Gardens in sky planned for September 11 site

A PLAN calling for soaring “gardens in the sky” and a submerged memorial was unveiled yesterday for the World Trade Center site, but wrangling between leaseholders, politicians and September 11 victims’ relatives will ultimately decide what fills the space.

New York officials decided yesterday on the design by Berlin-based architects Studio Daniel Libeskind to restore the lower Manhattan skyline. The formal announcement was made yesterday in the rebuilt glass-enclosed Winter Garden across the street from the scarred 16-acre site where 2,800 people were killed.

Architect Daniel Libeskind, a Polish-born immigrant to the US, thanked the people of New York, the United States and the world. He paid tribute to New Yorkers “for their extraordinary commitment and passion they have shown for the future of this fantastic city”.

The design competition was restarted last September after the public rejected an initial round of six proposals last July as boring an uninspired.

“Buildings are built out of concrete and steel and glass, but they are actually built out of a spiritual content of the heart and the soul of citizens,” Libeskind said. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a key member of the city, state and civic agency established after the hijacked plane attacks 17 months ago to oversee redevelopment and a memorial, said it had three objectives “ ... to poignantly recall for all time what happened on 9/11; to remake it as a centre of global culture and commerce, and to integrate it into a revitalised lower Manhattan,” Bloomberg said at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation news conference.

“With the selection of the team of Studio Daniel Libeskind we have accomplished all three objectives and in doing so we take a significant step toward fulfilling our vision.”

Libeskind’s plan, which also includes cultural sites and a complex of angular, glass buildings, won over a second finalist, a team of New York architects called THINK, who proposed a pair of matching latticework structures dominating the skyline like the old towers did.

Officials expect more debate and refinement over the Libeskind design with the various interested groups who still want a say in what finally fills the void. Developer Larry Silverstein bought a 99-year lease worth $3.2 billion on the 110-story twin towers complex just six weeks before hijacked plane attacks destroyed the centre, and is the major player in the future of the site.

Some groups, such as the Coalition of 9/11 Families, representing relatives of victims said they still feel excluded from the process.