Following some misunderstandings regarding Frank Gehry’s proposal for Performing Arts Center last year, the board of directors chose to move on to another practice, and it was just revealed that REX’s proposal was selected to be further developed. The Performing Arts Center is a part of Daniel Libeskind’s master plan for Ground Zero, the World Trade Center site, in Lower Manhattan, New York.
After spending ten years working for this project, Frank Gehry was replaced as the architect to design the Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center. And almost after a year of the announcement, another winning design was selected. Two more versions were considered for the replacement, the one from Henning Larsen, Denmark, and another one from UNStudio, Netherlands.
The new design is about three times smaller than it was originally planned, and will cost about a half from the previous provided budget, that is 200 million dollars. Joshua Prince-Ramus, the founder of REX and former partner of Rem Koolhaas, has stated that they worked closely with the members of the committee for more than 14 months, in order to find solutions for all the problems that the site has, and the ones that have occurred during this process. Maggie Boepple, the director of the future center said “When I saw Josh’s presentation of the model, I thought, ‘he’s got it, he’s just got it’.” referring to the proposal’s ability to overcome certain challenges.
“Between us and the client, we know a lot of things that work and a lot of things that don’t. At the very least we’ve whittled down to the essence of the project.” Prince-Ramus said about their proposal. The winning design will be revealed in Spring 2016, and it is expected for the building to be finished by 2019. The project will be built from private funding.
By Cristina Juc
Cristina Juc is passionate about the intersection of technology, design, and architecture. A former Assistant Editor and Writing Intern at Arch2O, she contributed insightful content exploring innovation in the built environment. Her involvement in events like the Transylvania Biennial of Architecture reflects her ongoing commitment to architectural discourse. Currently the Executive Director at Spherik Accelerator, Cristina supports startups driving change across creative and tech industries. With a background in community building and educational tech, she continues to champion forward-thinking solutions that shape how we design, build, and experience space.