Nine new proposals to replace WTC towers unveiled

NEW YORK -- Nine competing designs for the World Trade Center site were unveiled Wednesday, with several of them boldly proposing that the city answer the Sept. 11 terrorist attack by erecting the tallest skyscrapers on Earth.

Four of the plans for ground zero call for topping Malaysia's 1,483-foot Petronas Twin Towers. One envisions a 2,100-foot skyscraper, while another proposes a 1,776-foot tower topped with a spire. The World Trade Center's twin towers measured 1,350 feet.

"A skyscraper rises above its predecessors, restoring the spiritual peak of the city, creating an icon that speaks to our vitality in the face of danger and our optimism in the aftermath of tragedy," said Berlin-based architect Daniel Libeskind, who offered one such plan. "Life victorious."

The Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the agency created to oversee the rebuilding, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the land, are expected to choose one of the designs -- or a combination of them -- by Jan. 31.

All the designs call for a memorial to the 2,792 people who died in the attack. The ideas for a memorial include twin reflecting pools and a "Park of Heroes." A memorial design will be chosen separately, in an international contest next year.

Gov. George Pataki praised the plans, saying they "really reflect what we want to show the world."

Mixed feelings

However, victims' relatives said it was hard to imagine anyone wanting to work in skyscrapers there, or even look up at them.

"Initially, I have to say it does bother me, but that's a reality that we'll have to come to grips with," said Bruce DeCell, whose son-in-law worked on the 92nd floor of the trade center's north tower. "Hopefully these towers will be built with the proper technology because of the skepticism that has emerged now about taller buildings."

The plans for rebuilding the site and surrounding neighborhood came from seven teams of architects from Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Tokyo, New York and Los Angeles, and were selected from 407 submissions. One team whose drawings were chosen submitted three plans.

A first set of plans released in July was derided as boring and overstuffed with office space.

The new proposals take a variety of approaches to the 16-acre site. They include towers that "kiss" and gardens in the sky.

"These are designs not only for our time but for all time," said John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. "They must transcend the present, to speak to our children and to their children ... to send an immortal message."

One of the plans suggests five 1,111-foot skyscrapers, connected by arches.

"In my view, taller is not better," said the plan's architect, Richard Meier, who designed the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. "Everybody who builds the tallest building in the world has it for about 15 seconds."

London-based Foster and Partners proposed a unique "twinned tower," a 1,764-foot skyscraper that would divide into two parts but "kiss" at three points to create public space and observation decks.

Libeskind, who designed Berlin's Jewish Museum, proposed a 1,776-foot tower and a museum at the epicenter of ground zero.

United Architects opted for five futuristic connected buildings creating "a veil" around a memorial. Observers would go below ground zero and look up into the sky as part of the memorial.

In the 15 months since the attack, many have debated whether the city should erect a skyscraper the same scale as the trade center. Some have warned that such a tower could be an inviting target to terrorists, and have questioned whether anyone would want to work in such a building.

The proposals were required to include 6.5 million to 10 million square feet of office space on the trade center site -- plus a hotel and mall -- and up to 3.5 million square feet of commercial space at its perimeter.

The designs will be on public display through Feb. 2 at the Winter Garden near ground zero.

ON THE NET

LMDC: www.renewnyc.org