Community board praises Bjarke Ingels’ 2WTC design

CB1 was the first group to get a public presentation

Renderings of 2 World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan (credit: DBOX)
Renderings of 2 World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan (credit: DBOX)

Bjarke Ingels Group’s staircase-styled design for 2 World Trade Center seems to have received mostly favorable reviews from critics — and now it can count the endorsement of the local community board.

Project architect and developer Silverstein Properties gave a presentation to Manhattan’s CB1 last week, and was greeted by applauds from board members, Downtown Express reported. Exclamations of “Wow” and “That’s exciting” could be heard from the audience.

The Danish architect’s futuristic-looking 2WTC plan replaces Norman Foster’s diamond-shaped tower design.

Ute Rinnebach, project manager for BIG, explained that James Murdoch, son of 21st Century Fox’s Rupert Murdoch, approached the firm last year about a new headquarters. Murdoch said that Fox needed floor plates large enough for studios and newsrooms, rather than the skinny tower set up at 1185 Sixth Avenue and 1211 Sixth Avenue.

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BIG looked at all over Manhattan and analyzed 11 sites. “At the end, somehow there was a site available and the foundations [were] already in place,” Rinnebach said.

The firm presented its design to Daniel Libeskind and David Childs, the architects of 1 and 7 World Trade Center, and they loved it, according to Rinnebach.

Fox has not officially leased the space, but the media giant signed a letter of intent in early June to anchor the new building. [Downtown Express] — Tess Hofmann