Both buildings will be office buildings with large blocks of shops at the base. Extensive retail space made skyscrapers a priority task for WTC developers: despite the fact that the first draft designs should appear no earlier than four months later, construction is scheduled to begin in 2007. At the same time, tower No. 2, which Lord Foster is designing now, will be implemented later, since there will not be a large shopping center below.
Fumihiko Maki was proposed by developer Larry Silverstein back in the 2003 project, but has only now been approved. Lord Rogers was invited to take part in the work only this year. The order is the fourth major project for the British architect in New York: he is currently working on the Lower Manhattan coastal development plan, the Jacob Javitz Center renovation and the Silvercup Studios complex. It should be added that Maki is now working for this city - on the new building of the UN headquarters.
Thus, two more names have been added to the WTC architectural team, whose composition is as follows: in addition to Foster, Daniel Libeskind is involved in the master plan, Santiago Calatrava as the designer of the transport terminal, David Childs of SOM as the architect of Freedom Tower and Michael Arad as the author memorial project. Frank Gehry and the Snohatt bureau should also be considered, although the implementation of the public buildings assigned to them is in question.
Jean Nouvel was supposed to be next on the list: Silverstein planned to involve him in the design of tower No. 5. But now the New York authorities themselves will be engaged in its construction, turning the office building into a residential building, and, possibly, changing the architect.
