WTC. A discussion on built space regeneration

Abstract

Before 9/11 WTC was an international landmark. The definition of the two high-rise buildings identity, their tourist, social, visual and economic significance, disappeared with the destruction of their materiality. As a result, the contemplative visual and unwritten discourse of the Lower Manhattan disappeared together with the architectural, urban, technological essence and also with the philosophy of stability and equilibrium of a prosperous society. At the social-mental level this event triggers a crisis in personal and collective consciences (of the American Nation but also of the Nations), and a crisis of humanity. The architectural - urban and ideas competition organized to select the best urban-social-architectural concept proved to be a difficult task. Not only it had to “fill” a particular place on earth, but it also needed to configure a philosophy of place that would ‘heal” the wounds of the local and international communities, namely the lack of security and prosperity brought on by a no longer hidden technology of aggression bringing cities and communities under threats never experienced before at times of peace. In its first part the article discusses the competition, proposals and the finalized urban project. The particular challenges related to the selection of design in the case of WTC are doubled by a certain complexity related to the institutional arrangements common to most large urban development projects. It is also clear that there is interdependency between the project governance and the project results. These aspects are discussed in the second part of the article.

Keywords

• architecture
• competition
• trends
• memory
• urbanity