Edition: U.S. / Global

BLOCKS; Map Becomes Clearer In Trade Center Choices

By David W. Dunlap
Published: February 6, 2003

EVER since nine competing architectural visions for the World Trade Center site were unveiled in December, it has been irresistible to talk about their place on the skyline and in the civic heart. The winnowing announced Tuesday permits closer scrutiny of a more basic building block: their place on the streets of Lower Manhattan.

Comparing the plans by Studio Daniel Libeskind and a team called Think (Shigeru Ban, Frederic Schwartz, Ken Smith and Rafael Viñoly) may still be a matter of apple and orange. But the persimmons and kumquats are off the table. It is now possible to understand better what the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have in mind for ground zero and the surrounding blocks.

Aside from the aesthetic eloquence of the most distinctive features in the Libeskind and Think proposals -- latticework towers, hanging gardens and the preservation of the concrete ''bathtub'' that was the trade center's very foundation -- they both offer a framework for intense commercial development.

Neither would restore the total amount of office space in the original five-building complex, 11.4 million square feet, but Think contemplates the creation of floor area almost equal to the 9.4 million square feet in the twin towers.

Its World Cultural Center plan would allow for the development of up to 8.6 million square feet of office space (in contrast to 780,000 square feet of cultural space), with two of the largest buildings on Church Street and a third on the block now occupied by 1 Bankers Trust Plaza, a 41-story skyscraper that was badly damaged during the attack and has never reopened.

Libeskind's plan calls for 7.6 million square feet of office space, with two of the largest buildings on Vesey Street and a third on Church Street.

Both plans call for more than twice the retail space that previously existed. This would be controlled by Westfield America as a subtenant of Silverstein Properties, which holds the overall lease on the site.

There would be 1.1 million square feet of shops under Think's plan, three-quarters of it underground, as the trade center concourse was. The Libeskind proposal would create 900,000 square feet of retail space, almost two-thirds of it underground.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg called for the creation of a new residential neighborhood south of Liberty Street and west of Broadway when he offered the city's vision for Lower Manhattan on Dec. 12. Both the Libeskind and Think plans provide potential housing on sites identified in the mayor's report, though in much different proportions.

The Libeskind plan envisions a 1.7-million-square-foot residential development on Liberty Street, between Greenwich and Washington Streets, which is the north half of Bankers Trust Plaza. That would translate into roughly 1,750 apartments. (To put this in perspective, the city estimates the current residential population downtown at 20,000.)

More modestly, Think would set aside the block bounded by Liberty, Cedar, Washington and West Streets for a 213,000-square-foot, 10-story office building that could be residential. That might yield 200 or more apartments.

ON this block stood the tiny St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which was crushed under the collapsing south tower. Think would relocate St. Nicholas to the corner of Church and Vesey Streets, opposite St. Paul's Chapel.

On the face of it, this is a far more prominent setting. But Archbishop Demetrios, the spiritual leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, would strongly prefer that St. Nicholas be rebuilt on or near its former location, 155 Cedar Street. The Libeskind proposal provides for that.

Both plans would restore Fulton and Greenwich Streets, thereby creating a giant X through the single 16-acre superblock site created in the 1960's to accommodate the trade center. But they treat the Fulton Street extension slightly differently. Think would run it straight across to West Street on its current course. Libeskind would bend it slightly to the south, thereby creating a visual corridor leading to the Winter Garden at Battery Park City.

Re-establishing Fulton Street is a goal of the mayor's. He has said, ''Fulton would join Broadway as one of the two great arteries in Lower Manhattan.''

The comparative analysis of the design proposals was undertaken by 10 consultants led by Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects, which is advising the Port Authority on redevelopment planning at the trade center site. A guiding design concept and a transportation, infrastructure and land-use plan are to be completed by the end of the month.

Until then, the Libeskind and Think proposals may be seen at the Winter Garden every day from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., beginning tomorrow, or on the development corporation's Web site, www.renewnyc.com.

Chart: ''OVERVIEW -- Two Visions'' The finalists in the competition to create a design for the World Trade Center site are Studio Daniel Libeskind and a team called Think. Think Office space (All figures in square feet) BUILDING 1: 400,000 BUILDING 2: 621,000 BUILDING 3: 752,100 BUILDING 4: 1,935,200 BUILDING 5: 1,970,600 BUILDING 6: 795,800 BUILDING 8: 213,000 BUILDING 9: 1,870,300 TOTAL: 8,558,000 Hotel BUILDING 7: 658,300 Housing BUILDING 8 (optional): 213,000 Retail AT GRADE AND BELOW GRADE: 1,095,400 Cultural spaces MUSEUM: 200,000 PERFORMING ARTS: 180,000 CONFERENCE CENTER, SCHOOL AND LIBRARY: 400,000 Studio Daniel Libeskind Office space (All figures in square feet) PARCEL 1: 2,200,000 PARCEL 2: 2,000,000 PARCEL 3A: 1,200,000 PARCEL 3B: 2,000,000 PARCEL 5: 230,000 TOTAL: 7,630,000 Hotel PART OF PARCEL 3A: 700,000 Housing PARCEL 5: 1,745,000 Retail AT, BELOW AND ABOVE GRADE: 900,000 Cultural spaces MUSEUM: 180,000 PERFORMING ARTS: 325,000 VERTICAL GARDENS: 24,000 (Source: Lower Manhattan Development Corporation) Map of World Trade Center site highlighting areas where buildings would stand.