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Latest plan for WTC site
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A multi-faceted setting for a memorial, including a 1,776-foot-tall spire-topped office tower, is the spiritual heart of the master plan selected for the World Trade Center site by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.
The design scheme -- the work of Polish-born American architect Daniel Libeskind -- preserves, in part, the existing slurry wall of the World Trade Center foundation as the background for the site's memorial. The plan also provides for significant transportation and cultural centers on-site, with the goal of knitting the site back into the City's fabric.
The February 27 announcement of the plan at the Winter Garden represented the culmination of a process that began with the creation of the LMDC in November 2001 and has intensified since -- especially over the last 10 weeks. LMDC now must turn to the challenging task of continuing to perfect the site plan, balancing both public and private interests as it works to make the new complex a reality.
The various officials present at the announcement pledged to work together and with the public, and suggested that five years from now great strides will have been made, in the form of buildings on the ground surrounding an extensive network of public infrastructure and amenities.
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| John Whitehead dubs the new plan a "piazza for New York" |
The memorial will be buffered from the bustle of the City by tree-lined promenades and a museum and visitor center. This interpretive facility will occupy the southwest corner of the intersection created when Fulton and Greenwich Streets are extended across the WTC site for the first time since the early 1960s; the intersection will become what LMDC chairman John Whitehead called a "a 21st-century piazza for New York and the people of the world." The other corners will be anchored by a cultural facility (possibly an opera house or museum), the much-discussed transportation center for downtown, and an international hotel and conference center.
The signature building will abut the cultural facility, filling the remainder of the block immediately north of Fulton Street. The soaring spire at its top will, in a sense, mirror the torch of the Statue of Liberty -- the New York Harbor landmark that impressed Libeskind when he arrived here from Poland as a child. In the materials that accompanied his plans, Libeskind wrote that his work was very much informed by the spirit of freedom that the statue represents.
Addressing a packed audience as part of a roster of speakers that included the City and state's highest officials, Libeskind said he was honored that his proposed had been selected. He thanked "the people of New York, people of America, people of the world for the extraordinary passion they have shown for the future of the City." Noting that New York "really is the capital of the world," the architect also proudly reminded the audience of his Big Apple bona fides: he was raised in the Bronx and educated at Bronx High School of Science and the Cooper Union.
While a number of additions, deletions and modification have been made since Libeskind's plan was named a finalist on February 4, probably the most significant was the elevation of the 'bathtub' floor. Initially, the architect had proposed leaving the 70-foot-deep foundation untouched, but structural and other considerations required that the floor be raised to about 30 feet deep.
The Libeskind plan meets various key considerations repeatedly stressed by rebuilding officials. It provides a fitting setting for an inspiring memorial; it works to reconnect the site to adjacent neighborhoods; it places on site a significant transportation center for Lower Manhattan and it creates a new icon at the southern end of the city's skyline.
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| Selected architect Libeskind explains his plan |
The Libeskind plan does not include a memorial to the events of 9/11. A memorial will be selected through an extensive international design competition, which is expected to begin this spring. Libeskind said that he provided the "maximum option" for designers by leaving a relatively large parcel of about 4.7 acres as a memorial setting. And his plan includes commemorative elements, such as the exposed slurry wall, the adjacent spire and the lauded "wedge of light," so called because the buildings are to be angled so that the intersection of Fulton and Greenwich Streets will be flooded with unimpeded sunlight for almost two hours every September 11.
The plan also complements New York City's long-term plans for ensuring that the site will be surrounded by lively residential and business communities. "We think the Libeskind plan integrates well with [Mayor Michael Bloomberg's] plan for Lower Manhattan -- absolutely," said deputy mayor Daniel Doctoroff following the announcement.
At the announcement, officials addressed the throng of their colleagues, reporters and invited guests at the World Financial Center, with onlookers massed at the railing on the Winter Garden's upper level, overlooking the staging area. That Libeskind was selected came as no surprise to many; the decision by the mayor, Governor George Pataki, and LMDC and Port Authority officials had been finalized the previous evening, and word of the choice graced newscasts last night and newspapers this morning.
The other, unselected finalist, winnowed from a field that originally numbered seven, was the Think consortium, comprising architects Rafael Viñoly, Frederic Schwartz, Shigeru Ban, and Ken Smith. Officials praised their efforts along with work of all the architects. Roland Betts, who led the LMDC site-plan committee, confirmed published reports that as the final decision loomed, he had a "personal preference" for the Think plan. But Betts underscored that "the LMDC board subcommittee felt both plans were extraordinary" and that "the decision to go with Libeskind was a good one…. There was really no way to lose on this day."
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| Governor Pataki calls the day "symbolic" |
"This is a great day for New York and a symbolic day for America," said Pataki from the podium, praising the plan and also the way different constituencies worked together to reach it. Several officials, including Mayor Bloomberg, praised LMDC's efforts to involve the public. In that everyone in New York seemed to have an opinion -- and a passionately held one -- the process "perfectly embodied the vitality and dynamism of New York," the mayor said.
Representatives of community and civic organizations reacted favorably to the announcement. While suggesting that the plan could be further refined, representatives of Community Board 1, the WTC Residents Coalition and the Municipal Art Society all suggested that the Libeskind plan was a good starting point.
The next steps remain to be determined. The Port Authority has already begun work on transit and other infrastructure improvements that must be completed in any event. At the same time, officials still have to decide on the full extent of that infrastructure, the balance of retail space above and below ground, and a host of other considerations.
But while much work remains to be done, there was a distinctly triumphant mood at the Winter Garden this morning.
"This is all part of an ongoing dialogue, one that will accelerate now that we have a stake in the ground," Doctoroff told reporters. "What we have today is the core of what will be. Everyone's perspective of this has shifted in the last 17 months -- since 9/11 -- and it will continue to shift. But we have reached a major milestone today, and I think we should celebrate that."
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