From Ground Zero up: towering ambition of a design to reclaim Manhattan's skyline

For a while there, it looked like New York City was stumbling over how it should pay homage to the fallen twin towers. Two famous architects with famous egos were fighting over competing visions for a new skyscraper on the site. Would they ever agree on single plan?

Yesterday, we got the answer as city and state bigwigs triumphantly took to the platform at Federal Hall - where George Washington was sworn in as President - and drew open a neat white curtain to reveal the first model of a building which will one day become the tallest and possibly the most celebrated in the world. The squabbles are over and the form is agreed. It also has a name: Freedom Tower.

There is a heavy burden on this not-so-humble edifice. Its job will be to reclaim the skyline of Manhattan after the cruel amputation of the World Trade Centre on 11 September 2001. And it must meet the symbolism required of it. The message will be bold and maybe a little crass. America will not be defeated by terror. America will be ever strong. And America will always have the biggest and the best.

All of which is wrapped into the single most important dimension of the design. It will soar to 1,776 feet. That ensures first that America will once again be home to the tallest tower in the world, surpassing the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. And, in case you hadn't thought of it, 1776 is a date not without importance in American history - the year of independence.

And there is more. The shape of the tower, with a glass-encased trunk of 70 occupied floors that twists slightly, topped first by an open-air structure laced with steel cables and finally a soaring spire, is meant to evoke that other, still intact, symbol of American patriotism and pride, the Statue of Liberty. Look at the spire and think of the lady's raised arm and giant torch.

The critics have yet to deliver judgement. But getting to this point has not been easy. It has been months since a jury of experts selected Daniel Libeskind from Germany as the winning architect to draw up a masterplan for Ground Zero. Within it was his own vision for a giant tower. It was whimsical in its conception, most notably thanks to a piercing glass pinnacle housing a multi-level garden in the sky.

But the leaseholder to the site, Larry Silverstein, was not satisfied, arguing that Mr Libeskind had sacrificed the need for revenue-earning square footage for aesthetics. Muddying the process, he hired an architect of his own - David Childs of the American firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill - to design a more functional tower. What followed was months of fighting between the two men.

Only two weeks ago, it appeared that the two titans of architecture might never settle on a compromise. One meeting between the two men began sourly when Mr Libeskind showed up accompanied by his lawyer. A clearly angry Mr Libeskind publicly alluded to his partnership with Mr Childs as his "so-called collaboration".

But George Pataki, the Governor of New York, applied maximum pressure, making it clear to the warring architects that they should have a final blueprint ready by yesterday's deadline, come what may.

The aim now is to have the ground-breaking for the tower in the late summer of next year - in other words shortly before the third anniversary of the al-Qa'ida attacks.

So, the Libeskind garden is gone. The building is the same height that he proposed, but, in answer to the commercial concerns of Mr Silverstein, contains more office space.

That is not to say that what is now being proposed is in any way unimpressive. Most striking is what is proposed for the top section of the tower. The 70 occupied floors will rise to about 1,000 or 1,100 feet - a little lower than the old twin towers. Above it, however, will be the open section surrounded by high-tension cables, designed to be reminiscent of the cables supporting the Brooklyn Bridge. It will be illuminated at night to give the impression of a modernistic spider's web in the sky. Inside the mesh of cables, on two concrete platforms, will be a nest of wind turbines.

There is symbolism here too, as well as technological innovation. The turbines will tap the winds coming off the nearby Hudson river and generate as much as 20 per cent of the building's energy needs. This is meant to be a statement about dependency on oil from the Middle East, and the connection with the terrorism that threatens the United States.

Most of the main components of the old twin towers will be recreated. The lower floors of the Freedom Tower will house retail outlets - more income for Mr Silverstein, who assumed the lease at the World Trade Centre two months before the 11 September attacks. The uppermost levels that are occupied will house an observation deck for visitors as well as a restaurant. The Windows on the World was the restaurant in the twin towers, which saw so many of its workers perish.

None of the acrimony of past weeks was on view in Federal Hall. "Freedom will always triumph over terror," said Mr Pataki. "The Freedom Tower will be a proud symbol of our country's strength - and a monument to our two lost icons." Smoothing over the clashes of the two architects, he added: "This represents a melding of two very, very talented, creative geniuses."

Mr Libeskind, who was forced to give so much ground to Mr Childs, said: "This is a momentous day." As for the latter, he seemed entirely satisfied. "It must be iconic," Mr Childs said of the project. "Simple and pure in its form. That would proclaim the resiliency and spirit of our democracy. Extending the great tradition of American ingenuity and innovation, Freedom Tower incorporates the highest standards of design, safety, quality and technology in what will become the world's tallest building."

Safety, indeed, is emphasised, with memories still raw of the evacuation failures inside the twin towers after the two jet planes hit and before they collapsed, killing many in their emergency staircases. Its design will exceed existing codes, featuring concrete-encased stair and lift cores and extra-wide, pressured stair wells.

Not everything about the tower is quite decided. No agreement has yet been reached on the exact form of the antenna that will sit atop the turbine section and reach even further to a height of about 2,000 feet. That, however, is deliberate. A competition will be launched to give artists the opportunity to design an antenna that may be sculptural in form.

Meanwhile, the final shape of the other crucial portion of Ground Zero - a memorial museum and gardens - should be known within a few days. Officials have promised to choose a winning design from a group of finalists for the memorial, which may become the most visited in the world, before the turn of the year.