June 30, 2005 —Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says the new design for the freedom tower meets top safety standards.

The new building is slimmer and further from the street. The first eight stories will be encased in metal -- titanium or stainless steel, architects say.

Commissioner Kelly says moving the building an average 90 feet from West street will help protect it from bomb blasts, meeting Defense Department standards. The building resembles the old twin towers much more than the first freedom tower design.

The base is the same size, and so is the building's height, with a center spire rising to 1776 feet. Unlike the first design, a collaboration between architects David Childs and Daniel Libeskind, this building was designed by Childs alone.

Libeskind says this slimmer building more closely resembles his original conception for the site.