New York New Visions (NYNV)—a coalition of 21 architecture, planning, design, and engineering organizations founded following the September 11 terrorist attacks—on July 29 issued a response to the initial planning proposals released two weeks ago by the Port Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

"We offer this response based on the research and analysis that NYNV has collectively prepared over the last eight months following the tragic events of 9/11. The intent is to contribute constructive criticism to the Port Authority and Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's decision-making process that will determine the future of the World Trade Center site," said Margaret Helfand, FAIA, co-chair of the New York New Visions coalition, in a press release announcing the response.

The response elaborates on the following points:
• The importance of this site calls for creative and original thinking, first in programs and use and then in design
• The planning process must be public
• The plan should be flexible, phased, and provide for short- and long-term uses
• The plans and their uses and densities must be based upon comprehensive economic and land-use analysis
• The plan must be integrated within its neighborhood context
• The plan should be integrated into city and regional transportation plans and needs
• The plan must be integrated with an open and inclusive memorial process.

NYNV reports that they will release a more detailed response examining and evaluating the individual features proposed in the six master plan alternatives on August 9.

Click here to read the full text of the release.

Email from your colleagues

More AIA architects respond to WTC site designs.

1. I would like to understand why a project that carries the significant burden of trying to please everyone in the free world isn't being offered as a design challenge to the entire architecture community. See Below

2. Nestled in the heartland, it is impossible for me to imagine what those who have personal interest in the WTC project are going through. See Below

3. The world is watching. This is a great opportunity to raise the awareness of the impact of architecture on human existence. See Below

4. The best way we can memorialize the lives of the nearly 3,000 innocent persons who perished in that most cowardly of all attacks is to build the new WTC bigger and better. See Below

5. It would be better to place a building of reflection, a Sagrada Familia, a Hiroshima Peace Park, or a Penn Station on the site. See Below

6. The competing architects should not be limited by overbearing conditions but be free to design an outstanding structure that will become the new symbol of New York—just as St. Louis has its Arch, Seattle has its Space Needle, and Paris has its Eiffel Tower. See Below

7. One can only hope that the Port Authority breaks its lease and finds another developer willing to open an international design competition for the planning of the entire project based on NYNV guidelines. See Below

8. The new WTC design should reflect the same as a symbol of the unbreakable will and spirit of New York City and the United States. See Below

9. Standing on a 150th floor would make me thoughtfully proud of the sacrifices and heroism exhibited in the space around me and would reinforce my belief in the greater good that is sometimes created as the result of awful tragedy. See Below

1. I would like to understand why a project that carries the significant burden of trying to please everyone in the free world isn't being offered as a design challenge to the entire architecture community. The six proposals presented appear to be a very shallow attempt to just do something, anything, to fill in the huge emotional void created by the monstrous act of war we have witnessed. The AIA membership is made up of professionals who have dedicated their lives to understanding the sensitivities of community, environment, and human emotions. I find it hard to believe that a collective challenge to all of us wouldn't produce a project that feeds and nourishes all of those sensitivities.

—Kenneth R. Kipping, AIA
Manager of Real Estate Operations, Entergy Arkansas

2. Thank you for your coverage of the World Trade Center designs. Nestled in the heartland, it is impossible for me to imagine what those who have personal interest in the WTC project are going through. I feel most connected to the issue through comments from others in the architecture profession.

—Gilda B. Viets, Assoc. AIA
HDR, Omaha

3. It is appalling to me that the Port Authority is obviously controlling the process and is entirely concentrating on its own economic health. This project is bigger than New York. It is also now bigger than the original WTC project. The world is watching. This is a great opportunity to raise the awareness of the impact of architecture on human existence.

The AIA should take a much more aggressive leadership approach—who else? This could be architecture's finest moment—or architecture's worst. If you want to see a proposal that at least meets the needs and also shows that we are truly a people of the 21st century, check out www.wtc2002.com.

—Mark A. Silva. AIA

4. My first reaction to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center was one of disbelief and horror. After the initial shock wore off, this native New Yorker and architect now practicing in California began to think that at the very least we should replace the Twin Towers and surrounding buildings much as they were. After reviewing the six design proposals and reading several of my colleagues' comments, I now believe that simply replacing those landmarks would fall short of the message we now have an opportunity to send to our own nation and the world at large.

The best way we can memorialize the lives of the nearly 3,000 innocent persons who perished in that most cowardly of all attacks is to build the new WTC bigger and better. The inclusion of a specific memorial is appropriate. I believe, however, that the newly rebuilt WTC should be the memorial. It should be a living, working, dynamic memorial. Thus shall the memory and energy of those who were taken from us be remembered in that most American of ways: through the act of boldly living—free and strong—in this great city and country.

—Ken Parsons, AIA
Ken Parsons & Associates, Fullerton, Calif.

5. Imagine that you lost a friend or husband or relative in the WTC catastrophe. What would you want built at the site afterward? Would it seem appropriate to construct any number of high-rise buildings again?

Native Americans have sacred places where the land is not to be disturbed out of respect and reverence for those spirits that exist there. We shouldn't believe that the events on 9/11 were meant to be reduced to a small corner of parkland within a larger real estate venue (even if it does include museums and galleries). We would not do justice to all of those spirits hovering about.

Are high-rise buildings the true embodiment of the American spirit? What if a giant sequoia were planted on the site, was nurtured and grew to an enormous height? Wouldn't the tree symbolize life and hope in a way much closer to the spirit of the site? The proposed towers represent commerce and not higher aspirations. It would be better to place a building of reflection, a Sagrada Familia, a Hiroshima Peace Park, or a Penn Station on the site. A place where all people can go, day or night. To be with other people, to reflect or to pray. And maybe watch a tree grow.

—- Ford Greene, AIA

6. I certainly agree with the current wave of criticism. These plans are almost completely devoid of character and miss the point, which is to remember those thousands who died rather than count the square footage of office space while leaving a token open space for the victims.

What a wonderful opportunity to create a new park that encompasses the entire site. Within this site an international competition should be established to accept entries for the design of a new noncommercial structure that reaches to the sky and provides a rooftop viewing area and a chapel in which the names of all the victims are displayed. The competing architects should not be limited by overbearing conditions but be free to design an outstanding structure that will become the new symbol of New York—just as St Louis has its Arch, Seattle has its Space Needle, and Paris has its Eiffel Tower.

—Geoffrey Paterson, AIA
Honolulu

7. Myopic economic concerns seem to have dominated every decision, without regard to the enormous analysis that had already been done pro bono by New York New Visions itself. The fact that four of the schemes build on the footprints of the towers, when Governor Pataki announced months ago that no such scheme could move forward, indicates that the LMDC and BBB did not operate in good faith in providing six viable schemes. One can only hope that, given the sensitive nature of the design problems involved, Port Authority breaks its lease and find another developer willing to open an international design competition for the planning of the entire project, based in NYNV guidelines.

—James Karl Fischer AIA
New York City

8. What is currently envisioned seems to be more of a local development to the downtown area. I seriously doubt that these new proposed designs for redevelopment would create such a display of awe and beauty. The WTC's design was simple and elegant. The designs issued look more like a hodgepodge of blocks rising out of the former site with no idea or cohesiveness or even representing a symbol of what the WTC towers were.

The new WTC design should reflect the same as a symbol of the unbreakable will and spirit of New York City and the United States.

—Irving Alicea, Assoc. AIA

9. As an architect, pilot, and citizen, I am angered by the current WTC schemes, not so much at the architects who created them—I'm sure they are capable of greater work—but at the literal interpretations of the plethora of emotionally charged opinions that the interim design process forced upon them. Hopefully this is just an initial probing operation created to elicit responses from which the real process and designs will emerge.

My life experiences insist that a beautiful and powerful design be created, sensitive not only to those who died, but also to those who now strive to balance the horrific injustice visited upon the U.S. and the international community working at the WTC. An international design competition, judged by an eclectic panel of international leaders, seems the best way to insure a proper perspective.

I was not a great fan of the aesthetic character of the former buildings, but they did make a brash, in-your-face statement and, as we have seen, could not be ignored. Let us reclaim that quintessential Yankee brashness and courage with an unquestionably magnificent design! Standing on the 150th floor of such a design would make me thoughtfully proud of the sacrifices and heroism exhibited in the space around me and would reinforce my belief in the greater good that is sometimes created as the result of awful tragedy.

—James T. Brown, AIA
BJSS Duarte Bryant, Seattle

Copyright 2002 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.