DHAKA: An expert committee of architects is set to announce whether New York’s new World Trade Center tower or Chicago’s Willis Tower is the tallest building in the United States.

The Height Committee of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat is expected to announce its decision Tuesday morning in Chicago, reports The Straits Times.

The committee is recognized as the final arbiter of building heights around the world. It has been weighing whether a design change means the needle atop 1 World Trade Center is part of the actual building or merely the equivalent of a broadcast antenna.

The tower built on the site of the September 11, 2001, attacks is a symbolically important 1,776 feet tall with the 408-foot needle.

BDST: 1536 HRS, NOV 12, 2013
RoR/BSK