February 26, 2003
Caption: A towering spire that would be among the world's tallest structures was selected on February 26, 2003 to restore New York's skyline where the World Trade Center once stood, an official source familiar with the decision said. The source said New York officials had chosen a design concept plan by renowned German-based architect Daniel Libeskind ahead of the other finalist team of New York architects led by Rafael Vinoly and Frederic Schwartz. The design is seen in this undated file photo. Photo by Reuters (Handout)
NEW YORK - A complex of angular buildings and a 1,776-foot (532.8-meter) spire designed by architect Daniel Libeskind was chosen as the plan for the World Trade Center site on Wednesday, a source told The Associated Press.
Berlin-based Libeskind's design beat the THINK team's "World Cultural Center" plan, which envisioned two 1,665-foot (499.5-meter) latticework towers straddling the footprints of the original towers.
The new structure is planned to be taller than the trade center towers, which stood for many years as the world's tallest at 1,350 feet (405 meters).
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.
The two finalists each featured buildings surpassing Malaysia's 1,483-foot (444.9-meter) Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest in the world. The World Trade Center towers stood 1,350 feet (405 meters) tall.
Redevelopment officials were scheduled to announce the decision publicly on 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 (21-meter) below ground, reportedly changed that to 30 feet (9 meters), allowing for infrastructure and transportation underneath.
The LMDC was created by Pataki and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani after Sept. 11 to oversee the rebuilding of the trade center site and downtown Manhattan. The Port Authority owns the site.
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