World Trade Center Memorial Proposal

Share
Location
New York City, USA
Gross Floor Area
6,000,000 sf
Program
Memorial, downtown park, commercial offices, retail spaces
Proposal
2001

Responding to a call for design proposals by a renowned Art Gallery in Manhattan, the firm contributed a visionary proposal for the future of the World Trade Center site.

The design begins with the acknowledgment that the entire World Trade Center site is a sacred precinct that should be dedicated to renewing the spirit and the quality of life in Lower Manhattan.

Above ground, the new Down Park extends over the entire site, including over an inhabited slab contained within the existing retaining walls, or “bathtub”.

The final shadows cast by the two towers, based on the angles of the sun at the last moments before each fell, cuts two oblique voids through the bedrock, forming the memorial. These voids and the resulting light employ the synergy of the different programs to create a new identity, determining the overall character of the WTC site and defining its attraction.

The program in the upper levels of the inhabited slab is organized so that all circulation is located on top of the commercial mass, with a variety of entrances cutting through the superficial layers of the platform, achieving a maximum of flexibility and spatial clarity.

The spatial continuity of the voids, dedicated to the public approaching the memorial site, exposes the activities of the socle to the park. The roof, perforated by skylights, brings filtered daylight into the main public spaces located below the roof, and the two light wells cut into the inhabited platform allowing daylight to reach into the subterranean office space.

The absence of the towers is now clearly perceived by visitors approaching the area through the site’s altered density. In the next evolutionary step, the species of tower will develop underground, in the form of large voids.

The final shadows cast by the two towers, based on the angles of the sun at the last moments before each fell, cuts two oblique voids through the bedrock, forming the memorial. The two light wells cut into the inhabited platform, allowing daylight to reach the subterranean space.

The two large voids employ the synergy of the different programs to create a new identity. Once a year, in a sunny September morning, at 10.07am and 10.27am, the sun will reach the bottom of the two wells in perfect alignment.