The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation today announced that some of the world’s most talented architects and planners will come together this fall to participate in a design study of the World Trade Center site and adjacent areas. Six teams were chosen from among 407 submissions, representing 34 nations. The six teams include a total of 27 different firms, individual architects and artists who count among their accomplishments such works as the Getty Center in Los Angeles; the Jewish Museum in Berlin; the Morgan Stanley World Headquarters in New York; the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki; MoMa Queens in Long Island City; and the Yokohama International Port Terminal in Japan.
“These architects and planners represent some of the best and brightest minds in the world - and New York deserves nothing less,” Governor Pataki said. “The rebuilding of the World Trade Center site is one of the most important projects ever undertaken in our nation’s history. What happened on September 11th affected not only the United States, but the entire world and all those who cherish freedom. It’s appropriate and inspiring that architects and planners from many different countries are now coming to together to help rebuild New York City.”
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said, "I am pleased that we have been able to attract the caliber of excellence exhibited by the group assembled here today. In response to the public's comments, the LMDC expanded the search for the most innovative architects and planners in the world to participate
in a new urban design study regarding the future of the WTC site. We will continue to take our time during the planning process and seek ideas from wherever they come so that together, we can create a Lower Manhattan of the future that surpasses everyone's expectations."
LMDC Chairman John C. Whitehead said, “The LMDC has reached out around the globe to bring the best minds in design together with the many planners who have been working to rebuild and revitalize Lower Manhattan. We believe the end results will reflect the great potential of the World Trade Center site and all the surrounding areas.”
LMDC President Louis R. Tomson said, “We are extremely pleased with the quality of these six teams – they represent the finest architects and planners from around the world. The public demanded bold and creative visions for the future of Lower Manhattan and this new talent ensures that we will deliver on our promise. The forward-thinking leaders at New York New Visions played an invaluable role in the selection of thoughtful panelists, and in turn, the panelists took their responsibilities the full course by choosing an outstanding and innovative group of professionals.”
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Executive Director Joseph J. Seymour said, "The rebirth of the World Trade Center site is an unprecedented undertaking. The issues involved are extremely complex. All of these professionals will work with the Port Authority and LMDC to spark a spectacular renaissance across Lower Manhattan."
Executive Director of the Founding Chapter of the American Institute of Architects Rick Bell said, “The selection process by which the six firms were chosen represents an historic moment. The panel of peers recommended by New York New Visions has picked a diverse group of architects and designers who are linked by the quality of their prior work, their inclination to take risks and their demonstrated ability to think in new and different ways. We hope and expect to see design concepts that are significantly different from each other and which engage the publics’ desire for design excellence and which lead to open dialogue between all parties involved in the rebuilding effort.”
Design Study
The six teams will each receive a $40,000 stipend to work on creating plans for the site and surrounding areas based on new, more flexible program requirements being developed by the LMDC and Port Authority. Among the new program requirements will be a range of commercial space, a preference for honoring the footprints as part of the memorial space, a powerful skyline element, the creation of a grand promenade on West Street, and the exploration of residential housing on or off the site.
LMDC and PA will continue to work with consultant teams previously engaged on the project, including Peterson Littenberg Architecture and Urban Design, and they too will be invited to participate in the design study. At the end of the study, LMDC and the PA will select the most promising ideas from those generated during the study, and invite those firms to work with LMDC and PA’s consultants to refine and develop the ideas into site plan proposals.
By the end of the year, the LMDC and PA will present at least three new bold site plan proposals for public review. A final land use plan is expected to be released in Spring 2003.
The Selection Process
New York New Visions, a coalition of 21 architecture, engineering, planning, landscape architecture and design organizations, recommended a distinguished group of six panelists to winnow down the 407 submissions to a group of finalists. The panelists included Toshiko Mori, Chair of the Department of Architecture, Harvard Design School; Eugenie L. Birch, Professor and Chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania; Richard N. Swett, former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark and the only licensed architect to serve in the US Congress in the 20th Century; Kinshasha Holman Conwill, an arts and management consultant and Director Emeritus of the Studio Museum of Harlem; Terence Riley, Chief Curator of the Department of Architecture and Design, Museum of Modern Art; Michael Van Valkenburgh, landscape architect and principal of Van Valkenburgh Associates.
Out of the finalists, the LMDC selected the following individuals and firms to work on the design study:
Previous Work:
- Jewish Museum, Berlin, Germany
- Imperial War Museum, Manchester, England
- Extension to the Denver Art Museum and Co-Development, Denver, Colorado
Quote from Submission:
“The act of building is an entirely optimistic one and New York deserves, despite and because of the tragedy of September 11th, to have an architecture which is exciting, thought provoking and innovative.”
Excerpt from Review Panel Report
“True to his words, architect Daniel Libeskind brings to this very complex and important project a depth of understanding and empathy that he has demonstrated throughout his career. His ability to inspire profound critical discourse through his ability to use complex and layered sets of references for an architectural discourse will prove an original and responsive approach to the design.”
*****
Previous Work:
- New German Parliament, Reichstag, Berlin, Germany
- Commerzbank Headquarters, Frankfurt, Germany
- Swiss Re Headquarters, London, England
- Metro System, Bilbao, Spain
Quote from Submission:
“New York deserves something great. Something which looks to the future with an enduring and classic quality, which will become a symbol once again for the city itself and the optimism and cohesiveness of the inhabitants of New York City and the American people.”
Excerpt from Review Panel Report
“Lord Foster of Foster Partners of London, UK has a longstanding reputation of design excellence in building design, urban design and transportation projects. In spite of their large size, they have consistently addressed concerns for the physical context through their involved interpretation of the spiritual and material needs of the people who inhabit their designs. The result has been the creation of award winning projects all around the globe that are sensitive to the culture and climate of their locations. This sensitivity is especially applicable to and required by the World Trade Center design study. The broad collection of talent and experience encompassed by this firm will make a significant and innovative contribution.”
****
Previous Work:
Richard Meier
• The Getty Center, Los Angeles, California
• Federal Building and United State Courthouse, Islip, New York
Peter Eisenman
• Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio
• Paramatta Rail Link, Sydney, Australia
Charles Gwathmey
• Morgan Stanley and Co., World Headquarters, New York, New York
• Guggenheim Museum, Renovation and Addition, New York, New York
Steven Holl
• Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
• New Residential Community, Schipol, The Netherlands
Quote from Submission:
“We view design as a discovery process that begins with a rigorous inquiry into the particulars of location and program that results in an evolution, transforming problem-solving into art.”
Excerpt from Review Panel Report:
“Despite their international renown, this proposed collaboration reflects the principals’ personal and professional concerns for and commitment to their adopted hometown. Well known for their signature designs around the globe, the proposed collaboration holds the potential for an as-of-yet unrealized greater collective effort. In their confluences and differences of opinion, the team represents the city’s aspirations for an open debate in the service of architectural excellence.”
****
Reiser Umemoto (New York, NY); Foreign Office Architects (London, England); Greg Lynn FORM (Los Angeles, CA); Imaginary Forces (New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA); Kevin Kenon Architect (New York, NY); UN Studio (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Previous Projects:
• Lehman Brothers Headquarters, 745 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York ((Imaginary Forces)
• Yokohama International Port Terminal, Yokohama, Japan (Foreign Office Architects)
• Transformation of Kleiburg Housing, Biklmermeet, The Netherlands (Gregg Lynn FORM)
Quote from Submission:
“The terrible destruction of the World Trade Center site created both an imperative for commemoration and the need for development. Ground Zero is the last place any of us want to think about as a ‘project’, the last place any of us want to see ‘developed’, in that cynical, shortsighted manner that the word has come to mean. And now it has to be the first question.”
Excerpt from Review Panel Report:
“This mutually complimentary, multinational team, (American, British, Dutch, Iranian, Japanese and Spanish) assembles some of world’s the most innovative and inventive young designers and architects to address the daunting challenges of this project. Possessing a broad range of expertise in theory, research, planning, engineering, infrastructure, transportation, residential, commercial and landscape design, this group is also universally recognized as the cutting edge users of advanced computer technology in design. With their ability to collect and analyze data, integrate knowledge, and develop design in a short amount of time, these visionaries will employ digital technology as an inventive tool and media for communication to bring forth and reinstate the progressive ideals of contemporary society.”.”
****
with
Field Operations (Philadelphia, PA and New York, NY),
Tom Leader (Berkeley, CA),
Michael Maltzan (Los Angeles, CA),
Neutelings Riedijk (Rotterdam, Netherlands),
and SANAA (Tokyo, Japan)
together with artists Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, Rita McBride, Jessica Stockholder and Elyn Zimmerman.
Previous Work:
• New Pennsylvania Station, New York, New York (1998-2005, unbuilt) (SOM)
• MoMA QNS, Long Island City, New York ((Michael Maltzan)
• Gifu Kitakata Housing Stage 1, Stage 2, Motosu, Japan (Sanaa)
Quote from Submission:
“Like New York, our design team is at once global and local, visionary and practical, mindful of history and willing to question it.”
Excerpt from Review Panel Report:
“Recognizing New York as a “city of contrasts,” the team led by SOM seeks to “reconcile the spiritual and the pragmatic, meaning and purpose.” Their combined talents represent a diverse range of artistic and design disciplines, generational perspectives, and cultural backgrounds. The team has the potential to harness effectively fresh and unexpected thinking with the considerable resources of a global corporate firm. Rather than a single unified solution it is hoped that such a team can approximate the complexity, vitality and sophistication of the culture of Lower Manhattan.”.
****
Shigeru Ban (Tokyo, Japan),
Frederic Schwartz (New York, NY),
Ken Smith (New York, NY),
Rafael Vinoly (New York, NY)
with
ARUP (New York, NY)
Buro Happold Engineers (Bath, England),
Jorg Schlaich (Stuttgart, Germany),
William Moorish (Charlottesville, VA),
David Rockwell (New York, NY),
Janet Marie Smith (Baltimore, MD)
Previous Work:
• Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo, Japan (Rafael Vinoly)
• Curtain Wall House, Itabashi-Ku, Tokyo, Japan (Shigeru Ban)
• Whitehall Ferry Terminal and Peter Minuit Plaza, New York, New York (Frederic Schwartz)
Quote from Submission:
“The role of memory in the construction of our City is as crucial as the proof of its constant renewal. The central problem of this project is not simply how best to remember those that perished in this tragedy but how to make their memory the inspiration for a better future.“
Excerpt from Review Panel Report:
“The core team consists of an experienced and highly regarded downtown architect and a landscape architect joined by an innovative young architect of international renown and an architect with a large New York City firm. Support from international experts in sustainability and engineering and other design consultants gives additional resources for this project. This energetic and comprehensive team structure allows a complex series of multilateral and multidimensional issues to filter through their creative design process. Imaginative and realistic in its role as an advocate for the community to promote excellence in architecture and design, this team understands the monumental task at hand.”
LMDC also announced that the review panel also identified seven semi-finalists in the shortlist for this Innovative Design Study. The review panel remarked that: “While the challenge of reviewing more than 400 entries seemed initially daunting, the quality of the responses, the high level of skill, expertise, imagination and talent represented by those who submitted, and the spirit of the thinking reflected in the statements was invigorating and auspicious. The panel left the three days of deliberations decidedly encouraged by the potential work these teams might produce.”
The seven semi-finalists include:
Quote from Submission:
“We understand the ‘big picture’ of changing Lower Manhattan and will invent new typologies to promote mix of uses. We can intelligently use Green Architecture and Engineering to advance an environmental agenda.”
Excerpt from Review Panel Report:
This team, headed by Ken Greenberg, a Toronto urban designer and planner incorporates architectsAlliance of Toronto and Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner of Stuttgart, Germany; who have major architectural practices that have built award-winning projects recognized for their design excellence and proven attentiveness to environmental and green concerns. The team is complemented by the New York engineering firms of Mueser Rutledge, who is repairing the so-called bath tub that they originally designed to hold back the waters of the Hudson from the WTC site, and ARU. Collectively their urban vision embraces landscape, environmentalism, and infrastuctural engineering as well as a design process that actively involves the public. Their goal is towards a livable public realm—a civic potential that also affords a memorial that adequately recognizes the loss of life on this site on September 11, 2001.
* *
Quote from Submission:
“People are key generators in what we do: improving the quality of life for a city’s citizens is our ultimate aim.”
Excerpt from Review Panel Report:
Ian Simpson Architects was part of a multi-disciplinary team that won the international competition to develop the master plan for the city of Manchester after a 1996 IRA bombing. Their experience in working with the complex intersections of urban planning, local and central government, and the lives of ordinary citizens devastated by tragedy make them especially apt candidates. Their interests in sustainability, mixed-use development, housing, and transportation make for a potentially potent combination of skills to bring to a project as complex as the WTC design study.
* *
Quote from Submission:
“The design vision must be ecumenical and egalitarian - - it needs to hear and re-echo the voices of America.”
Excerpt from Review Panel Report:
This team brings together a dynamic and unusual mix of experience in international urban architecture and design, performing arts, film production, and museum design. Eric Owen Moss Architects’ projects include master planning and corporate headquarters, cultural institutions, museums and exhibitions, and multi-unit housing. Coop Himmelb(l)au, founded in Vienna in 1998, with offices in Los Angeles and Guadalajara, created the master plan for the city of Melun-Sénart in France. Peter Sellars has directed over 100 productions, with a specialty in 20th century opera, and has collaborated with a range of artists from composer John Adams to the late poet June Jordan.
* *
Quote from Submission:
“What is rebuilt at the World Trade Center site cannot be the megalomaniacal dreams of narcissistic architects. Rather the rebuilding must reflect a collective vision of our future.”
Excerpt from Review Panel Report:
Possessing a strong record of prize-winning accomplishments in open space, transportation, waterfront regeneration and individual public building design, this team provides a unique opportunity to profit from their thoughtful approaches to urban development. Their projects have direct relevance to the many issues confronting the World Trade Center site. The Parc de la Villette features well-ordered open space with sites for significant cultural facilities. The Lausanne Master Plan and Railway and Bus Station demonstrate a capacity to execute a complex transit hub. The Cite de la Mediterrannee (in planning stages) employs a “Las Ramblas” boulevard to link an entertainment, cultural, office, and tourist functions.
* *
Quote from Submission:
“Through a process of artistic and technical investigation, the firm’s chief seeks an architecture that exhibits simplicity and serenity of space while allowing a dramatic expression of the structure.”
Excerpt from Review Panel Report:
Santiago Calatrava offers a unique integration of engineering and design principles. His works for transportation and other infrastructure projects monumentalize and dignify the daily life and function of the city. Highly emotive, his architecture aspires to embody both individual expression as well as universal principles. In a world more defined by its divisions, his work offers a vision of expressing the wholeness of society.
* *
Quote from Submission:
“The rebuilding of the World Trade Center site can draw on the emerging phenomenon of collective mobility, contemporary culture and its affects on the traditional structure of this particular place, while allowing us to speculate on the form of those aspects of urbanism which reach beyond local conditions into a world-wide matrix of socio-cultural, economic and technological innovation.”
Excerpt from Review Panel Report:
Led by the New York City firm, Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects, this interdisciplinary team includes Julie Bargmann, landscape architect; Ralph Lerner, urban designer and Sam Schwartz Company, one of New York City’s pre-eminent traffic and transportation engineering firms. They acknowledge their deep desire to respect the sacredness of the World Trade Center site as well as their appreciation of the public’s desire to re-instate a well-designed and inspiring skyline that will become a future icon of the city.
* *
Quote from Submission:
“The urban design solution addresses the totality of a site – the buildings, landscape, infrastructure, balancing the creativity of the design vision with the discipline of rational problem-solving and project execution.”
Excerpt from Review Panel Report:
Combining the skills of urban design, landscape architecture and city planning, this team has extensive experience in transformative, urban projects ranging from those of international and ceremonial significance to those of local and neighborhood import, all conditions that encompass the anticipated World Trade Center design. That this team has an understanding of how the public realm frames urban development is demonstrated in their work: the Beijing Olympic district and the Shanghai City Square district that blends open space and mixed use development; the Philadelphia Schuykhill River Gateway project that knits together two distinct parts of a city.
