Design: Peterson/Littenberg Architecture and Urban Design

By February, officials charged with redevelopment of the World Trade Center expect to release a recommended land-use plan. But New York State’s Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the owner of the 16-acre site, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, appear to be on different pages about how to proceed with their mission to craft a plan. Sources say LMDC intends to select one of the nine design schemes recently unveiled by seven teams that participated in an LMDC site design study. But apparently the port authority, which is developing a separate plan, wants to distill the best ideas from the schemes rather than select one.

Design: Studio Daniel Libeskind, Berlin, Germany

Repeated attempts to get an official response from LMDC failed, but at a Dec. 18 press conference during which the studies were unveiled, a spokesman for the port authority, Allen Morrison, said, "This is not a beauty contest." He added that there will not be one winner selected. Stan Eckstut of Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn, New York City, is creating a plan for the port authority.

No one seems to know how the differences will be resolved but everyone is guessing. No matter the resolution, by January’s end LMDC is scheduled to seek approval of a land-use plan from the boards of LMDC and the port authority.

Design: Foster and Partners, London, England

The nine schemes–one team offered three–were unveiled six days after New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg laid out a broader, $10.6-billion plan to revitalize an ailing lower Manhattan, struggling even more since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the WTC. Bloomberg’s vision emphasizes linking mass transit and commuter rails and for "one-seat" rides to the region’s three international airports. The mayor also envisions 10,000 new housing units, of which 20% would be "affordable;" cultural institutions; a more accessible waterfront and a tax-incentive zone to draw in foreign multinational corporations.

Of the funds, $8.8 billion would be for infrastructure improvements. Of that, $5.9 billion would be from the federal government. Proceeds from real estate development rights would add to the coffers, says the mayor.

Design: Richard Meier, Peter Eisenman, Charles Gwathmey and Steven Holl

Though there are still questions of permitting and financing, New York New Visions, a volunteer coalition of 21 design and planning organizations advising LMDC, supports the mayor’s vision. It establishes "the context for an integrated World Trade Center plan, up to now the missing piece in the puzzle," says a statement by Mark Ginsburg, NYNV’s co-chair and a principal of the local Curtis + Ginsberg Architects.

Design: Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, New York City

Referring to the WTC schemes as a whole, Hugh Hardy, chair of the NYNV plan review task force evaluating the studies for LMDC and founding partner of Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, New York City, said in a NYNV statement, "The proposals succeed in highlighting for public discussion a series of thoughtful responses to critical design issues." These issues include "different methods of balancing memorialization with commercial development; approaches to the site as a stand-alone icon or as a careful fit with the surrounding community; [the way to] achieve innovative open space with maximum accessibility to the public; how to integrate transit, auto and pedestrian flow into a constrained site; and how to plan for feasible phasing in a project without a defined program."

Design: Think

A spokesman for Larry Silverstein, president of WTC leaseholder Silverstein Properties Inc., New York City, says Silverstein found the models "architecturally ambitious, inspirational" and "reflecting a great deal of creativity and bold imagination." Silverstein is participating in developing the final plan.

The seven teams drew talent from 34 firms. They are: Studio Daniel Libeskind; Foster and Partners; Richard Meier & Partners Architects, Eisenman Architects, Gwathmey Siegel & Associates and Steven Holl Architects; Think, which offered three schemes and includes Shigeru Ban Artchitects + Dean Maltz, Frederic Schwartz Architects, Ken Smith Landscape Architect and Rafael Vinoly Architects; United Architects, including Greg Lynn FORM, Kevin Kennon Architect, Reiser+Umemotot RUR Architecture UN Studio and several other firms; Peterson/Littenberg Architecture and Urban Design; and SOM/ SANAA.

Design: United Architects

The models are on display at the rebuilt Winter Garden, across the street from the WTC site, until Feb. 2. The schemes are also posted on line at www.RenewNYC.com and www.LowerManhattan.info, where comments can be submitted. To further gather reaction to the schemes, LMDC is holding a public meeting on Jan. 13 at Pace University.

A public comment period will follow the February release of the land-use plan. Next spring, LMDC plans to hold an international design competition for the WTC memorial. A jury, as yet not designated, is scheduled to select a memorial design by September.