertson, William Baker, Eugene Kohn, Paul Goldberger, Gene Corley and others.
The whole collection of 9/11 articles has been published in CTBUH Journal 2011 Issue III, a special edition of the quarterly-produced CTBUH Journal.
The 8 articles re 9/11 + WTC:
- Tall Buildings as a Viable Proposition
- Leslie Robertson, LERA; William Baker, SOM; & Eugene Kohn, KPF
- Talking Tall: The Global Impact of 9/11
- CTBUH Leaders / Country Representatives
- Debating Tall: Are the Twin Towers Missed?
- Tim Johnson, NBBJ & Paul Goldberger, The New Yorker
- Evolution of Building Code Requirements in a Post 9/11 World
- David Drengenberg & Gene Corley, CTL Group
- Urban Terrorism: An Overview
- Sofia Dermisi, Walter E. Heller College
- Case Study: The New One World Trade Center
- Kenneth Lewis & Nicholas Holt, Skidmore Owings & Merrill
- Revitalizing Lower Manhattan: The World Trade Center in Context
- Jan Klerks, CTBUH
- Tall Buildings in Numbers: New York City Scrapers
- Nathaniel Hollister, Jan Klerks & Antony Wood, CTBUH
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9/11 – World Trade Center Towers
World Trade Center Towers New York – 9/11 strike anniversary events
NYC skyscrapers in Lower Manhattan
World Trade Center New York
Ground Zero New York photo : Andrew McRae, 2007
Article by e-architect editor Adrian Welch on Ground Zero / World Trade Center
Fredom Tower New York, World Trade Center
Freedom Tower New York image received 260511
World Trade Center Towers – photos of existing buildings + images of new designs
image : dbox Courtesy of: Silverstein Properties
200 Greenwich Street
picture : Foster + Partners I Courtesy of: Silverstein Properties
99 Church Street World Trade Center Tower
image : dbox Courtesy of: Silverstein Properties
World Trade Center Architectural Drawings
photograph of print courtesy of Wright
Location: World Trade Center, New York City, USA.
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New York City Architecture
Contemporary New York Buildings
NYC Architecture Designs – chronological list
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CTBUH Awards Regional Best Tall Buildings
Best Tall Building Americas
CTBUH Best Tall Building Americas – 2011 : Eight Spruce Street, Lower Manhattan, New York City
Empire State Building, New York City
CTBUH Best Tall Building Overall – 2010 :Burj Khalifa
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9/11 Memorial Designs
9/11 Memorial Museum at the World Trade Center, Lower Manhattan
Architects: Davis Brody Bond
photo : Jin Lee
9/11 Pentagon Memorial Visitor Education Center, Arlington, Virginia
Design: Fentress Architects
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Manhattan Skyscraper Designs
New York City Architecture Designs – architectural selection below:
277 Fifth Avenue Building, NoMad, NYC
Architects: Rafael Viñoly
rendering : THREE MARKS
550 Madison in New York City
Architects: Snøhetta
photo © Snøhetta and MOARE
20 Times Square Skyscraper Building
Design: PBDW
image courtesy of architects office
Comments / photos for the World Trade Center Towers New York – 9/11 Renewal Designs and anniversary events in 2026 page welcome
