The folks at Silverstein Properties invited me to join a tour of the World Trade Center showroom on the 10th floor of 7 World Trade Center. There are exhibits not unlike you’d find at a museum telling the story of the area’s rebuilding—and terrific views of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub and down toward the 9/11 Memorial. If you click on the second photo, you’ll see that the northeastern corner of the memorial—currently fenced off—sure looks ready for unveiling.

And I was fascinated by this roadway—and freight entrance for 1 World Trade Center?—that you don’t really notice on the ground.

There were individual models of the Silverstein towers (1WTC is the Port Authority’s building). Since 4 World Trade Center is already built, I didn’t dawdle over it. But I found the ones for 2 and 3 interesting; models give a better sense than renderings of the buildings’ scale and shape.

Norman Foster’s design for 2 World Trade Center (below), however, appears to be up in the air, as Rupert Murdoch’s 20th Century Fox and News Corporation would insist on significant changes if they rent there. Indeed, the Wall Street Journal just reported that the companies have brought in Danish architect Bjarke Ingels.

Construction on 3 World Trade Center (below), meanwhile, has reached the 15th of what will ultimately be 80 floors. The tower is scheduled to be done in 2018 and, according to that Wall Street Journal article, it’s 20% leased. There are renderings galore at 3wtc.com.

(Here’s a photo of 3WTC from over the weekend, just so you know it when you see it.)

We turned a corner to find a model of the entire complex. Here it is from the west.

And I annotated a version—because I’d wager that many folks aren’t quite clear on which building is where.

As I noted a few weeks ago, the sense of place is really starting to develop. What the area really needs is access from the north (beyond the lone one along West Street).