The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced February 4 that the designs created by the team known as THINK, led by architects Rafael Viñoly and Frederic Schwartz, and another by Studio Daniel Libeskind will go forward as finalists in the plans to redevelop Ground Zero. Both schemes call for towers that are taller than the original World Trade Center buildings, preserve the footprints of the original towers, and dedicate the upper portions of the structures to the victims of September 11.

Representatives of the LMDC, the Port Authority, New York Gov. George E. Pataki, and New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg reached a consensus decision on the evening of February 3. The group chose the two finalists from a field of nine designs, which were released in mid-December. The officials evaluated the designs based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative factors, including feasibility, suitability for a memorial, phasing, connectivity to Lower Manhattan, private development, cost, irresolvable and resolvable issues, and public comments. They also analyzed each plan for compatibility with transportation and infrastructure upgrades.

What next?
The two teams will now work with the LMDC to refine their plans and provide additional information, leading up to the selection of a single design concept and its underlying transportation, infrastructure, and land-use plan. Officials say the finalist will be selected by the end of the month. Both of the plans center their designs on a memorial to the victims of the September 11 attacks.

“Ground Zero should emerge from this tragedy as the first truly Global Center, a place where people can gather to celebrate cultural diversity in peaceful and productive coexistence,” the THINK team wrote in its project description. “Finding the proper balance between the two main objectives of the project—remembrance and redevelopment—depends on the way in which investment in the public infrastructure contributes to the renewal of Lower Manhattan . . . An inspired plan will rededicate our City to the ideals of diversity, democracy, and optimism that have made New York the world’s center for the exchange not only of goods and services, but also of creativity and culture.” THINK’s “World Cultural Center” design calls for two 1,665-foot latticework structures, which many say recall the 110-story twin towers and the Eiffel Tower.

In his proposal, Libeskind writes, “To acknowledge the terrible deaths which occurred on this site, while looking to the future with hope, seemed like two moments which could not be joined. I sought to find a solution which would bring these seemingly contradictory viewpoints into an unexpected unity. So, I went to look at the site, to stand within it, to see people walking around it, to feel its power, and to listen to its voices. And this is what I heard, felt, and saw.” His plan calls for a 1,776-foot garden-filled spire, symbolizing the year of American independence, and would incorporate the slurry walls 70 feet underground that survived the collapse.

New York New Visions, a coalition of architects and planners, applauded the way in which the LMDC approached the revised design program. The coalition urged decision-makers to take time to examine the proposals in terms of feasibility, impact, and benefits to all stakeholders.

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