Competion Winner
Daniel Libeskind Studio
World Trade Center Plan
New York, New York

On February 26th the plan by architect Daniel Libeskind was chosen for the redevelopment of the 16-acre World Trade Center site; one of the most important sites in U.S. history.
Libeskind's design was selected by a committee with representatives of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the governor and the mayor.

Daniel Libeskind Studio was one of two architectural teams selected as finalists from the seven designs that were unveiled in December 2002.
The other finalist was New York based THINK Team partnership  that included Rafael Vinoly and Frederic Schwartz of New York and Shigeru Ban of Tokyo.
Both designs placed emphasis on cultural activities.

Libeskind's plan proposes a single 1,776 feet tall glass tower whose highest stories are conceived as a vertical garden. It will be the tallest tower in the world exceeding the height of Malaysia's 1,483 feet Petronas Towers.

The main element of the design is the "void" ; creating a permanent reminder of 9/11.  A memorial museum, housed in a glass cube, leans out over the void and an elevated walkway, "memorial promenade", encircles most of it.

In the original design the void drops 70 feet into the ground, exposing both the Manhattan bedrock and the massive concrete slurry wall.  The drop has since been reduced to 30 feet below ground allowing for infrastructure and transportation underneath.

The design focuses on the memorial and cultural spaces placing most of the required commercial space on the periphery which will allow other architects to design the various commercial towers.

Studio Daniel Libeskind about WTC project

A lot more about the winning design at a later date....

February 27, 2003