[SFDXA] Hopes are dashed for WTC Morse code light...

[Bill]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/hopes_are_dashed_for_wtc_morse_code_yansKFKmzzmB179SxrDV4O

Hopes are dashed for WTC Morse code light

By LOIS WEISS

Last Updated: 11:36 AM, May 16, 2012

Posted: 11:42 PM, May 15, 2012
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Forgotten in the flap over whether a design change will cost 1 World
Trade Center its status as the nation’s tallest building is the loss of
a symbolic New York gesture.

A flashing light — or “architectural beacon” — atop the tower that was
to spell out “N” in Morse code has been changed to a simple blink.

“The original design intent was to have the beacon act as a symbolic
lighthouse for New York harbor [and the world] flashing ‘N’ in Morse
code [dash-dot],” said Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for the Durst
Organization. “The design has been altered to a dot-dot to project the
beam as far and bright as possible.”

The light itself is actually a cluster of hundreds of LEDs that focus
onto a spinning mirror. While the LED lights that will illuminate the
408 foot-tall mast will be able to change color, the beacon will remain
white.

An FAA-mandated red beacon will be placed above this spinning blinking
white light, which has preliminary approval from the FAA, according to
Barowitz.

The original design called for the steel mesh needle that would hold
antennas to be enclosed in a fiberglass structure called a radome —
short for radar dome.

The Dursts made the decision to remove it when they determined that
replacing the fiberglass panels would be a maintenance nightmare.
Without it, however, the bare antenna may not count toward the
building’s height.

This would push its ranking down under the Council of Tall Buildings and
Urban Habitat standards to less than that of the Willis Tower and Trump
International, both in Chicago. And way under increasing numbers of
buildings around the world.

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