The projected vision for the World Trade Center, estimated completion: 2020

Architecture may have reached its cultural apotheosis with the launch of the competition to design and develop Ground Zero in early 2002.

This marked the rare point when architecture, in an attempt to fully assert its potential, insinuated itself in the political-and-capital vortex which would either see it through or mangle it beyond repair. Almost a decade after the designs of the seven finalists were revealed, and after Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg chose Daniel Libeskind’s winning proposal, Ground Zero is still a work-in-progress. The 16-acre site is pockmarked with structures at various point of completion: WTC 1 and WTC 4 are nearly half-completed, with construction yet to begin on Towers 2 and 4, while the World Trade Center Site Memorial will open on the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

Success story, failure, or reality check? Or, perhaps, a tribute to the (soul-crushing) power of compromise? As the tenth anniversary of the tragedy approaches, we charted the remaking of the World Trade Center.

by Samuel Medina

posted in Heritage New Projects Uncategorized

tagged 9/11, charles gwathmey, daniel libeskind, greg lynn, Ground Zero, ground zero design competition, Lower Manhattan, new york, norman foster, peter eisenman, richard meier, sanaa, SOM, steven holl, United Architects, wtc

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