Ground Zero proposals hope to resurrect the spirit of Manhattan

SKYSCRAPERS even taller than the 110-storey World Trade Center towers, along with a variety of memorials from twin reflecting pools to a Park of Heroes, were among the proposals unveiled yesterday for rebuilding Ground Zero.

"These are designs not only for our time, but for all time," said John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. "They must transcend the present, to speak to our children and to their children to send an immortal message."

The nine proposals the second round of plans to redevelop the site where 2,800 people died in last year's September 11 attack take a variety of approaches to the 16-acre site in lower Manhattan.

Four of the plans proposed creating the tallest building in the world, topping Malaysia's 1,483ft Petronas Twin Towers.

One recommended a 2,100ft skyscraper, while another called for a 1,776 ft tower topped with a spire.

The plans for rebuilding the site and surrounding neighbourhood came from seven teams of architects from Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Tokyo, New York and Los Angeles, and were selected from 407 submissions. A decision is expected by January 31.

A first group of plans, released in July, was derided as boring and overstuffed with office space.

The presentations began with Daniel Libeskind, the Berlin-based architect who designed that city's Jewish Museum. His plan included a museum at the epicentre of Ground zero and a 1,776 foot tower.

A plan by British architect Lord Foster proposed a twinned tower, a skyscraper that would divide into two parts but intersect at three points to create public space and observation decks.

Architect Richard Meier, who designed the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, said his team's plan includes a floating memorial plaza on the Hudson River and a park with 2,800 small lights for each victim of the September 11 attack.

United Architects opted for a proposal with five futuristic, connected buildings creating a veil surrounding the space containing a memorial. Observers would go below ground zero and look up into the sky as part of the memorial.

Each plan includes a memorial. One places it on top of a building, while another incorporates a formal, sunken garden.

A specific memorial design will be chosen after a separate international contest next year.

"It's been the most remarkable undertaking of my career, and I've worked on very large, controversial projects before", said Frederic Schwartz, a New York architect on one of the teams.

The designs will be on public display in the city's World Financial Centre and posted on the development corporation's website.

The proposals must include 6.5 million to 10 million sq ft of office space on the trade centre site plus a hotel and mall and up to 3.5 million sq ft of commercial space at its perimeter.

Robert Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, said that is still too much commercial space at the trade centre site.

"It's not a disagreement about architecture at this point," Mr Yaro said. "The question is, what's inside the buildings? And is this the best thing for lower Manhattan?"