At Last, Designs That Will Stand the Test of Time

Few architectural events have elicited as great a public frenzy as the unveiling of nine new proposals for the ground zero site in Manhattan. But this time the quality of the designs merits the attention.

The proposals offer the first visions for the site’s future that can both do justice to the memory of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and elevate Manhattan’s architectural landscape to new heights. Almost all the schemes represent a level of thought that has so far been missing in the selection process. The best of them are powerful expressions of loss and renewal. They are examples of what a first-rate creative imagination can accomplish when given the freedom to experiment.

The unveiling capped a two-month competition among seven teams that included some of the world’s most celebrated architectural talents. The teams range from United Architects -- a group made up of some of the profession’s youngest stars -- to more established voices such as the British Modernist Norman Foster.

In terms of pure visual impact, the United Architects proposal ranks at the top of the list. The team -- all architects in their late 30s or early 40s -- includes Los Angeles-based Greg Lynn, Reiser Umemoto of New York, and Ben van Berkel and Catherine Bos of UN Studio in Rotterdam.

The design starts with an enormous void -- 75 feet deep -- that connects the footprints of the former Trade Center towers and encloses a memorial park. Five asymmetrical towers wrap around two sides of this space, their faceted, splayed forms bulging at the core to create a continuous band that links them 60 stories above ground.

Connecting the buildings has a practical function: It gives them a high degree of structural stability while providing an endless variety of escape routes to the ground. But it also allows the designers to create a compelling architectural narrative. Broad ramps lead down into the void. Above, the towers’ forms join to create a series of enormous Gothic arches. The openings frame remarkable views of the cityscape.

Allowing for Evolution

The abstraction of the forms, however, would also allow for the meaning of that narrative to shift over time. The procession down into the void, for example, suggests a descent into the grave; the view back up through arches evokes a sense of spiritual renewal. Decades from now, that sequence of experiences will inevitably become less charged. What will remain is the beauty of the forms, a testament to the durability of the creative spirit.

How the architecture’s symbolic meaning will evolve, in fact, is critical to evaluating the success of each project. The design by the Berlin-based architect Daniel Libeskind, for example, echoes many of the components of the United Architects plan. The memorial site -- this one six acres in size -- is carved out of the ground. A composition of low- and high-rise buildings frames the site’s northern and eastern edges. A pedestrian promenade sweeps over West Street, linking the site to the World Financial Center.

Where Libeskind’s and United Architects’ projects differ is in their expressive intent. In Libeskind’s version, the pit is literally scraped clean, exposing both the raw bedrock underneath Manhattan and two massive slurry walls that seal the underground site off from the Hudson River. The cube-like glass form of a memorial museum leans out over the void. Above, the towers’ angular forms enclose a series of wedge-shaped parks that pierce the site from various sides.

The result is a work of remarkable, almost brutal intensity. The jagged towers rise out of a base of lower buildings, giving the composition a human scale. A single sliver-like tower -- conceived as a vertical garden -- soars 1,776 feet from a corner of the site. But the void dominates the design, creating a permanent reminder of the unspeakable acts that took place there.

By comparison, the delicate, abstract forms of a scheme by Norman Foster seem an apparition from an earlier age. At 67, Foster has established himself as a leader of high-tech Modernism, and his design has the kind of dignity and restraint one would expect from an established old master. Two slender towers -- about 40 stories taller than the original twin towers -- anchor the site’s eastern edge, their faceted glass forms so close together that they seem to be caressing each other. The rest of the site is transformed into a park that filters out to the waterfront. The footprints of the former twin towers sink into the ground, evoking the memory of the towers’ absence. Of all the schemes, this one is the most subdued. The voids, though a powerful gesture, do not dominate the design. The towers’ soaring forms are emblems of pure optimism. The park helps to fuse the site into the surrounding urban landscape.

A Quiet Dignity

That return to almost classical Modernist themes can also be gleaned in a proposal by a team of New York’s most renowned architectural heavyweights, most of whom first came to prominence in the 1970s. The team consists of Richard Meier, the designer of the Getty Center; Charles Gwathmey; Peter Eisenman; and Steven Holl.

In a video presentation, the team said it wanted to imbue the project with a sense of quiet dignity. Its most dominant feature is five symmetrical towers that form an L around the site. Horizontal bands join the towers at various levels, creating a shimmering glass-and-steel matrix. At ground level, the buildings frame a series of giant portals that lead into the memorial site. The footprints of the original towers become reflecting pools -- each one acre in size. Two parks extend west through the existing World Financial Center and out over the river.

The parks are the design’s most poetic gesture. Their forms trace the shadows that the twin towers cast the moment before their collapse. One can imagine them as zones of tranquillity, the water evoking a portal to our collective memories.

But where Foster’s scheme is delicate, this one appears more forbidding. The towers, in particular, are overscaled. They evoke an image of corporate power, crisp and modern in sensibility but one that threatens to overwhelm the skyline.

The quality of the remaining projects drops off measurably. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, a large corporate firm not particularly known for producing innovative designs, joined forces with two younger architects, Los Angeles-based Michael Maltzan and Willem Jan Neutelings of the Netherlands. The team chose to ignore the footprints of the former tower, instead sprinkling smaller memorial sites throughout the project. The design includes a dense cluster of nine towers, some of which rise out of a reflecting pool. A series of memorial gardens cuts through the towers at various levels.

Aside from the gardens, however, the design is largely conventional -- a grid of skyscrapers that seem eerily isolated from the city’s fabric.

Think, a team that includes the New York architects Rafael Vinoly and Frederic Schwartz and Shigeru Ban of Tokyo, produced three separate proposals. But like the SOM scheme, none is particularly compelling. In the worst, the architects enclose the majority of the site underneath an enormous glass-and-steel canopy. Covering 13 acres, the canopy would essentially create the world’s largest atrium -- a notion that contributes little to the landscape of Manhattan and even less to the memory of the victims.

The final scheme is by Peterson/Littenberg, the one holdover from the first round of teams whose proposals were so ignobly rejected in July. Peterson/Littenberg’s new scheme includes two towers decorated with historical flourishes. The towers and promenade are clearly meant to evoke the city’s distant past. But seen next to the new, improved proposals, this one’s real worth is to remind us of how offensive such a lack of imagination seems in a context loaded with emotional meaning.

From Many, One

It remains unclear whether any of these new proposals will survive in their current incarnation. The agency plans to reduce the list to three finalists by early February and pick a final design in subsequent months. But it is possible that whoever is chosen will be asked to incorporate some aspects of the other designs into a final scheme.

Meanwhile, the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey, which owns the site, has hired New York-based Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects to develop its own master plan for ground zero. The firm, which is mostly known for designing large-scale commercial developments, could eventually play a major role in working out a final design.

Ultimately, whether the LMDC and the Port Authority press forward with a design of significant architectural merit may depend on continued public pressure. The outcry that followed the release of the first set of proposals in July was critical in raising the level of talent to this point. That kind of pressure will now be needed to ensure that the best design is chosen -- and not diluted by a byzantine political process.

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Gardens of the World

Architect: Studio Daniel Libeskind

A plan by Berlin architect Daniel Libeskind, who designed that city’s Jewish Museum and is working on the Denver Art Museum, calls for a memorial some 70 feet deep into ground zero. The architect says the slurry walls built on bedrock foundations that survived the attack reveal the “dimensions of life.” Under the plan, PATH trains continue to cross the ground, as before, “linking the past to the future.” An elevated walkway encircles the memorial site so everyone can see “the resurgence of life.”

Creates two large public places, the Park of Heroes and the Wedge of Light. Each year on Sept. 11 between 8:46 a.m., when the first airplane hit, and 10:28 a.m., when the second tower collapsed, “the sun will shine without shadow, in perpetual tribute to altruism and courage.”

Includes a 1,776-foot-high skyscraper called the Gardens of the World.

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Vertical City

Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

This proposal from New York-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill -- the firm that built Chicago’s Sears Tower -- reconnects the city by creating a dense grid of vertical structures to support multiple strata of public and cultural spaces. The project contains nine buildings and acres of public and cultural space. It is self-reliant, recycling water and exchanging heat to diminish energy costs.

A multiple-level structure to include commercial and cultural spaces and a sky garden linked by bridges and terraces

A reflecting pool passes over the footprints of the former towers and brings light to the transit station below

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The New York Garden

Architect: Peterson/Littenberg Architecture and Urban Design

The central focus of this proposal from the Manhattan-based husband-and-wife team of Steven Peterson and Barbara Littenberg is the garden, sunken below the streets and located behind adjacent blocks, serving as “an inner courtyard for the whole city, a place of refuge.”

Creates new city district, with a public garden as its central element

South Tower footprint would be a pool; the North Tower footprint would contain a 2,797-seat amphitheater, one for each victim of Sept. 11 attack

Beneath the theater is a museum to the events of Sept. 11

Circling out from garden and amphitheater are boulevards, squares, towers and parks

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Sky Park

Architect: Think Design

Think Design, a group of architects based in the U.S., Europe and Japan, drew three plans -- dependent on the amount of funding. The architects say: “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.”

A 10-block, 16-acre rooftop public park above street level

Cantilevered three-acre lawn with views of the Hudson River and New York harbor

Footprint of the WTC towers would be open

Includes groves of trees, an amphitheater, cafes, an ice-skating rink, fountains, gardens and sites for additional memorials

Ramps, bridges, escalators and a “vertical pocket park” connect to the street

Three office towers, including the world’s tallest, on the site

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Towers of Culture

Architect: Think Design

Built above and around the footprints of the two towers

The open latticework structures house buildings including the 9/11 Interpretative Museum, a performing arts center, an international conference center, an open amphitheater, viewing platforms and public facilities

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The Great Room

Architect: Think Design

A 13-acre public plaza under a free-span glass ceiling

Two glass cylinders protect the footprints of the WTC towers

Mixed-use buildings define the perimeter and support the roof

2,100-foot-tall building including offices, hotel and a transmission tower

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Memorial Square

Architect: Richard Meier & Partners

Richard Meier, who designed the Getty Center in Los Angeles, presented a plan that includes a floating “memorial plaza” on the Hudson River and a park with 2,800 small lights, representing the individual victims of the attacks. Unlike the contained urban plazas of the 19th and 20th centuries, the architects say, Memorial Square is both contained and extended, symbolizing the connections of the location to the city and to the world.

1,111-foot glass towers on the east and north sides with ceremonial gateways leading to the site

Two glass-bottom reflecting pools on the west overlook two groves of trees, planted to mark the final shadows cast by the towers moments before each fell

Nearby facilities include a Memorial Museum and Freedom Library, a concert hall and opera house, and performing arts theaters

Buildings occupy 27% of the site, leaving 12 acres for public space

Two buildings with five vertical sections and interconnecting horizontal floors

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United Towers

Architect: United Architects

United Architects, a consortium of architects and firms in Los Angeles, New York, London and Rotterdam, proposes a series of five interconnected buildings, built in phases, with the highest tower reaching more than 1,600 feet -- the tallest building in the world. Each sloping tower contains multiple stairways, connected every 30 floors by “areas of refuge.” There are many ways for people to exit from any point in every building.

Five interconnected buildings creating a cathedral-like enclosure on the entire 16-acre site

A 75-foot spiral walkway descends below ground to allow viewing through the WTC tower footprints into the sky

10.5 million square feet

1,620 feet at tallest point; about 112 floors

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Twinned Towers

Architect: Foster and Partners

London’s Foster and Partners, which rebuilt the German Reichstag building in Berlin, proposed a “twinned tower” that would be divided in two but “kiss” at three points to form public spaces and observation decks. According to the architects, monumental walls of steel and stone will create a sanctuary for private remembrance and reflection. From within these tranquil spaces only the sky will be visible, not buildings or trees. Surrounding the memorial sites will be a new World Square -- a large green park.

Two glass towers based on triangular structure that would include public observation platforms, exhibits, cafes and other amenities

Clusters of offices at various levels would each have a tree-filled atrium

New multi-transportation center below ground to integrate New York’s public transit system

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Sources: Associated Press, MSNBC, LowerManhattan.info