BUFFALO, N.Y. — The sun has set, the snow is melting and the rain is pouring.
But there’s still time to build the tallest structure in the world.
The World Trade Center Memorial sits atop the former site of the Twin Towers, which collapsed on September 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people.
And when it rains it pucks, a water-powered contraption that can turn snow and rain into a building’s foundation.
When the rain falls on the World Trade Building, the water comes down and turns into the foundation.
(NBC News)When it rains in Buffalo, the ice falls on concrete and the foundation is turned into concrete.
It’s a process that took about a week and $30,000 to construct.
For the next year and a half, the city is going to have to work with the National Park Service to turn the foundation into a permanent structure.
There are about 10 permanent structures in the U.S., including the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument.
That means Buffalo’s building has to be taller than those that have been in the National Mall and that are in the Capitol building, said John McAlister, the project manager for the Buffalo, N,Y., Department of Parks and Recreation.
“The World War II Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Hoover Dam were all taller than the World War Two World Trade Tower,” he said.
“And the Great Wall of China is a whole other story.
So we can’t go in there and just do what the rest of the world is doing.”
When it gets too cold, the foundation can be lowered.
So far, the work has been done on the exterior of the World Travel Center and on the building’s interior.
“When we’ve done the exterior, we’ve put in some of the ice that was built over the summer,” McAlisters said.
Then, it’s up to the contractor to put in the ice.
In October, it was about 2 feet thick, McAlsons team says.
The team is still working to make sure the foundation will be stable enough to be able to go into the building.
The concrete will take about two years to build.
And, once it’s built, it will be the tallest building in the United States.
The World Financial Center, the tallest commercial building in Europe, was built in the early 20th century.
It’s now the tallest skyscraper in the European Union.