LMDC picks Libeskind design for WTC site.

After two rounds of architectural submissions, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation officials have chosen the Berlin-based Studio Daniel Libeskind design, which calls .for a complex of angular buildings and a 1,776-foot spire around the exposed bedrock of the excavated site.

The runner up was a set of two latticework towers designed by the Think team, led by Rafael Vinoly and Frederic Schwartz. The pit-centered design by that has been chosen for me World Trade Center site is likely to be modified, and the plan's five main buildings will be phased in over the next five years, officials said.

The main buildings are a memorial museum, a transit center, a performing arts center, a five-star hotel and an commercial tower that WLU have offices rising to the 70th floor, and a restaurant on the 110th floor. But it is unclear how much of the plan will translate into actual buildings.

John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., said city, state and Port Authority officials would meet with Larry Silverstein, who holds the lease on the WTC site, to "flesh out" the plan and "make it a reality." Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff said officials had not yet put a price tag on the development.

Even Larry Silverstein, who has been critical of the entire rebuild process, released an upbeat statement "Our company eagerly looks forward to working closely with Studio Daniel Libeskind on developing the site plan. They have produced a site plan that is ambitious and creative, and which demonstrates the excellence that will be the hallmark of all the rebuilding."

While the choice of design made some things clear, battle lines are already being drawn over other issues, from the proposed underground parking garages to an enclosed mall and the amount of commercial office space on the site. It is by no means certain, for example, how the memorial will be paid for, when the commercial buildings will go up, whether the towers will look much like the buildings in the design, or whether the city or the Port Authority will ultimately control the site.

New York New Visions, a coalition of 21 architecture, engineering and planning organizations, called for cooperation amongst the various entities.

"The winning scheme is a promising beginning for rebuilding," stated Mark Ginsberg, NYNV executive committee member and president-elect of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects. "It is a strong concept that treats the site design itself as a memorial, and incorporates transit connections, public amenities and commercial development opportunities. But as with any competition submission, it is only a sketch of the final solution, and as it evolves over time, there is a danger that this strong concept can fall victim to the normal forces of New York City development; and be whittled away behind the scenes and out of public view."

"The ongoing planning process--never well conceived or explained--must now come to grips with the many remaining divisive and thorny issues," staled Ethel Sheffer AICP, NYNV executive committee member and president of the New York Metro Chapter of the American Planning Association.

"The chosen scheme will succeed only if it is part of a larger agreed planning process for Lower Manhattan," said Hugh Hardy FAIA, chair of NYNV's Plan Review Task Force. "It is now up to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to define a clear process for moving forward in which the public is informed and involved. We also call on the Port Authority to be forthcoming not only with their recommended plan and program for the site, but also with their justifications for those recommendations in terms of need, demand, costs and benefits off alternative solutions. The Mayor and the Governor must exert every influence to resolve conflicts over site control and public-private relationships in favor of the broadest possible public interest.

Robert D. Yaro, president; Regional Plan Association and chair, Civic Alliance to Rebuild Downtown New York said, "The selection of Daniel Libeskind's dramatic proposal is a wonderful milestone in the rebuilding process for Lower Manhattan. It answers the public's call for innovative design and puts the focus where it belongs - on the memorial, public spaces and street life. Now the rebuilding agencies must lay out a clear process for making Libeskind's vision a reality, so that the public knows who is making the decisions and how to participate each step of the way."

Both Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg supported Libeskind, as did representatives from the Port Authority. Roland W. Betts, the development corporation director who oversaw the site planning effort, supported the Think plan. Reports are that Bloomberg, who earlier this month said he favored Libeskind's design, was not impressed with the changes made by the Think team, particularly in the ground-level aspects of its design. Throughout the process, city officials have stressed their belief that a plan for the site must contribute to an active street life downtown.

Pataki has said that his focus in the rebuilding process is on the memorial to the victims of the attack, and from the beginning he has said he was moved by Libeskind's design. Many family members of victims have also favored Libeskind's preservation of so much of the site, and Pataki has sided with the desires of family.

Vinoly said that he was not told much yesterday about the reasoning behind the decision. "But as far as I'm concerned, that is one of the situations in which our profession often finds itself," he said. "These things happen all the time, and you have to go on and do your work."

But Libeskind's design, focusing on the pit and its bleak walls, has sustained a groundswell of support that began almost as soon as it was unveiled in December. The exposed concrete walls of the excavated pit; purely functional when built and designed to hold back the subterranean waters of the Hudson River, came in Libeskind's design to represent the foundations of democracy, standing fast under the onslaught of a swift and terrifying enemy.

Most immediately, Libeskind is likely to focus on the memorial area, preparing guidelines for the memorial competition, which is scheduled to begin in the next couple of months. Development corporation officials hope to have a design for the memorial selected by the second anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. In addition, engineers will begin work on the delicate process of securing the concrete slurry walls that hold back the Hudson River waters and which are the signature portion of Libeskind's design.

Much of the seven acres within those walls, an area known as "the bathtub" at the southwest corner of the site, will be devoted to the memorial. Libeskind's original design called for the memorial to be on the bedrock floor of the excavated pit, 70 feet below ground, but the revised plan calls for the floor of the memorial to be only 30 or so feet below ground level. The original design by Libeskind featured two ground-level parks as well, one of which is positioned to capture a wedge of sunlight each year on Sept. 11, from the time that the first plane hit the trade center's north tower until the time that tower fell, the second of the two to collapse.

"We would like to commend the LMDC on this difficult decision and on their attempts to listen to both the residents of New York City and to the rest of world," said Robin Keegan, deputy director of The Center for an Urban Future.

"As we have previously stated," Hugh Hardy continued, "this will not be a complete vision until an integrated memorial and development plan is agreed upon for the Trade Center site, details are refined and approved by relevant city agencies, and larger issues of funding and feasibility are resolved. Studio Libeskind's challenging and well-conceived scheme gives us an agreed framework for achieving that vision, but only if prudent steps are taken to preserve the vision."