After eight hours of negotiations Wednesday, architect Daniel Libeskind and developer Larry Silverstein made an agreement over the reconstruction of the World Trade Center. The accord states that the spire will be developed “in a manner consistent with the Libeskind vision.”
As part of the agreement, Silverstein’s personal architect, David M. Childs, was appointed lead designer and project manager. Childs, an associate of the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill architectural firm, was a rival of Libeskind in the World Trade Center design competition.
Libeskind, who devised the master plan for a 1,776-foot glass spire, was originally ridiculed by Silverstein as creating acres of unusable floor space. He will serve as a collaborating architect during the initial design.
As part of the collaboration between Libeskind, Childs and Silverstein, the parties still must determine how much the building will represent Libeskind’s renderings and where the spire will be placed. Libeskind’s design has the tower nestled against the side of the 70-story office building, but Silverstein and Childs would like to consider a more conventional and less costly plan: centering the spire over the office building itself. Silverstein and Childs would also like to move the tower closer to a transportation hub that is currently under construction.
