Archinect - News

New York Gov. Hochul announces affordable housing plans for KPF's 5 World Trade Center

2023-08-02T14:07:00-04:00

Progress on the 5 World Trade Center (5WTC) project by KPF moves forward after a press conference announcement on July 27 from New York Governor Kathy Hochul. In an effort to build more affordable housing in Lower Manhattan, the news reported by The Real Deal states that the mixed-use skyscraper will also include 1,200 rentals "with one-third designated for low-to-moderate-income within the World Trade Center redevelopment."

In January 2022, Archinect reported on the project and its online petition for creating affordable housing options for 5 World Trade Center. Led by the New York Review of Architecture and Citygroup, the petition called for a "75% increase in the number of affordable units in the 900-foot 5 World Trade Center. The document, titled 100% Affordable, pressed developers to do away with the current plan, which designates 300 of the development’s 1,200 rental units for tenants earning less than 50 percent of the median income, in favor of a more progressive scheme tha...

Calatrava’s completed St Nicholas Church at 9/11 site features a translucent stone exterior that appears to ‘glow by the light of 10,000 candles’ at night

2022-12-07T10:39:00-05:00

Work has been completed on the Santiago Calatrava-designed St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine. The church is the second Calatrava-designed project to be completed at the World Trade Center Memorial site in New York City, following his World Trade Center Transportation Hub, which opened in 2016.

Image © Alan Karchmer for Santiago Calatrava

Calatrava’s church is steeped in symbolism, largely influenced by Byzantine architecture. The church’s dome features 40 windows and 40 ‘ribs’ to echo the 40 ribs of Saint Nicholas, visible from both the interior and exterior. Outside, the structure is constructed of Pentelic marble to reference the same marble used on the Parthenon in Athens, while the accentuated corner towers of the scheme are clad in bands of white and gray marble reminiscent of the Church of the Holy Savior in Chora, Turkey.

Image © Alan Karchmer for Santiago Calatrava

At night, the church’s dome is illuminated from within, creating what the design team calls ...

Win a copy of Sandfuture, Justin Beal's revealing biography of World Trade Center architect Minoru Yamasaki

2022-06-23T17:43:00-04:00

Admirers of World Trade Center architect Minoru Yamasaki in search of a hot beach read this summer look no further! We’re giving away a copy of Justin Beal’s engrossing title Sandfuture, recently published by The MIT Press, wherein the prolific career and perplexing obscurity of the late Japanese designer is threaded across 256 pages to an eventual conclusion that asks several essential questions about architectural history, the art market, and changing face of the city in a technically precise novelistic tone.

By avoiding a simple shot-for-shot retelling of the different formative events and pivotal moments comprising the arc of Yamasaki’s still-debated five-decade-long career, Sandfuture builds from the scrapheap of a bygone era into an accurate reflection on contemporary life in post-9/11 New York City, beginning with the author’s own retelling of the infrastructure damage that occurred during Hurricane Sandy.

Image: The Century City Plaza in Los Angeles (courtesy of Walter P. ...

New renderings leak of Foster + Partners' upgraded redesign for 2 World Trade Center

2022-02-16T19:12:00-05:00

A revised version of one of the world’s most high-profile architectural projects by Foster + Partners is now being circulated online as new renderings have surfaced that depict the firm’s upgraded Two World Trade Center design.

The London-based firm was added back onto the development team in January 2020 after developers Silverstein Properties officially nixed a concept from Bjarke Ingels Group that had been on the docket since replacing Foster's original design in 2015. Since then, Silverstein has been in pursuit of the anchor tenants necessary to provide the confidence to commit to the entirely-private development.

Rendering by Visualhouse

The final piece of the renewed 16-acre World Trade Center site will now stand some 1,350 feet above the Oculus and 9/11 Memorial site and quartet of other office towers designed David Childs, Richard Rogers, Fumihiko Maki, and Kohn Pedersen Fox, respectively. The foundation of the building has already been completed, givi...

Activists in NYC call for affordable alternatives to KPF's 5 WTC

2022-01-24T18:04:00-05:00

The fight for affordable housing in New York City has come to one of Lower Manhattan’s most important developments in recent memory.

An online petition organized by the New York Review of Architecture and Citygroup has been circulating that appears to call for a 75% increase in the number of affordable units in the 900-foot 5 World Trade Center. The document, titled 100% Affordable, pressed developers to do away with the current plan, which designates 300 of the development’s 1,200 rental units for tenants earning less than 50 percent of the median income, in favor of a more progressive scheme that would prioritize 9/11 survivors and frontline workers in an alternative to the recently-approved KPF design.

“This is not an abstract, pie-in-the-sky call for ideas,” the group’s statement reads. “This call is structured around the actual approval process for the tower. The developers backing the current proposal claim that this degree of affordability is untenable given the enormous con...

Calatrava-designed new St. Nicholas National Shrine lights up in ceremony honoring the lives lost during 9/11

2021-09-15T12:56:00-04:00

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church hasn't been open for two decades. The church was located steps way from the World Trade Center, and it was completely destroyed on September 11, 2001. But this week, just ahead of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church will be reborn.

The 80-year-old church has been rebuilt near the One World Trade Center, and last Friday, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11, it was lit up from within for the first time. The original church, located at 155 Cedar Street in Manhattan’s Financial District, was founded in 1916 by Greek immigrants who purchased a tavern as a community house. As noted on the church’s website, this location was one of the first stops for Greek immigrants in America after departing Ellis Island.

During the events of 9/11, the church was destroyed in the collapse of the south tower. In the years that followed, Ground Zero was transformed with the construction of One World Trade Center and a new transportation hub, and an agreement to rebuild St. Nicholas was made between the church and the Port Authority. The resulting decision was to construct the new church at 130 Liberty Street, a location nearby the original site and close to the 9/11 memorial.

Previously on Archinect: Santiago Calatrava's G...

The global reach of 9/11 through the memorials across the world

2021-09-11T20:16:00-04:00

Since the events of 9/11 twenty years ago, a vast array of memorials, from modest sculptures to landscaped gardens, have been erected across the world, honoring the victims, survivors, and first responders. While many of the overseas works are lesser known, they have an equally local and worldwide meaning, paying homage to specific individuals and groups while commemorating the tragedy, as a whole. Many are composed of repurposed steel from the towers, breathing new life and meaning into the former structures. In honor of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, here is a collection of impactful tributes, from New Zealand to Germany.

Tribute to Firefighters (2002). Image: Courtesy Graham Bennet

Tribute to Firefighters (2002), Christchurch, New Zealand - Graham Bennett

Sculptor Graham Bennett was invited by the Christchurch City Council to create a sculpture commemorating the firefighters whose lives were lost during 9/11. The piece is composed of steel from the World Trade Center that had fal...

A look back at Archinect on September 11th, 2001

2021-09-11T20:02:00-04:00

I was staying at a friend’s apartment in the heart of Hollywood on the evening of September 10th, 2001. I had to wake up unnaturally early the next morning to move my car to avoid getting a parking ticket. I vividly recall the eery feeling squeezed into the tiny old elevator as I descended the building with more neighbors than I would have expected to be awake at that hour. Nobody said anything. I could tell something was off. The moment I got into my car the radio quickly caught me up. In fact, it was right at the moment the second plane hit the towers… a little after the 6 am deadline to move my car out of the streetcleaner’s way. I don’t remember re-parking my car or returning to the apartment, but I clearly remember spending the next many hours jumping between the television, my phone, and my computer, taking in the horror and working it out with friends, family, and colleagues in real-time.

Screenshot of Archinect from September 2001

Archinect was only 4 years old at that time....

Twenty years in the making, EarthCam pays tribute to the World Trade Center site with an epic time-lapse video

2021-09-10T15:32:00-04:00

Twenty years after 9/11, the popular geographic livestream site EarthCam has revealed its commemoration of the tragedy using footage taken from two decades of loss and rebuilding.

EarthCam founder Brian Cury installed the camera in the days following the attacks to document the monumental recovery effort taking place in lower Tribeca. The twenty-five-year-old company, which is headquartered just across the Hudson in Upper Saddle River, NJ, has been continuously recording the site since then, making it the longest-running time-lapse project in EarthCam history.

Now, with unseen footage taken by cameras that captured every day of the past twenty years in thirteen million individual photographs, the interregnum has been reduced to a six-minute encapsulation of the transformation of the sixteen-acre site from an active crime scene to an eerie void and finally to its current form as a tourist destination and memory site visited by over 6.5 million people per year.

“This creative time-lap...

New PBS documentary details the NYC Department of Design and Construction's World Trade Center cleanup

2021-09-10T14:11:00-04:00

A new documentary airing on PBS recounts the efforts of the NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC) as it spearheaded the gargantuan task of cleaning Ground Zero following the attacks on the World Trade Center 20 years ago.

“NYC DDC 9/11” by Ironbound Films features a collection of historic footage interspersed with interviews of DDC staff, offering a candid recollection of the events of 9/11. The documentary goes into detail about DDC’s steadfast process of removing 1.8 million tons of debris from the site.

“As the City faced one of its greatest crises in its history, DDC managed cleanup of the wreckage of lower Manhattan, even as the search for fellow New Yorkers continued,” said DDC Commissioner Jamie Torres-Springer. “This effort was predicted to take years, but DDC staff was able to accomplish it in eight months of long, hard, and emotionally difficult work. The story of this work is now told vividly by current and former DDC staff members who shared their unique insi...

Mark Cuban just donated a trove of World Trade Center drawings to the Cooper Hewitt

2021-09-10T11:56:00-04:00

In 1962, Diniz was hired by architect Minoru Yamasaki as part of the team designing the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers. His drawings in the WTC portfolio show viewers the experience of monolithic structures in the context of Lower Manhattan and inside the buildings themselves. The drawings were intended to illustrate Manhattan as a center of international business.

Carlos Diniz' drawings occupy a revered place in architectural history, and his World Trade Center drawings have been by and large kept out of public collections until now. The illustrator was first hired by Minoru Yamasaki in 1962 to give the public a sense of place and scale caused by the architecture that would later become the domineering experience for users of the buildings after they were completed in 1973.

"It strikes an emotional chord with every American," Cuban told Axios. "I wanted the actual drawings to be where any American can see them, and the Smithsonian was the right home."

The Dallas Morning News has more on the billionaire's gift here.

Kohn Pedersen Fox selected to design 5 World Trade Center

2021-02-11T17:30:00-05:00

A development team for 5 World Trade Center (5 WTC) has been selected by the Port Authority of NY and NJ. The board voted unanimously during their monthly public meeting to award the bid to Silverstein Properties, Brookfield Properties, Omni New York, and Dabar Development. The board also offered up a snapshot of the design, which comes from none other than Kohn Pedersen Fox. The image depicts a 900-ft skyscraper emerging from one of the World Trade Center’s last developable sites.

The full press release from the Port Authority of NY and NJ...

Award for 5 WTC, the Location of the Former Deutsche Bank Building, Cements Governor Cuomo’s Commitment to Complete the Rebuilding of the World Trade Center Campus

New Mixed-Use Tower to Include First Residential Properties at World Trade Center Campus with Hundreds of Units Designated as Permanently Affordable

Development Team Will Now Enter Exclusive Negotiations for Detailed Lease

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Board of Commissioners and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation Board (LMDC) voted today to approve the recommendation of the selection committee for the Request for Proposals (RFP) to develop World Trade Center Site 5. A partnership led by Brookfield Properties and Silverstein Properties has been selected to enter into exclusive negotiations for a lease for the development of a residential tower on the World Trade Center Campus.

The proposal for the future 1.56 million gross square foo...

World Trade Center blueprints pulled from trash up for sale

2020-03-09T20:59:00-04:00

Blueprints for the original World Trade Center have gone on sale at the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair on Friday after a Colorado man pulled them out of the trash. The set of plans for sale represents the largest floor plan of the Twin Towers complex ever offered for sale, according to the New York-based Janes Cummins Bookseller. Cummins told the Associated Press that he expected the sale to be in the six figures.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the plan set includes over 500 original plans from the 1960s and once belonged to Joseph Solomon, one of the World Trade Center architects.

The Twin Towers at the NYC World Trade Center in 2001, shortly before the September 11 attack. Photo: Carol M. Highsmith.

Santiago Calatrava's Greek Orthodox church at World Trade Center site to restart construction

2020-01-07T16:26:00-05:00

Two years after a lack of funds halted construction of a marble-clad Greek Orthodox church at New York's World Trade Center site, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Greek Orthodox officials announced plans Thursday to resume construction with the goal of finishing the rebuilding by the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The troubled Santiago Calatrava-designed St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine at the World Trade Center appears to have received the blessing from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo after the project fell victim to acute cost overruns and had to eventually halt construction in December 2017.

Rendering of the proposed church. Image: Santiago Calatrava/Greek Orthodox Church in America

Under the leadership of the newly formed Friends of St. Nicholas organization, church leaders aim to finish the building by September 11, 2021, the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

"The new entity has been formed to ensure that the sacred space is completed as expeditiously as possible and can begin welcoming visitors from around the world," explains a statement issued by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America after Cuomo's meeting with Archbishop Elpidophoros on Thursday. "The Friends of St. Nicholas will aim to resume construction with a two-year target to complete th...

Calatrava's WTC Oculus continues to leak

2019-09-26T14:07:00-04:00

Few things are as embarrassing for an architect than having a building you’ve designed spring a leak.

Unfortunately for Santiago Calatrava, that is exactly what's happened at the World Trade Center Oculus, a $3.9 billion transit hub built to memorialize the September 11th terrorist attacks. The transit center and subterranean mall contained within the hub are topped by a sculptural pavilion that is itself capped by a 355-foot skylight. The skylight, made up of a dozen glass panels that are designed to open mechanically every year to mark each anniversary of the attacks, has been leaking since at least 2017.

In 2018, according to The Wall Street Journal, a rubber seal that runs along the length of the roof ruptured as the skylight was opened for the annual remembrance ceremonies. Officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have spent over $50,000 since attempting to repair the tear, and plan on spending at least $200,000 more to seal the entire skylight with a waterp...

Cuomo releases RFP for 5 World Trade Center, may include 900-foot tower and affordable housing

2019-06-26T12:10:00-04:00

The Port Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation recently arrived at a deal to develop 5 World Trade Center, the last WTC site. Today, Governor Cuomo released a Request for Proposals, which allows for either commercial or mixed-use proposals for a 900-foot-tall building. Any proposals putting forth a residential component must include “onsite affordable units that comply with New York City’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program,” according to a press release.

Final World Trade Center Site Will be Sold Soon

2019-06-07T16:22:00-04:00

Two state agencies that had been embroiled in a yearslong impasse over how to develop the last site at the World Trade Center appear to have resolved their differences and are planning to bring the parcel to market. The Port Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. have reached a deal to release a request for proposals in the coming months for 5 World Trade Center

Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) head Holly Leicht explained in a meeting that "after quite a lengthy period of time of negotiation, we executed a memorandum of understanding with the Port, the LMDC and the city to move forward on an RFP for Site 5, which will be our last major site to develop," adding, "The reason for the appraisal now is because there's a base value the Port wants to get for the land."

Though the site is currently zoned exclusively for commercial development, LMDC will accept proposals for either commercial or residential uses for the site. The group is expected to issue a Request for Proposals for the site over coming weeks.

Skylight at Calatrava's WTC Oculus reportedly leaking

2019-05-13T13:29:00-04:00

The skylight that crowns the spiky, $3.9 billion World Trade Center Oculus has sprung a leak. A rubber seal that runs along the spine of the retractable skyline is believed to have ripped during its opening and closing on the 2018 anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, The Wall Street Journal reports.

"Some $30,000 by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was spent this winter to repair the tear using black strips of Flex Tape, but the skylight at the massive transportation hub and shopping mall leaked again on May 5," Curbed summarizes the WSJ's account.

The Santiago Calatrava-designed—and not entirely uncontroversial—Oculus opened to the public on March 3, 2016 and has had repeated leaking issues during construction.

New memorial at World Trade Center site to honor those affected by 9/11-related illnesses

2019-02-04T16:09:00-05:00

The New York Post reports that the 9/11 Memorial and Museum plans to open a section dedicated to those who’ve died or have grappled with 9/11-related illnesses—first responders, survivors, and New Yorkers who lived close to the World Trade Center site during the recovery efforts among them.

According to the New York Post, the designers of the landmark Reflecting Absence 9/11 Memorial, architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker, were also in charge of planning this new memorial which is expected to be finished by May 30.

Skylight of Santiago Calatrava's WTC Oculus to reopen for 9/11 anniversary

2018-09-10T17:30:00-04:00

The opening allows for the “Way of Light” to pass through the main hub of the transit hall at 10:28 a.m.—the moment that the North Tower of the WTC collapsed on September 11, 2001. The path along which the light travels inside the hall symbolizes “the light that continues to shine through after the darkness of the tragedy,” says a spokesperson for the Oculus.

3 World Trade Center by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners officially opens

2018-06-12T16:59:00-04:00

NYC's fifth tallest tower, 3 World Trade Center was officially opened yesterday by real estate firm Silverstein Properties. Designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, 3 WTC will accommodate over 6,000 new employees from tenants GroupM, McKinsey and IEX. The 80-story, 2.5 million-square-foot office building is the second-to-last tower within the 16-acre World Trade Center site.

3 World Trade Center by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. Image: DBOX.

Featuring a reinforced concrete core encased by a steel structure, the LEED-certified Gold office tower is defined by its load-sharing system of K-shaped bracing. The building incorporates floor-to-ceiling glass and column-free floor plates, creating unobstructed 360-degree panoramic views of New York City.

First look at 3 World Trade Center’s huge outdoor terrace

2018-04-10T22:51:00-04:00

New renderings have been unveiled for an 11,000-square-foot outdoor terrace at 3 World Trade Center, expected to open when the skyscraper does so in June. Designed by Ken Smith Workshop, the space will be fully landscaped and feature a lush garden.

Slated to open this June, 3 WTC, designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, rises 80 stories, measuring 1,079 feet tall. The tower’s three-story lobby will give visitors a perfect view of the 9/11 Memorial outside.

Calatrava-designed Greek Orthodox church at World Trade Center site runs into funding issues, halts construction

2017-12-18T15:33:00-05:00

Construction at the site of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox National Shrine at Ground Zero in New York City has been halted by the main construction company because the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America has defaulted on payments, according to a letter sent by the company to its subcontractors working at the site.

Image: Greek Orthodox Church in America

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America acknowledged the payment issues and responded in a statement: "In light of recent financial difficulties at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and in order to make certain that all operations and funds are being correctly managed, this difficult yet necessary step has been taken. The Archdiocese is confidently hopeful that construction will recommence in the very near future and has been assured by Skanska —the construction company responsible for building the church— that they are looking forward to the rescinding of this temporary suspension to continue working together in cooperation with the Archdiocese for the completion of the building project."

Image: Greek Orthodox Church in America

Woods Bagot to design Australia's AUD $1.85 billion World Trade Center

2017-01-19T18:35:00-05:00

World Trade Centers aren't just for the northern hemisphere anymore: Perth, Australia will become the recipient of a two-towered, $1.85 Australian dollar World Trade Center designed by Woods Bagot. The uneven towers (one tops out at 36 stories, the other 75) still need official approval by the State Government, which plans to thoroughly vet both the proposal and the backers themselves in the more severe sounding Stage Two section of the process. However, by virtue of clearing Stage One, things are looking good for the buildings (and, let's face it, for Woods Bagot).

REVEALED: World Trade Center Performing Arts Center will be a translucent marble cube

2016-09-08T17:39:00-04:00

After stalling for years, the $243 million World Trade Center Performing Arts Center started to make headway in recent months, and now Silverstein Properties have revealed the official renderings. With the help of billionaire businessman Ronald O. Perelman's $75 million gift, the 90,000-square-foot marble cube designed by REX will both stand out as an impressive piece of cultural architecture and co-exists with the other structures on the WTC complex.

World Trade Center Performing Arts Complex Gets $75M Gift From Billionaire Ronald Perelman

2016-06-30T11:42:00-04:00

Perelman recently stepped down as Chairman of Carnegie Hall after butting heads with staff and other board members and pushing for the institution to present more pop music. He hopes to fulfill this at the World Trade Center, stating, “I would hope it is the first venue of choice for the Bruce Springsteens and the Bon Jovis and the Yo-Yo Mas and the Lang Langs, and at the same time it’s a place where we could have produced a “Hamilton” project or where we could produce a new ballet.”

After being stalled for 12 years, the Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center (PACWTC) is moving forward thanks to a $75 million gift from billionaire businessman and philanthropist Ronald O. Perelman. Brooklyn-based studio REX will design the complex, which will cost a total of $240 million and become the permanent home for the Tribeca Film Festival.

3 World Trade Center celebrates topping out

2016-06-24T13:12:00-04:00

In a ceremony packed with construction workers, news crews, and real estate folk, the final bucket of concrete made its way to the top of 3 World Trade Center, marking the topping out of this 1,079-foot supertall tower. The 80-story building was designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and spans 2.5 million square feet. Once complete in 2018, it will be the fifth tallest tower in New York City.

↑ Silverstein Properties Chairman Larry A. Silverstein (right) and Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Executive Director Pat Foye at the topping out ceremony signing the final bucket of concrete.

↑ This rendering shows what the completed 1,079-ft tower will look like.

"It looks like a dove. Or a carcass": Christopher Hawthorne on Calatrava's Transportation Hub

2016-03-23T13:25:00-04:00

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey...has been so chastened by the cost overruns and construction delays that it declined to hold even a modest ribbon-cutting. When a bureaucracy turns down a major opportunity to pat itself on the back, you know things have turned sour. Turned acid, really. Still, everyone seems to agree that the main hall, which stretches beneath a glass and white-steel roof and which Calatrava calls the Oculus, is beautiful. But I didn't find it beautiful...

"...at least not in the way that Calatrava's finest work, fluid and precise, often is. I found it structurally overwrought and emotionally underwhelming, straining for higher meaning, eager to wring some last drops of mournful power from a site that is already crammed with official, semi-official and indirect memorials."

For related coverage of Santiago Calatrava's $4B "elaborate headstone in the crowded ground zero graveyard," as Hawthorne calls it, check out these links:

$4 billion later, Calatrava's eye-candy transit hub opens

2016-03-03T12:56:00-05:00

The hub opens on Thursday, or at least a part of it is opening, including most of the main hall, or Oculus, as it’s called. And at first blush, Mr. Calatrava’s architecture can almost — almost — make you forget what an epic boondoggle the whole thing has been. That virgin view, standing inside the Oculus and gazing up, is a jaw-dropper.

For a blow-by-blow of how Santiago Calatrava's transit hub came to be, check out Archinect's previous coverage:

Port Authority officially confirms March opening date for WTC Transportation Hub Oculus

2016-01-19T13:21:00-05:00

Sure, the news was all but confirmed, but today the Port Authority made it official: The transit org announced that the World Trade Center Transportation Hub—anchored by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava's Oculus—will officially open in "the first week of March," per a press release. [...] What that actually means for commuters: There will finally be a link between the World Trade Center PATH station and 11 NYC subway lines, along with the East River ferries.

Read the Port Authority's announcement in full here.

The WTC Transportation Hub previously in the Archinect news: