Introduction:

Architect Daniel Libeskind, who designed the new Jewish Museum in Berlin, proposes a tower with a “vertical garden” that would stretch 1,776 feet high, making it the tallest spire in the world – by 300 feet. The glass-enclosed Gardens of the World, with layers of plant life from all around the globe, is attached to a slightly shorter office building.

“A skyscraper rises above its predecessors, reasserting the pre-eminence of freedom and beauty, restoring the spiritual peak to the city and creating an icon that speaks to our vitality in the face of danger and our optimism in the aftermath of tragedy – life victorious,” said Libeskind.

A museum that leads to a memorial stands in the middle of the site, which retains the sunken shape of ground zero. There are two large public spaces: the Park of Heroes and the Wedge of Light. The sun, based on its position in the late summer sky, would shine into the wedge each September 11 between the hours of 8:46 a.m., when the first hijacked plane hit the World Trade Center, and 10:28 a.m., when the second tower collapsed.

An elevated walkway around the perimeter of the site allows pedestrians to see the memorial. A transit hub also features a performing arts center, underground malls and restaurants.

Introduction:

Foster and Partners, the London-based firm that designed the Hong Kong International Airport, proposes crystalline twin towers that meet at three points above the ground, reinforcing each other while allowing pedestrians to pass between the buildings below. The links house cafes, exhibits and observation platforms in village-like clusters, each with an atrium.

Glass elevators and escape stairs line the outside of the towers. Norman Foster says natural ventilation will eliminate the need for air conditioning for most of the year.

Outlining the footprints of the fallen World Trade Center towers, steel and stone walls block out views of everything but the sky.

"The footprint itself is sacred ground. You cannot walk on it,” said Foster. “You can get an occasional glimpse of the sky, but you never see a building, you never see a tree, you never see life. Similarly, any building looking down on it, because you can't walk on that space, you look into the void; you never see life."

Surrounding the memorial is a 20-acre green park called the World Square. The park extends over a buried West Street to the Hudson to control traffic.

The are also private areas for victim’s families.

Introduction:

Richard Meier and Partners’ plan, called Memorial Square, has several buildings, each over 1,000 feet tall, lining the east and north sides of the site. At ground level, the buildings form an array of ceremonial gateways leading into the site.

The square has seven different memorial areas. To the west, two glass-bottom reflecting pools demarcate the footprints of the former towers. The pools overlook two memorial groves of trees, planted to mark the final shadows cast by the towers at the moments before they fell.

A memorial chapel is at the top of each set buildings, one for the public and one for victims’ families. There is also a floating memorial plaza.

“Memorial Square will have a life, an activity and an inner space that is unlike any that exists here in New York City,” said Meirer. “We regard the entire site as a memorial. The Memorial Square is one of remembrance, but it also affirms our belief that from a tragic occurrence can come light and life.”

The plan also calls for new cultural facilities framing the other edges of the site, including Memorial Museum and Freedom Library, a concert hall and opera house and performing arts theaters.

Introduction:

THINK, an international consortium of architects, urban design experts and engineers, proposed two plans. The central element of the first is an elevated park overlooking the Hudson River.

A sloping promenade starts at street level across from Saint Paul's Church, gradually rising to ten stories high as it reaches the river. The 16-acre park, encompassing 10 blocks, includes a great lawn and an amphitheater.

Through streets, retail stores, office space, a hotel and convention center and a transportation hub are all underground.

The footprints of the World Trade Center’s twin towers remain untouched. White walls box out each area, leaving holes where the towers once stood.

Three office towers, including the world’ tallest, would be built along the perimeter of the park. The buildings would be independently designed.

Introduction:

THINK's second proposal calls for twin towers enclosing empty space with a lattice of steel and glass.

Introduction:

This WTC site plan was designed by Peterson/Littenberg. The husband-wife team is part of a group that worked on six original and rejected designs. The design features twin towers, each 1,400 feet tall, with a large promenade in the middle.

Introduction:

United Architects proposes a below-ground memorial surrounded by a complex of five futuristic towers, connected to each other with giant arches. The tallest tower is more than 1,600 feet – the highest in the world – and the complex totals more than 10 million square feet of space.

Inside the ring of buildings, a “sky memorial” overlooks the footprints of the fallen World Trade Center towers from 800 feet in the air, giving the memorial several dimensions.

"Our memorial sequence involves spiraling down to 75 feet below ground,” said architect Greg Lynn, “and then looking up through the footprints of the existing twin towers, and through those footprints seeing this vast, cathedral-like space, and finally looking at a sky memorial.”

At the 60th floor, the towers join to form a "city in the sky." There are 200,000 square feet of space for shopping, cafes, a sports center, a spa and a conference center. Restaurants, theaters, "vertical sky gardens" and an observation deck are also on various floors of the buildings.

For safety, each tower of commercial office space has its own stairway, as well as escape routes to adjacent buildings.

Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, based in New York, designed Manhattan's new Penn station. Its WTC site design has a cluster of nine buildings, each 1,100 square feet and about 80 floors.

Some people tell me I got great legs, can't figure out why you make me beg...does not compute.

LaVisHh said:

you think you're special, well so do I

rdhull said:

why do special people make me

I think they should build the same thing over again.

LaV, in my office. NOW!

SilentChatter said:

If I was your girlfreind you would...

rdhull said:

Would what?...

SilentChatter said:

Let him dress you...I mean help him pick out your clothes before you go out...not that you're helpless...

LaVisHh said:

you better undress me first.

SilentChatter said:

SilentChatter said:

BlueNote said:

And that one looks like an Absolut vodka ad.

Who's going to design one that looks like a giant Corona?