St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church “see the light” at the end of the long tunnel
Emmanuel E. Velivasakis
St. Nicholas National Shrine At the World Trade Center
New York, NY, United States
Today, I had the opportunity to conduct a site-visit to the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine constructon site at Ground Zero. For this visit, I was accompanied by the Project Architect of Record and friend Nicholas Koutsomitis of NK Architects and my Thornton Tomasetti structural colleague Joelle Nelson.
The construction work is progressing very well, besides the great difficulties and restrictions brought upon the Covid Pandemic. Currently, a great deal of work is being performed inside the edifice, constructing interior walls and installing mechanical and electrical systems.
The exterior stone and transparent marble curtain-walls are being currently fabricated off-site and are expected to reach the construction site by years’ end. Intense preparations are currently being made on the existing concrete structure, such as applications of finishes and waterproofing, miscellaneous steel and mullion installation, etc, in order to receive the stone and marble wall panels as soon as they will arrive at the site.
Finally, the elongated glass skylights have been installed around the roof dome, and it’s magnificence is definitely starting to take shape!
It’s been a high honor for me and my firm, Thornton Tomasetti, to have provided Structural and Facade Engineering services to the World -renowned Architect Santiago Calatrava on this uniquely designed house of worship, within the hollowed grounds of Ground Zero, in the heart of New York’s Financial District. We are starting to “see the light” at the end of the long tunnel, for the completion of this extraordinary project, and God-willing, we will be attending it’s consecration and grand opening, (or Thyranixia), to the glory of God and to the credit of many people who toiled very hard to see this, one of a kind edifice to its glorious completion.
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