Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Ground Zero Proposals to Be Unveiled Today
Aired December 18, 2002 - 09:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up in just about 20 minutes or so, seven new proposals for rebuilding Ground Zero here in New York will be unveiled. The land where the Twin Towers once stood remains a gaping hole in the nation's heart and skyline. How will it be filled is stirring a very deep and very emotional debate. Let's turn to Jason Carroll, who is standing by not far from where these plans will be unveiled. He gives us a preview now -- good morning, Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Paula. We are about to see seven dramatic concepts of what could end up being built at the site of the World Trade Center. You may remember, Paula, back in July, the city hired an architectural team that came up with six concepts from what should be built at the site.
Those concepts were put out for public scrutiny, but they were heavily criticized for being dull and uninspiring. So the city decided to hire a team of seven new architects, new architect firms, and they have come up with seven new designs.
This is going to be the first exclusive look of their vision of what could end up being built at the site.
Let's take a look at version number one. It comes from a firm called Studio Libeskind. They are from Germany. They are the people who are responsible for building the Jewish museum in Berlin as well as the Denver Art museum. You can see their concept there. It calls for a soaring tower that stands about 1,776 feet tall, much taller than the World Trade Center, which was 1,368 feet fall. As you can see there, it also calls for several smaller steel towers as well.
Let's move on to version number two now. It comes from a team called Foster and partners. They are from England. They're the team that is responsible for building the new German parliament building, the Reichstag. You can see there, they call for one single tower, again, much taller than the World Trade Center. You can see architecturally, that is very much a contemporary design there that would be soaring in downtown Los Angeles -- downtown New York.
Version number three, a team called Richard Meyer and Partners. They are from the United States. They are the people who are responsible for building the Getty museum in Los Angeles. Their design much more unusual. You can see that there are three buildings. They are connected with some sort of a walkway, and two buildings on the side that are also connected by walkways. Each of the five buildings would stand about 1,100 feet tall.
Let's move on to version number four. They call themselves the Think Team. It's a united U.S. and international team. They are some of the folks responsible for building the Tokyo International Forum in Tokyo. Look at their design, Paula. Very dramatic. It calls for two decorative steel towers there, again that would soar in downtown New York. It is sort of -- if you can sort of imagine two soaring Eiffel towers, that is their version of what would be built down there, as well as a large promenade as well. I should point out that all seven versions call for some sort of a promenade and memorial.
Let's move on to version number five. That firm is called United Architects. That is a team made up of people from the U.S. as well as international. They're responsible for building the Yokohama International Terminal in Japan. You can see there that they call for several towers to be built, again very much a modern design. Those buildings in some way sort of being fused together. That's a view from looking up.
Let's move on to the next one. A husband and wife team called Peterson/Littenberg. They are actually from New York City. They are part of the people who worked on the six original designs that were thrown out. This time they have called for two twin towers, each one standing about 1,400 feet tall. Also again calling for a large promenade to be -- to stand there in the middle.
And finally now, moving on to version number seven, the final version from a firm called Skidmore, Owings and Merrill from the United States. They are the people responsible for building the new Penn station here in New York City. They call for a cluster of nine buildings, each one about 80 floors tall, standing about 1,100 square feet. Very dramatic, as you can see there, Paula. Much different from what we saw the last time around.
We're awaiting right now a press conference where they are going to unveil a models of what all these seven versions are that we just showed you. They hope to have some sort of a plan and some sort of final decision on what they are going to be building at the site of the World Trade Center sometime in February. Very dramatic. Very different from what we saw in July.
ZAHN: Well, it is nice to get the sneak preview in advance of the announcement. I'm just going to be curious what the reaction of family members of victims of 9/11 might have. They have so many concerns about how the footprint of the old buildings will be honored and how this site will ultimately look, and what the memorial might look like. You'll have to give us some reaction. Maybe tomorrow.
CARROLL: Well, very quickly, Paula -- very quickly, Paula, I should point out to you that the people who are responsible for building the six different versions are going to be sending these out to some of the victims' family members to get their input in terms of what they think of these new designs. So they are going to be reaching out to them to get their ideas, their thoughts on these seven new designs.
ZAHN: That's good, particularly based on the previous debate about the designs we saw about five, six months ago. Jason Carroll, thanks, appreciate it. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 18, 2002 - 09:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up in just about 20 minutes or so, seven new proposals for rebuilding Ground Zero here in New York will be unveiled. The land where the Twin Towers once stood remains a gaping hole in the nation's heart and skyline. How will it be filled is stirring a very deep and very emotional debate. Let's turn to Jason Carroll, who is standing by not far from where these plans will be unveiled. He gives us a preview now -- good morning, Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Paula. We are about to see seven dramatic concepts of what could end up being built at the site of the World Trade Center. You may remember, Paula, back in July, the city hired an architectural team that came up with six concepts from what should be built at the site.
Those concepts were put out for public scrutiny, but they were heavily criticized for being dull and uninspiring. So the city decided to hire a team of seven new architects, new architect firms, and they have come up with seven new designs.
This is going to be the first exclusive look of their vision of what could end up being built at the site.
Let's take a look at version number one. It comes from a firm called Studio Libeskind. They are from Germany. They are the people who are responsible for building the Jewish museum in Berlin as well as the Denver Art museum. You can see their concept there. It calls for a soaring tower that stands about 1,776 feet tall, much taller than the World Trade Center, which was 1,368 feet fall. As you can see there, it also calls for several smaller steel towers as well.
Let's move on to version number two now. It comes from a team called Foster and partners. They are from England. They're the team that is responsible for building the new German parliament building, the Reichstag. You can see there, they call for one single tower, again, much taller than the World Trade Center. You can see architecturally, that is very much a contemporary design there that would be soaring in downtown Los Angeles -- downtown New York.
Version number three, a team called Richard Meyer and Partners. They are from the United States. They are the people who are responsible for building the Getty museum in Los Angeles. Their design much more unusual. You can see that there are three buildings. They are connected with some sort of a walkway, and two buildings on the side that are also connected by walkways. Each of the five buildings would stand about 1,100 feet tall.
Let's move on to version number four. They call themselves the Think Team. It's a united U.S. and international team. They are some of the folks responsible for building the Tokyo International Forum in Tokyo. Look at their design, Paula. Very dramatic. It calls for two decorative steel towers there, again that would soar in downtown New York. It is sort of -- if you can sort of imagine two soaring Eiffel towers, that is their version of what would be built down there, as well as a large promenade as well. I should point out that all seven versions call for some sort of a promenade and memorial.
Let's move on to version number five. That firm is called United Architects. That is a team made up of people from the U.S. as well as international. They're responsible for building the Yokohama International Terminal in Japan. You can see there that they call for several towers to be built, again very much a modern design. Those buildings in some way sort of being fused together. That's a view from looking up.
Let's move on to the next one. A husband and wife team called Peterson/Littenberg. They are actually from New York City. They are part of the people who worked on the six original designs that were thrown out. This time they have called for two twin towers, each one standing about 1,400 feet tall. Also again calling for a large promenade to be -- to stand there in the middle.
And finally now, moving on to version number seven, the final version from a firm called Skidmore, Owings and Merrill from the United States. They are the people responsible for building the new Penn station here in New York City. They call for a cluster of nine buildings, each one about 80 floors tall, standing about 1,100 square feet. Very dramatic, as you can see there, Paula. Much different from what we saw the last time around.
We're awaiting right now a press conference where they are going to unveil a models of what all these seven versions are that we just showed you. They hope to have some sort of a plan and some sort of final decision on what they are going to be building at the site of the World Trade Center sometime in February. Very dramatic. Very different from what we saw in July.
ZAHN: Well, it is nice to get the sneak preview in advance of the announcement. I'm just going to be curious what the reaction of family members of victims of 9/11 might have. They have so many concerns about how the footprint of the old buildings will be honored and how this site will ultimately look, and what the memorial might look like. You'll have to give us some reaction. Maybe tomorrow.
CARROLL: Well, very quickly, Paula -- very quickly, Paula, I should point out to you that the people who are responsible for building the six different versions are going to be sending these out to some of the victims' family members to get their input in terms of what they think of these new designs. So they are going to be reaching out to them to get their ideas, their thoughts on these seven new designs.
ZAHN: That's good, particularly based on the previous debate about the designs we saw about five, six months ago. Jason Carroll, thanks, appreciate it. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
