NEW YORK Architects finalize plan for former WTC site

The squabbling architects had a deadline to compromise on a final design.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
CHICAGO -- After months of feuding, the architects designing a new world's tallest building at the former World Trade Center in New York have reached what appears to be a compromise -- a twisting, spire-topped skyscraper that will include a two-level observation deck and a restaurant like the one that topped the old twin towers, people familiar with the design said Tuesday.
The plan, which will be made public Friday by New York Gov. George Pataki and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, would produce a 1,776-foot skyscraper with a sloped roof and an off-center spire that evokes the upraised arm of the nearby Statue of Liberty.
That would retain key elements of architect Daniel Libeskind's embattled master plan for the 16-acre trade center site, which redevelopment officials selected in February after a heated design competition.
Immediately beneath the spire would be an unoccupied, open-air structure housing wind turbines, the sources said. The turbines would be enclosed in a lacy network of cables like those on the Brooklyn Bridge. They were suggested by David Childs, architect for Larry Silverstein, the developer who holds the commercial lease for the trade center.
Public dispute
In announcing the compromise late Monday, New York redevelopment officials said Libeskind's original plan was "given form by" Childs after what they politely referred to as "an often spirited design effort."
The architects publicly battled for months, with Libeskind pressing for a slender, asymmetrical tower and Childs urging a more muscular, twisting form. Pataki told them to stop the squabbling and gave them a Monday deadline for the project, which he dubbed "Freedom Tower."
The compromise "really came together over the last weekend," said those familiar with the design. The architects are now rushing to build models and to prepare drawings for Friday's presentation.
Broad outline
Until the design is unveiled, it will be impossible to assess which architect had the upper hand and whether the design truly is a compromise. But these are the plan's broad outlines, sources said:
UAmple ground-floor lobbies to handle the large crowds that are expected to visit the tower's observation deck.
UThe portion of the tower with office space reaches 1,100 feet high. This part of the tower would twist as it rose, as Childs desired. Yet it would be topped by a sloping roof -- a concession to Libeskind's master plan, which called for the tower to culminate the upward spiral of a group of slice-topped office buildings.
UA two-level observation deck located atop the building's commercial zone and a large-scale restaurant, recalling Windows on the World, the famous restaurant atop the north tower of the former World Trade Center.
Above the commercial area would be a high-rise wind farm with turbines that would generate some of the building's electricity. The turbines would be set in a network of cables that would allow the wind to come through. This zone would rise to 1,500 feet.
The final 276 feet would consist of a spire, located on the southwest side of the tower, as Libeskind suggested. It would house communications antennas.
Rebuilt skyline
The unusual design would allow Pataki and Bloomberg to claim that they had rebuilt lower Manhattan's skyline after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks while not forcing office workers to toil in a perceived danger zone -- hundreds of feet above nearby skyscrapers.
At 1,776 feet, Freedom Tower would be more than 400 feet taller than the destroyed twin towers and nearly 300 feet taller than the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, currently the world's tallest buildings.