"Going forward, it's important [the Libeskind plan] gets developed without losing its strong ideas," says Mark Ginsberg, a partner of Curtis + Ginsberg Architects, New York City. Ginsberg is also a member of the executive committee of the all-volunteer New York New Visions, which advises the state's Lower Manhattan Development Corp.

NEXT TALLEST Icon antenna-office tower may hit 1,776 ft. (Rendering courtesy of Studio/Daniel Libeskind/ LMDC)

Berlin-based Libeskind, who plans to open a local office, is optimistic that several of the plan's components would be complete in four years. These include the transportation hub, the Ground Zero memorial and garden, several cultural buildings and the icon tower, a 1,776-ft-tall antenna and observatory tower joined at the hip to a 70-story office tower.

But even the WTC leaseholder does not know for which entity the architect will work–LMDC, which picked Libeskind and is guiding the redevel-opment; the bistate Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which owns the site; or the Silverstein Properties Inc. entity that holds a 99-year lease on the WTC commercial space. Despite the unknowns, developer Larry Silverstein is "committed to building the tower that Libeskind designed," says Silverstein's spokesman.

That may not hold true for the other office buildings in the plan."Libeskind is not a tall-building architect," says the spokesman. "It may well be that other architects will do the commercial buildings," he adds.

Last year, the local Tishman Construction Corp. began construction of Silverstein's 52-story replacement for Seven WTC, designed by the local office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Completion is scheduled for year-end 2005. But the schedule for the 10 million sq ft of replacement commercial space depends on many factors, including the outcome of Silverstein's WTC property insurance claim. The claim is likely to be resolved this year. "We have a hearing before the court the week of April 14," says the Silverstein spokesman.

The 56-year-old Libeskind beat out a team called Think (ENR 2/10 p. 7). His plan includes a so-called "Wedge of Light" piazza around an intersection of two streets restored within the 16 acres. It also includes a 4.5-acre memorial garden, 30 ft below grade, that includes both footprints of the twin 110-story towers destroyed by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001. A section of slurry wall would be exposed to 30 ft. The memorial itself would be at bedrock, 70 ft below grade. The plan has 280,000 to 380,000 sq ft of cultural space. There are two commercial space options. One has 8.4 million sq ft of space on site and 1.7 million sq ft off site, in five buildings of 50 to 70 stories. The other has 10 million sq ft on site.

IN VIEW Memorial garden, 30 ft below grade and flanked by museum would include World Trade Center, slurry wall.(above left)

Promising to work together to develop the Libeskind plan, New York City and state officials called it "visionary and practical" and "balances the need for commercial development, street life, pedestrian access, public space and a world class transportation system."

"We must develop guidelines to make sure construction is consistent with the high standards" of the plan, says Joseph J. Seymour, the port authority's chairman.