Where do you see yourself in a year, two years, five years?

On a beach, a bike, in the woods or -----

The widely recognized postwar modern exteriors of the 55-year-old steel and glass Secretariat tower and its companion General Assembly Hall have aged well, but inside, the years have taken their toll. The $1.876 billion project is scheduled to take five years.

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
This decade-long search has ended now with a decision to begin a five-year, $1.876 billion renovation of the complex in the spring and to house the 2,600 people who must move out in rented space in Manhattan, across the East River in Long Island City and a temporary conference building on the United Nations campus.

...Hesham Mohamed Eman Afifi, an Egyptian diplomat, said at budget committee hearings last month that the only element of the project that had stayed on schedule was the periodic bill received by member states.

...The author of the new plan is Michael Adlerstein, 62, an affable Brooklyn-born former National Park Service architect involved in the preservations of Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, the New York Botanical Garden and the Taj Mahal and a man with 20 years of experience dealing with lawmakers in Washington.

...“I think there is now a general tone that I have found of total support to get this thing done,” he said. “I’ve been dealing with many of the member states on a one-to-one basis — the U.S. one of them — and I have found nothing but support.”

...He is unfazed by the problems that have plagued past plans.

...“I took the job because it’s an ideal challenge for an architect at this point in my career,” he said. “It’s an iconic building of great stature in the world. You can show a picture of this building to people in remote, rural locations in the world and everyone will know it.”

...While the famous exteriors will be unchanged, the insides will be brought up to 21st century standards of efficiency and security and reconfigured to consume 40 percent less energy.

...The glass curtain wall will be replaced by a heavily laminated one that appears identical but is far stronger and able to withstand the blast of a bomb attack.

...“Skanska has its audits,” he said. “We have our own audits. There are several different levels of oversight to make sure this is done right. It will be done right. There’s too much money at risk here not to do it right.”

...The cost of the project will be borne by the 192 member states in supplementary annual dues over the five-year period, with the United States responsible for 22 percent, or $413 million. The United Nations has leased office floors in a building at 305 East 46th Street and is negotiating for space nearby and in Lower Manhattan and Long Island City.

NPR AUDIO

Morning Edition, September 27, 2007 · U.N. headquarters was built 55 years ago, and there haven't been many improvements in the building since then. But next spring, a makeover will begin, with a price tag of nearly $2 billion.