News article about recovery and commemoration, Sept 2002

NYC-WTC 000142992 20126 sawIl Plan Chosen for Redesign of a Plaza at 55 Water St. By DAVID W. DUNLAP Amid the canyons of the financial district, it is hard to Imagine how one eould conceal an acre of public space that offered daylight, harbor breezes ahd a gull's-eye view of the East River waterfront. ,b But the bullders of 55 Water Street, New York City's largest office tower, ianaged the feat three decades ago by elevating their plaza 35 feet above the street as part of a planned sky- way system that never materialized. The Isolated and barren plaza has dfawn few visitors over the years, Hough it generated a development Bonus of 410,000 square feet of office space in a 3.6 million-square-foot butlding. *The plaza was so poorly regarded that Goldman Sachs, a prospective tenant, proposed last year to replace with a 240-loot-high trading-floor structure and pay $5 million to up irade other nearby public spaces in axchange. That broiect was can- y.Now, two design firms in Lower Manhattan propose to recreate the plaza and Its approaches as a "serles of, dunellke spaces along a sloped escarpment that echo the post-gla- gjal landscape of New England and thie mid-Atlantic states," with an an- rülar liehthouse at one corner for good measure. More than wishful thinking, this proposal by Rogers Marvel Archi- tects and Ken Smith Landscape Ar- chitect was chosen Wednesday in a junled competition by the bullding's owner, the New Water Street Corpo- faston, and the Municipal Art Sacl- ety. And so it is serlously intended to bg a blueprint for reclalming a public amenity that never was. aThough It is too early to say how 8.Eree rects and Ken Siith Landscipe Archit A rendering of a proposal selected for the re-creation of a public plaza and its approaches at 55 Water Street. much theproject wouldcost, there is money for it in the bullding budg- et, said Harry A. Bridgwood, execu- tive vice president of New Water Street, a subsidiary of the Retire- ment Systems of Alabama. Work might begin next spring. Speaking of David G. Bronner, the chief executive of|the Retirement Systems, Mr. Bridgwood added, "If he says he's going to do something, he'll do it." In the redesign, the plaza would be planted with black locusts, homey lo custs and sevéral varletles of grass. Interspersed with small mounds or dunes, the ground would be graded so that it se gently to the east édge, where the river panorama unfolds. A forbidding bank of stairs and escalators would be turned into a series of landscaped terraces. • A large passenger elevator would bring visitors up to the plaza, to an observation deck at the top of the lighthouse and to an area set aside tor ice-skating, outdoor film screeh- ings or other events. The cholce of the plan from among six finalists was unanimous. "Of all of them" said Frank E. Sanchis 1l1, executive director of the Municipal Art Society, "this was the: one that found a way to make people realize that there is something up there." ÂDD& CANAL STO 55 Wa NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document