Two plans have been selected as finalists for the World Trade Center (WTC) site in New York, with Foster & Partners being among five shortlisted design teams that have been dropped.
The finalists are Studio Daniel Libeskind and Think, which have both drawn up plans for skyscrapers that would be higher than the world’s tallest building, the 1,483 ft (452 sq m) Petronus Twin Towers in Malaysia.
The fallen World Trade Center towers were 1,368 ft (417m) and 1,362 ft (415m) tall.
Libeskind’s proposal (pictured) features a 1,776 ft (541m) spire overlooking several smaller steel towers.
The Think team’s proposal (pictured), one of three that the company put forward, features two 1,655 ft (504m) steel towers.
Daniel Libeskind is best known for designing Berlin’s Jewish Museum, the Manchester Imperial War Museum and the proposed “spiral” extension to the Victoria & Albert museum.
The Think team, led by New York-based architects Rafael Vinoly and Frederic Schwartz, is best known for the Tokyo International Forum.
The finalists were named by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey on Tuesday, with the final choice expected to be made later this month.
Nine proposals for redeveloping the former site of the twin towers were unveiled last December, after previous proposals were rejected as being unimaginative.
Lord Foster’s plans (pictured), thought to be the favourite when the shortlist was revealed in December, included a glass-encased underground mall with twin 1,765 ft (538m) towers linked by a walkway.
EGi News 05/02/03
