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Construction on the 19th-century church destroyed on 9/11 is finally underway. A recently-released round of renderings shows the beautiful new St. Nicholas National Shrine, which will replace the former St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. Church officials have said they hope the new structure will be open by late 2016. It will join two other newly opened Financial District sites: Fulton Center and One World Trade Center.
Architect Santiago Calatrava’s attention-grabbing design for the space relies almost primarily on white marble and, most strikingly, will (actually) glow-in-the-dark—the light marble is infused with glass and backlit with LEDs. Reactions to architect Santiago Calatrava’s redesigned church has been overwhelming positive (Calatrava is also behind the World Trade Center transit hub, which is still under construction). Take a closer look at the $38 million construction project in the video below, and see how the 21st century design was influenced by designs dating as far back as the 6th century.