Plans Shown for 7 WTC and New Park

 by Etta Sanders

The redevelopment committee of Community Board 1 got a look at updated plans for the new number seven World Trade Center last month and the landscape scheme for an adjacent park.

Landscape architect Ken Smith shows Community Board 1 members his scheme for a park that will be located at the junction of West Broadway and Greenwich Street, next to the new 7 World Trade Center. Photo by Allan Tannenbaum

Architect David Childs displayed a proposed solution to one of the trickier issues in the building's redesign; how to mask "what is normally most unattractive space," the 120 foot monolithic exterior of the massive, ground level vaults for Con Edison's transformers. The design features a façade of shimmering screens forming vertical stripes that will reflect light and give the illusion of movement as pedestrians pass.

Madelyn Wils praised Childs for his efforts in response to the board's earlier concerns. "You did as good a job as you possibly could have," she said.

The new park, designed by landscape architect and neighborhood resident, Ken Smith, will occupy a one-block triangle, roughly a third of an acre, between West Broadway and Greenwich Streets. Rectangular granite planters of boxwoods and azaleas will frame a round fountain bordered by five-foot wooden benches. ("A

difficult length to sleep on," explained Smith. Developer Larry Silverstein will be responsible for the maintenance of the park.

While the building itself will emphasize light-"The idea here is to be as glassy as possible," said Childs -the park will often be in shadow, wedged between the 750 foot tower to the north and the Federal office building that houses the post office to the east.
 

Some in attendance said they were concerned that the sidewalk on the Greenwich Sreet side would be too narrow for pedestrians. Smith conceded that the sidewalk is narrower than usual, but stressed that the park is configured so people will walk through it rather than around it. "Rather than having one major way that you move through the park, people can filter through these spaces." he said.

The parallelogram-shaped glass tower will be taller, but occupy a smaller "footprint", than the previous building. This will allow for the restoration of Greenwich Street to run continuously south through the World Trade Center site, although for security reasons the street between Barclay and Vesey Streets will be open only to taxis and car service cars. Retractable bollards at either end of the block will close the street entirely at times of high alert.

Beverly Willis, who heads the planning advisory group Rebuild Downtown Our Town (RDOT) said she was "shocked" that Greenwich Street would be closed.

Nancy Owens, a landscape architect, complains that the new 7 World Trade
"Having pedestrians and vehicles being able to connect to the southern part of Greenwich Street," she said, "is vitally important to lower Manhattan as a whole."

In response to questions about safety features, including the storage of diesel fuel (which will be below the park in underground vaults), Childs said the plans exceed current codes in nearly every area. "Safety has been a major factor in this," he said, "We thought of this as a way to describe what should be in the new codes."