Imaginary Forces: Part of Winning Consortium to Redesign Ground Zero.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 1, 2002

Imaginary Forces (IF) celebrated one of the highlights of its 6-year history last week when United Architects was chosen as one of six teams of architects and planners, from more than 400 submissions representing 34 countries, to submit a design to redevelop the former World Trade Center site. IF is part of United Architects, a mutually complimentary, multinational consortium of inventive, young designers and architects who have a broad range of expertise and are cutting edge users of advanced technology in design.

New York-based Creative Director and Partner Mikon van Gastel spearheaded Imaginary Forces' collaboration with United Architects which includes five architectural firms: Reiser + Umemoto, RUR Architecture (New York), Foreign Office Architects (London), Greg Lynn FORM (Los Angeles), Kevin Kennon Architect (New York) and UN Studio (Amsterdam). Though its members span the globe, United Architects is a particularly well-bonded group who enjoy close communication. "We have been sharing ideas and aesthetics for years, as colleagues, competitors and often as the common subject of museum exhibits and magazine articles," adds Jesse Reiser.

According to van Gastel, United Architects represents the alternative voice of a younger generation that grasps modernism in the fullest sense of the term. The Dutch native, whose recent projects include environmental designs for IBM's Center for e-business Innovation in Chicago and a massive video display with 24-hour content for a skyscraper in New York's Times Square, explains, "We all agreed the only way to approach a project of this significance architecturally and emotionally is to be unconventional. Traditional development to hallowed ground did not seem appropriate or possible. We explored the idea of Utopia -- of a space that embraces progress in all areas of life, work, play and remembrance."

The judging committee noted in its review of United Architects' plan, "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 ideas of contemporary society."

Added IF Co-Founder Peter Frankfurt, "If you look at IF's background in designing opening title sequences for feature films, it is essentially a history of storytelling -- setting a mood for what people are about to experience visually, intellectually and emotionally. For us to be involved in the storytelling of the rebuilding effort in downtown Manhattan is both thrilling and humbling."

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 by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) and Port Authority (PA). By the end of the year, the LMDC and PA will present at least three new bold site plan proposals for public review.

A multi-disciplinary design and entertainment firm in Los Angeles and New York, IF is well known for its film title sequences and commercials and recently created the title sequence for "Spider-Man," trailer for "Men in Black II" and content for "Minority Report" and produced the motion picture "Blade 2." IF was founded in 1996 by Kyle Cooper, Peter Frankfurt and Chip Houghton.