New WTC design picked

[Evanauto]

A complex of angular buildings and a 1,776-foot spire designed by architect Daniel Libeskind was chosen as the plan for the World Trade Center site on Wednesday, The Associated Press has learned.

Libeskind's design beat the THINK team's "World Cultural Center" plan, which envisioned two 1,665-foot latticework towers straddling the footprints of the original towers.

The new building is planned to be taller than the trade center towers, which briefly stood as the world's tallest at 1,350 feet. Libeskind's tower also would surpass Malaysia's 1,483-foot Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest buildings in the world.

The choice was made 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. The committee met briefly on Wednesday afternoon and decided on the plan that was favored by Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, according to a source close to the process.

LMDC Chairman John Whitehead telephoned Libeskind with the news, the source said, telling the architect that his "vision has brought hope and inspiration to a city still recovering from a terrible tragedy."

Libeskind told the chairman that being selected is "a life-changing experience," the source said.

Nine proposals for redeveloping the trade center site, where nearly 2,800 people died Sept. 11, 2001, were unveiled Dec. 18. The design competition was launched after an initial set of plans, released in July, was derided as boring and overstuffed with office space.

Redevelopment officials were scheduled to announce the decision publicly Thursday.

After the two plans were chosen as finalists earlier this month, both teams of architects were asked to revise their designs to make them more easily realized.

Libeskind, whose original design called for a memorial at the trade center foundation 70-feet below ground, reportedly changed that to 30 feet, allowing for infrastructure and transportation underneath.

The LMDC was created by Pataki and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani after Sept. 11 to oversee the rebuilding of the trade center site and downtown Manhattan. The Port Authority owns the site.

[Evanauto]

sorry i dcould include a picture with the story it was bigger than the 50k limit

[TheEvilOne]

At 2/26/03 08:52 PM, Evanauto wrote: sorry i dcould include a picture with the story it was bigger than the 50k limit

Could you at least post a link?

[NEMESiSZ]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030226/168/3dauc.html

I like it a lot, but it looks kind of like a weapon, like Optimus Prime is going to pick it up and fight off Unicron with it...

[JudgeDredd]

At 2/26/03 08:50 PM, Evanauto wrote:
The new building is planned to be taller than the trade center towers, which briefly stood as the world's tallest at 1,350 feet. Libeskind's tower also would surpass Malaysia's 1,483-foot Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest buildings in the world.

they look nice - like organic crystals rising from the ground.

the only negative comment; what is with Americas constant need to be #1 at EVERYTHING??

[VasIndustries]

At 2/26/03 08:55 PM, NEMESiSZ wrote: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030226/168/3dauc.html

I like it a lot, but it looks kind of like a weapon, like Optimus Prime is going to pick it up and fight off Unicron with it...

Haha. You're right. I can't really tell what is happening near the ground area though. It looks like a cluster fuck of geometric shapes.

[NEMESiSZ]

At 2/26/03 09:06 PM, Judge_MORPH wrote: the only negative comment; what is with Americas constant need to be #1 at EVERYTHING??

Look, do you really want the human race's tallest building to be in the 3rd world?

[JudgeDredd]

At 2/26/03 09:19 PM, NEMESiSZ wrote:
Look, do you really want the human race's tallest building to be in the 3rd world?

short answer; "YES" ...then they would show more respect to the efforts of architectural engineers, and show less envy (hait) of America for trouncing every other nation - constantly!

The long answer; Well, despite how most Americans view the world, there is a lot of out-side sophistication around the globe. Malaysia for example is much less 3rd world than many think. In fact it's Capital (Kuala Lumpur) is VERY 1st World, "despite" the fact that the country is predominantly Muslim.

The Asian Tiger economies happened back in the 80's and 90's, and even China is now being blamed for holding great reserves of wealth in store (affecting Americas own trade balance) so the only real 3rd world left is in Africa.

The Greater Asia still has "problems" of over population, but their incredible "human resource" are fast-educated, and the are dealing with issues of equality, as in the distribution of food or wealth - but it doesn't make them 3rd World in the traditional sense.

[karasz]

i think it looks stupid...

[JMHX]

I loved this design since I first saw it in TIME Magazine. It reminded me of what I envisioned the big metropolitan areas of the world looking like in a hundred years or so. Cluster Fuck. I like that word. Haha. Oh well, if someone blew it up, it would just spray razor sharp chunks of shit all over the city.

[TheEvilOne]

At 2/26/03 09:06 PM, Judge_MORPH wrote: the only negative comment; what is with Americas constant need to be #1 at EVERYTHING??

Yeah, Malaysia built taller buildings then anything we had ever built. However, I don't see this as building the world's tallest buildings just to beat Malaysia and reclaim the number 1 spot. I see it more as being a statement to Osama and company, saying, "You can knock us down, but we'll get right back up, stronger than ever."

[TheloniousMONK]

How "safe" are these towers? Originally, the WTC towers were supposed to be able to withstand a direct hit by an aircraft. Are they making any new promises about these new buildings? Remember the proverb, "Like dogs going back to their vomit, fools will repeat their folly." I sure hope we're not the fools.

[JudgeDredd]

At 2/26/03 11:45 PM, TheEvilOne wrote:
Yeah, Malaysia built taller buildings then anything we had ever built. However, I don't see this as building the world's tallest buildings just to beat Malaysia and reclaim the number 1 spot. I see it more as being a statement to Osama and company, saying, "You can knock us down, but we'll get right back up, stronger than ever."

..so is it a building or a statement?

There's flawed logic to stick up a structure which (might) cry out "..come on! I DARE YOU ALL, ..DO IT AGAIN!!"

..or does that sound too wOOsSey and laking PRIDE?

(i mean, did they build a bigger and better Titanic to say to all the worlds oceans and icebergs "come on, try that again?!!" ;)_*

[Ted-Easton]

Looks like it's made of sugar.
mmmmmmm

[Freakapotimus]

At 2/27/03 01:53 AM, jazz_mazter wrote: Originally, the WTC towers were supposed to be able to withstand a direct hit by an aircraft.

That statement was made about aircraft getting lost in fog or bad conditions. I don't think they anticipated aircraft flying deliberately into the towers.