| A New World Trade Center Site Plan |
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As a newly redesigned Freedom Tower has been revealed to the world yet again on
29 June 2005, and Donald Trump lobbies to rebuild the original WTC twin towers
only bigger and better, I have decided to make public an unsolicited
World Trade Center design plan that I offered to the LMDC and approximately
seventy publicly influential individuals (including Larry Silverstein) and
institutions on 14 January 2003. My plan was available before the announced
selection, on 27 February 2003, of the Libeskind masterplan. As his site plan
has evolved, the central tower resembles my concept more and more. My proposal
for the reconstruction of the site was designed specifically to respect with
reverence the wishes of the victims' families while revitalizing the
Lower Manhattan community and the economic and cultural strengths and symbolism
of New York City internationally.
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In reviewing my original submission and considering the many issues voiced in
the press by the community over the past two and a half years, I still believe
the overall concept fits well into the area and complements the skyline better
than the asymmetric lopped-off spiral of buildings in the Libeskind masterplan.
His concept is a perpetual reminder of disaster in the skyline spinning down
into the basin in which the original towers stood. It makes the city look
permanently damaged and scarred. It is not a forward, uplifting profile in
the skyline, even in the presence of the redesigned Freedom Tower. This
fundamental flaw is an issue with which the planners are evidently still
struggling since the LMDC public announcement (June 29, 2005) about the new
revised Freedom Tower emphasizes the need for classic elegance and symmetry
in the context of the development of the skyscaper in New York City planning.
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The proposal I presented in January 2003 commemorates the events of
September 11, 2001 within the interior spaces of the complex of buildings,
facing in towards the memorial plaza, yet in the skyline and from all directions
approaching the site the American spirit stands proud and resilient.
The building complex is classically symmetric yet sleek, assertive, and modern.
It symbolically refers to the city's continuous historic foundation on maritime
trade and the developments of modern transportation from the outside, while within
the memorial plaza area a full-scale image of the original WTC towers for the
visiting public makes constant reference to the tragic history of the site.
The surfaces of the two 80-story sail-shaped buildings, built around the
footprints of the Twin Towers, reproduce, for the plaza visitor at street level,
a full-scale vanishing-point perspective image of the original WTC towers
through a reverse box optical illusion. These same surfaces, under suitable
lighting conditions, also mirror each other and project the image of an original
tower overstanding the footprint. This pair of buildings enhances the
memorial site. Most importantly, the towers are designed to rise around the
perimeter of the original trade center footprints and do not encroach on
that space. Thus the buildings' surfaces function as an integral part of
the memorial space, while their interiors are adaptable for use as retail,
business, cultural or residential space according to community desires.
Michael Arad's 9/11 memorial fountains could easily be placed in the footprints
within my proposed site plan. I still find it ironic that the selected
memorial plan when viewed from certain overhead angles looks like the LMDC logo.
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As I reconsider the memorial spaces within the footprints of my original
plan I have come to the conclusion, based on issues raised by the
victims' families, that the South Tower footprint volume could be filled
with the victims' ash, now located at the Freshkills Landfill,
and a private meditative chamber for the families of the victims could be built.
The North Tower footprint would be reserved for the public memorial with an
area where a selection of significant artifacts from the tragic disaster
could be housed. Another, perhaps better solution to the proper resting
place for the remains of the victims may be placing them in the divided
earthen mound of the Liberty State Park September 11, 2001 Memorial,
located in New Jersey. The site is overwhelmingly beautiful and looks
toward the NYC skyline across the Hudson. Planting has already been
started of a memorial grove of trees for each New Jersey victim in an
area within the park. This is being supported with federal funding.
Presently, the memorial will be dedicated exclusively to the New Jersey
residents who perished that day at all three sites of the attacks.
The memorial design consists of two long parallel walls facing each other
that are aligned towards and frame the point where the World Trade Center
once stood in the skyline. These walls are slashes set in a great mound
of earth. The problem with this suggestion is that it requires the political
will to see it realized, especially since the purpose of the memorial has
already been assigned. If this option were to be realized, then both
footprint areas at the trade center site could be dedicated to contemplative
spaces, a chapel for the victims' families, a space for the preservation of
artifacts from the disaster, as well as a center for the study of the roots
of terrorist acts and their prevention.
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Safety issues were strongly considered in designing the shapes of these buildings.
The buildings taper so that they become significantly lighter the higher they rise.
The wide bases provide stability that is further enhanced by the increased number
of supporting sides. These buildings are extremely difficult to topple from
either above or below. Should disaster strike, they would tend to fall in on
themselves rather than out into the streets and plaza areas. The exits from
the buildings would mostly be directed out to the surrounding streets,
not the interior spaces between the members of the site complex.
The buildings are often set back from the street at distances far exceeding 50'.
Raised low-walled garden areas were designed to provide buffer protection
from terrorist attack attempts at street level while also providing a low
maintenance area where visitors may sit. The tallest building of the complex
was designed with the intent that the upper 20 stories or more would be
dedicated to building systems, communications broadcast equipment, and
large computer banks (in order to cool them and isolate the noise from
the rest of the building). The uppermost several stories would be dedicated
to a tourist observation deck, visitor center and scenic restaurant.
The population using these areas would mostly be of a transitional nature.
The lower legs of the tower could be used for a new opera house and concert
hall, with business offices above the public space venues. The base of
each leg of the tower encompasses half an acre.
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Part of the original plan extends into the Deutsche Bank site, with Liberty
street being diverted south. At the time the plan was proposed LMDC
had not purchased the property. Now that they own it, the plan is even
more realizable. If greater setbacks from the street are desirable,
the whole site plan could be scaled down a bit. However, this is somewhat
constrained by the fact that the twin memorial towers are supposed to
completely touch the borders of the southwest edges of the former WTC footprints.
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Another safety as well as economic issue which I have reconsidered with
regard to the original proposal is the use of the mini-block low-rise
residential property suggested between the new Greenwich and
Church Streets and between Fulton and Vesey. These areas could remain as
open park land around Calatrava's commuter transit station.
It would make the area safer, more community friendly and reduce the
chances of creating unoccupied floorspace. In my original plan, the
position of this new commuter hub had been open green space with multiple
access-egress points to the PATH and subway below. Calatrava's station
would best fit aesthetically into the mega block plan if it were rotated
counter-clockwise a bit from its present alignment. The twin memorial
buildings could become complete local communities with street accessible
huge retail malls and residential apartments on the upper levels,
as in the Trump Tower. Double height ceiling restaurants in the
skylighted tips of the buildings looking over towards the World Financial Center
and down West Avenue towards Battery Park would be very attractive.
The galleria commuter hub of the original plan would now be converted
into a covered garden atrium allowing all-weather, people friendly passage
between the two structures.
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When designing this site concept, I tried to bear in mind the multiple
levels of social need characteristic of this tragic historic site:
respect the families of the victims; respect the community's desire
for a more town-like environment; build on New York City's historic
significance in finance, trade and cultural exchange; focus on the
commuter needs which contribute to the local economy; and renew the
long-distance skyline presence the former WTC towers had in the
surrounding communities. The design elements are meant to recall
the profiles of the tall ships of NYC's harbor trade history,
and the steel cable of our nation's most beautiful bridges. This design
proposal does rebuild the towers, virtually. But most importantly, the
buildings are aligned to re-create the keyhole view of the Woolworth Building
that was visible between the original twin towers clear across the
Hudson to the New Jersey shore at Liberty State Park. The plan restores
a small surprising spot of beauty from the former WTC skyline in memory
of what was standing there.
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The plan booklet has been revised for the web issue.
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The backgound art work of this editorial introduction is made of
selected photographs from my site plan models.
The tall tower model is approximately 50" high.
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