A More Connected Downtown

Regional Connections

Key Concepts:

1. Enhance Transportation Connections from Surrounding Areas

2. Improve Access to the West Side of Lower Manhattan

3. Create a Water Transportation Network

4. Improve Access to the Regional Commuter Rail System

Legend:

WTC Site

Transit Center

Pedestrian Link

Vehicular Link

PATH Train

1&9 Subway

Second Avenue Subway

Ferry Terminal

Potential Docks

Immediate Action

Immediate Action Improvements to Lower Manhattan

A: Proposed Bus Loop/Taxi-Limo Stand

B: Pedestrian Circulation

C: Office Workers Circulation & Major Commercial Buildings

D: Tourist Destinations

Page 46 New York New Visions February 2002

Zaha Hadid is an architect who consistently pushes the boundaries of architecture and urban design. Her work experiments with spatial quality, extending and intensifying existing landscapes in the pursuit of a visionary aesthetic that encompasses all fields of design, ranging from urban scale through to products, interiors, and furniture. She is best known for her seminal built works, though her central concerns involve a simultaneous engagement in practice, teaching, and research.

# Zaha Hadid

## From Destructive Impact to Creative Impulse

The tragic destruction of the World Trade Center raises the question of what could replace it. Rather than calling for a symbolic response, the question is what kind of organizational structure would satisfy contemporary business life and what kind of formal language would articulate it? What are the functionality and aesthetics of the contemporary metropolis? How, if at all, should its essence be reflected in the Manhattan skyline?

The World Trade Center was one of the largest and most ambitious structures ever built. Minoru Yamasaki designed this complex, comprising the Twin Towers plus five lower buildings, in the mid- to late sixties. This was at the peak of the era of Fordism, the system of assembly-line mass production that led to modern mass society organized around huge corporations. The World Trade Center was one of the culminating investments of the long postwar boom. Construction of the towers started in 1969 and was completed in 1973. The Twin Towers alone offered one million square meters of office space spread over 110 stories. The total center offered working space for fifty thousand people, equivalent to the population of a medium-sized city.

Fordism in general was marked by massive endeavors. Everything was produced in bulk quantities and everything was based on standardization and reproduction: grids, series, and the repetition of the same! Yamasaki's Twin Towers developed this principle to its ultimate symbolic conclusion: even such an enormous, iconic structure as the great American skyscraper could be subordinated to

# Blueprint for the Future of Lower Manhattan

1. Respect the site of the World Trade Center as a place of remembrance, and reserve an area of the site for one or more permanent memorials.

2. Facilitate the continued revitalization of Lower Manhattan to ensure its long-term viability.

3. Restore all or a portion of the street grid and reintegrate the former World Trade Center site to the rest of downtown.

4. Eliminate West Street as a barrier between the Financial District and Battery Park City.

5. Coordinate mass transit services to provide a coherent integration between Lower Manhattan and the rest of the city and region.

6. Create a distinctive transit hub linking PATH, subway, and future regional rail service as a gateway to Lower Manhattan.

7. Create downtown facilities to accommodate the anticipated surge in charter, tour, and public buses, and explore opportunities for off-street vehicular and service access.

8. Expand the residential population and enhance residential life to create a strong sense of community throughout Lower Manhattan.

9. Promote retail and commercial opportunities that support Lower Manhattan as a vibrant place with daytime and nighttime activity.

10. Provide for new or expanded cultural and civic institutions in Lower Manhattan.

11. Create an accessible, attractive, and comprehensive park and open space system for Lower Manhattan.

12. Support sustainable design, "green building" technology, state-of-the-art safety and security in design and engineering, and accessible design features. Concerns

13. Support excellence in design to ensure the creation of a location that is a symbol of New York City recognized around the world.

14. Encourage preservation of outstanding historic structures and the cultural value of the cityscape.

15. Develop Lower Manhattan, not only with a revived and strengthened financial services/Wall Street economy, but with new centers of economic activity.

Evolution of a Tower

DECEMBER 2002

Studio Daniel Libeskind's original proposal for a 1,776-foot skyscraper at the World Trade Center site was called Vertical World Gardens. The almost freestanding spire was to be filled in its upper reaches with trees and plants. Offices would have reached the 64th floor.

The scale of these drawings relative to one another is approximate.

OBSERVATION
DECK

RESTAURANT

OFFICE SPACE

GROUND LEVEL

Views from the south

FALL 2003

Before Mr. Libeskind's design concept was approved in February 2003, the building was modified, with the spire fused to a 70-story office building. Renamed Freedom Tower in April, this design continued to evolve through the fall, when this version was produced as part of the draft design guidelines for the site.

RESTAURANT

OFFICE SPACE

PERFORMING
ARTS CENTER

AUGUST 2003

At the same time, David M. Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill was designing an entirely different Freedom Tower for the developer Larry A. Silverstein. This version shows a twisting 2,000-foot tower. Offices reach the 64th floor. Above that is an array of wind turbines and antennas enclosed within an open-air superstructure.

OBSERVATION
DECK

RESTAURANT

OFFICE SPACE

DECEMBER 2003

The Freedom Tower unveiled last week restored Mr. Libeskind's spire, marking 1,776 feet, and a sloping roof on a 70-story building. It keeps the twist and taper proposed by Mr. Childs, as well as the open-air superstructure, windmills (visible on one of the concrete silos supporting a crownlike truss), and suspension cables.

RESTAURANT

OBSERVATION
DECK

OFFICE SPACE

Sources: Studio Daniel Libeskind, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

The New York Times; illustrations by Mika Gris

# Principles for the Future of Lower Manhattan

1. Make decisions based on an inclusive and open public process.

2. Create a memorial honoring those who were lost while reaffirming the democratic ideals that came under attack on September 11

3. Assist the rapid revitalization of Lower Manhattan, in a manner that does not preclude desirable future development plans

4. Coordinate and encourage the infrastructure improvements that will trigger the private investment needed to sustain and enhance Lower Manhattan

5. Support the economic vitality of Lower Manhattan as the financial capital of the world with new office space

6. Develop Lower Manhattan as a diverse, mixed-use magnet for the arts, culture, tourism, education, and recreation, complemented with residential, commercial, retail and neighborhood amenities

7. Develop a comprehensive, coherent plan for transit access to Lower Manhattan that expands regional and local connections and improves transit facilities

8. Connect the neighborhoods of Lower Manhattan and improve the pedestrian experience of its streets

9. Expand and enhance public and open spaces

10. Preserve the historic character of Lower Manhattan and the existing civic and cultural value of its cityscape

11. Promote sustainability and excellence in design, for environmentally sensitive development