New York officials released the latest design for the signature building at the World Trade Center site Wednesday after revising it to make the tower more secure.

Gov. George Pataki ordered the design changes because police were concerned that the tower's placement adjacent to West Street, a major thoroughfare along the west side of Manhattan, would make it vulnerable to a truck bomb.

Instead of being 25 feet from West Street, the tower will be set back 90 feet, and its 200-foot base will be covered in steel and titanium intended to make it blast-resistant.

"This new design reflects a soaring tribute to freedom and a bedrock commitment to safety and security," Pataki said.

The building, which has been dubbed "The Freedom Tower" by Pataki, will remain 1,776 feet, symbolizing the year the United States declared its independence.

The Freedom Tower has been the center of controversy for some time now.

The tower was originally conceived by architect Daniel Libeskind, whose master site plan was chosen in February 2003 to guide the rebuilding process.

Libeskind later was forced to collaborate with Childs, hired by Silverstein, to refine the design, which was unveiled in December 2003.

The 2003 Freedom Tower model featured a torqued glass-and-steel design with a steel cable netting. It had 2.6 million square feet of commercial space, including more than 60 floors for offices, an indoor observation deck above, a sky restaurant and wind-harvesting turbines to supply some of the building's power.

The revised tower design has the same amount of commercial space, one-quarter of what was lost on September 11, 2001, and many of the same features.

The public observation deck will be at 1,362 feet, the height of old South Tower, while a glass wall will rise 1,368 feet, the height of the old North Tower.

UPDATE 1:19PM: This new design, while itself is interesting and a nice skyscraper, I think it lacks the message that Libeskind's Freedom Tower offered. Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM), the firm that designed this new version, produces many cookie-cutter type skyscrapers, and I think this new design, while different from the original towers, is effectively the same. This new design gives the impression that while indeed, we have changed since 9/11, we haven't changed much, or that we have forgotten. Libeskind's rather dramatic and innovative design was a testament to the fact that we have changed, and we have not forgotten. The very fact that SOM was commissioned to submit a redesign of the tower is a complete slap in the face to the original design competition, and gives a sense of incompetence and lack of commitment of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki.

By itself, the new design is a nice skyscraper, but I don't think it fully represents what the new WTC Freedom Tower ought to be. Libeskind's original design--love it or hate it--was closer to what new tower should represent.

UPDATE 1:52PM: Washington Post has a more detailed description of the new tower, including attack precaution design features.

Blogs For Bush has some blogger reactions.