A New York City committee has chosen two possible designs to replace the World Trade Centre and both call for the city to construct the world's tallest building on the site of the twin towers destroyed in the September 11th, 2001 attacks.
A list of proposals to rebuild the 16-acre area near Manhattan's southern tip has narrowed from hundreds of ideas submitted last year. Both finalists, named by development officials from nine contending designs, would top Malaysia's 1,483-foot (452-metre) Petronas Towers.
The Lower Manhattan Development and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey made the announcement after gauging public support for the designs and considering a host of factors including cost, practicality and aesthetics.
One of the finalist designs is the work of a New York team led by architects Mr Rafael Vinoly and Mr Frederic Schwartz, who envision airy, latticework structures reminiscent of the 110-story twin towers and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The pair of buildings, 1,665 feet (507 metres) tall, would include educational and cultural facilities.
The other proposal comes from Berlin-based Mr Daniel Libeskind, who plans a tower of 1,776 feet (541 metres) - symbolising the year of American independence - topped with a garden-filled spire. Mr Libeskind's plans also would use the foundation walls that survived the original towers' collapse.
Mr Libeskind, who designed the Jewish Museum in Berlin, said his plan tried to capture "the essence of what happened" at the twin towers, the tallest buildings in the world for a brief time in the 1970s, and "show the world that life is victorious, and that life is good."
The Lower Manhattan Development, the group responsible for overseeing the rebirth of downtown Manhattan, said a single concept would be chosen by the end of the month.