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First scribbles can be as fascinating as the finished work to follow. These are the very first thoughts that led to eight additional development studies for rebuilding Ground Zero that followed

The best memorial to the victims of 9/11 would be the contribution the redevelopment could make to a more evenly distributed prosperity around the world – the Universal Prosperity Center. Being the transportation hub of Lower Manhattan with various rail, bus and ferry lines (and hopefully a commuter terminal) in it or nearby, and its relationship to the rest of Lower Manhattan suggest that the site should be its focal point. The size is particularly important in it’s being a keystone property there being so other property like it that I’m aware of. Walkways radiating out overhead could stitch the downtown area together. Residential use has become so valuable that it could find a home at the reconstruction site, maybe at the top of some of the office towers. The development of dwelling space in any case, should be encouraged throughout Lower Manhattan as it is in Battery Park City, if it is to become a round-the-clock environment.

The site should not be split up; the original nineteenth century blocks are too small to accommodate the best development for our time. Nevertheless streets and pedestrian thoroughfares could be extended across the site, provided the new structure is connected above and below grade level. Greenwich Street would be a possibility for extension providing as it does access across the site, but Church Street and particularly West Street adequately carry south-south traffic. A better solution would be to develop a direct pedestrian throughway in the Greenwich Street alignment connecting Vesey and Liberty Streets….. then Fulton Street could be extended for vehicular and pedestrian traffic across the site from east to west. This would give access from the interior of Lower Manhattan to the Hudson River waterfront. A truck terminal using the entire width of the property in the east-west direction could be developed in the Cortlandt Street alignment. The elimination of private automobiles in the inner-city areas has been on my mind ever since the Victor Gruen Plan for Fort Worth. The idea went nowhere. Nevertheless times have changed. There should eventually be no cars in Lower Manhattan. The World Trade Center had parking for about 600 cars, at least before 1993. The redevelopment will require parking for emergency and security vehicles, for freight truck and for delivery vans used by retail merchants located within the development. It will also require parking for ten-passenger, as yet nameless, public transportation vehicles.

A private vehicle will be used twice a day in most cases, and must be stored the rest of the time. Taxis at least make multiple trips during the day, and don’t spend much time standing still. Taxis can transport a vastly larger quantity of people around town than the same number of private cars can. But there is a better way, taxi companies can be operating the ten passenger… ah…. Taxis. I can’t help but think that all forms of public transportation can be made appealing for anyone to use. The ones in Europe do. But if someone doesn’t want to ride public transportation, and doesn’t want to with nine other passengers, they can summon one of those ten-passenger taxis for their exclusive use… as their limousine…. Or people can walk. With the absence of cars and regular taxis, the flow of commerce, and the speeding of emergency and security vehicles to where they’re needed, will be facilitated. Improvements in sub- surface transportation (Second Avenue route etc.), combined with the use of taxi-vans might make it possible to eliminate bus service in Lower Manhattan altogether. As a significant bonus, all of this will work to reduce exhaust emissions in the city.

Design Considerations: The architect and the design of the eventual redevelopment should be chosen by a competition by whoever is in charge. The drawings included here are intended to be a plausible representation of how things could look. To begin with, a dull red crystal all crusty and rough textured on the outside is broken apart exposing a lustrous interior surface. We watch as a collection of office towers emerges.

Redevelopment is envisioned as a unified structure consisting of a base accommodating deep bay space users from which rise towers for general office use, all centered on the Ground Zero Plaza and Dome, an area specifically dedicated to the victims of 9/11. Any or all of the space around the Plaza that I’m showing on the drawings as retail could be used for memorial and cultural use, although there should also be a restaurant or two at this level. The enclosed memorial apace, being an intensely personal matter, will be designed according to the wishes of those affected by 9/11. The cultural space consist of galleries, theaters and performance spaces encouraging shows, lectures and entertainment from the Middle East as well as from the western word. Elevated walkways converge here from the surrounding parts of the city with continual comings and goings making the plaza quite densely populated much of the time.

Directly below the Ground Zero Dome, a circular manifestation of the Wintergarden across West Street is the Exhibition Plaza. Escalators and stairs descend from here to the focal point of the various exhibition halls, meeting halls and trade offices of the international market. If one sees the securities markets as the ground zero of corruption and evil, then some other way of determining the price of shares of industry must be found. If one truly believes that the best way to establish the price of shares and bonds is accomplished by face to face human traders thrashing it to establish the price of shares and bonds is accomplished by face to face human traders thrashing it out while floating in a deep pool of liquidity, then one can have the confidence that investors will get an honest deal. (Fully electronic trading is open to deep suspicion.) Such pools (trading floors) could be located below the Exhibition Plaza. The deep bay space would accommodate whatever size and number of trading floors is required, although I doubt that the former commodities trading floor would need to be replaced here.

Fulton Street could be illuminated by a transparent barrel vault above the Ground Zero Plaza. The Fulton Street frontage as it passes through the site could be the front door to the all the development, carrying as it does, lively foot traffic between the interior of Lower Manhattan and the waterfront. This is also the primary dropping-off and picking-up location for surface transportation. Various elevator lobbies and stores line wide sidewalks.

Freestanding retail development along Church Street, small one story and crispy-crunchy structures, could be leased at reasonable rates. High ceiling retail space at street level, located all around the central development with elaborately-lighted signs suspended in a surrounding arcade could help create a lively street life. One of the most interesting thoughts features an Outdoor Market and the Shed area, a combination of farmers and flea markets. A multitude of small entrepreneurs, presumably from Lower Manhattan, could conduct business on a long-term, short term or even daily basis. The outdoor stalls could be individually secured at night, while the inside ones, accessed from the shed and located one level down could be open. The inside stall area is directly accessible from the transportation center.

The transportation center one level below grade would tie the various modes of transportation together, and in the midst of it would be retail spaces as well as elevator lobbies serving the office towers. Pedestrian circulation here could be more like an eddying pond than a fast moving river as was the case in the World Trade Center. Steps lead directly to street level on all four sides. One pedestrian route completes Greenwich Street north-south access across the site. If the P.A.T.H. system will serve as the primary commuter system, then there would be multiple loops of tracks for it beneath the transportation center. If on the other hand, a separate rail terminal will be developed for standard inter-city trains (AMTRAK), it would require separate tunnels and parallel dead end tracks due to turning radius constraints. In either case, high ceiling-ceiling and dramatic space will greet the passengers as they disembark.

The primary engine room is located beneath the Market Shed with the original 60” diameter pipes transferring heat to the Hudson River. The balance of the sub-grade space is used for administration, security and storage and for parking for freight trucks, delivery vans, taxi vans, and security vehicles. The destroyed transformer substation will be reconstructed in an excavated area beneath the Trade # 7 site.

Hotel space could be developed on the Trade # 7 site, which seems unlikely unless that property is brought into the development. It would, nevertheless, be the ideal location for one. On its own, the site would require more rooms than was lost in order to justify such use. Otherwise a hotel tower will be required on the larger tract included among the office towers…. and for nostalgia.... a Tall Ships Bar.