USA: The tallest spire in the world will dominate the lower Manhattan skyline, under the model for redevelopment of the World Trade Centre site chosen yesterday by New York state and city officials from two finalists in a worldwide architectural competition.
The Manhattan spire will soar to 532 metres (1,776 feet), well above the height of the twin towers destroyed in the September 11th terrorist attack, which rose to 411 metres. By contrast the spire in Dublin's O'Connell Street rises to 120 metres.
Five stark geometrical towers and several smaller cultural buildings will surround the footprints of the twin towers, and a central pit will be preserved for a museum and memorial to the nearly 2,800 victims of the attacks.
The model was designed by the Berlin-based firm of Studio Daniel Libeskind and chosen over a design dominated by two latticework glass towers created by the THINK architectural team.
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), led by a close supporter of US President George Bush, seemed to favour the competing proposal but both New York Governor George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg preferred the Libeskind design and formally announced their choice in a ceremony at the site yesterday.
LMDC chairman Mr John Whitehead telephoned Mr Libeskind to say his "vision has brought hope and inspiration to a city still recovering from a terrible tragedy". The $300 million estimated cost will be financed partly by insurance companies. A separate competition will begin shortly for the memorial space.
Mr Libeskind (57) was born in Poland and educated in New York. His firm designed the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the Jewish Museum in San Francisco.
It is by no means clear when construction of the complex with its millions of square feet of office space will begin. Many tower- block owners oppose immediate rebuilding because of a glut of space. The World Financial Centre, across from the World Trade Centre site, has 2.5 million sq ft of vacant space, despite the return of its main tenants, American Express and Merrill Lynch.
Developer Mr Larry Silverstein, who holds the lease on the site, did not favour the winning model because he said it did not have enough office space.
The spire will be higher than the 452-metre Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, currently the tallest buildings in the world, but will not be as tall as a small number of telecommunications towers, including one in Shanghai, China.