200 Greenwich Street - Proposed WTC Tower #2 - by Norman Foster

**NYguy** · January 9th, 2006, 06:30 PM

Originally Posted by Stern

Will Foster design the hotel that was proposed for part of this Tower 2 site?

As of now, the hotel was put on hold. They haven't decided where the new hotel space would go, or when it would begin construction.

The model in this pic included a portion for the hotel, but Foster's tower won't have that.

**NoyokA** · January 9th, 2006, 07:00 PM

Originally Posted by NYguy

As of now, the hotel was put on hold. They haven't decided where the new hotel space would go, or when it would begin construction.

The model in this pic included a portion for the hotel, but Foster's tower won't have that.

Thanks NYGUY I was wondering why I haven't heard anything about the hotel. Since the hotel was originally proposed for the Tower 2 site there is a unique opportunity to place 30 or so hotel storeys above the 65 storeys of office space and recreate the twin towers...

David Child's original Freedom Tower design that would have been at the Transit Center would have done just that, it was 65 storeys of office space topped by a 40 storey hotel that would have reached the height of the former WTC.

That said I don't think we'll be seeing twins at the WTC site. Oh well.

**Jake** · January 9th, 2006, 07:02 PM

I think that the "placeholder" thing they have isn't bad, like a love child of Citigroup center and AMEX

. I could live with that even though I'd have to see about the glass and that sort of thing that they'd put on it.

I have to say I really like the idea of putting dual spires or antennas on top of a flat roof building. This comes from my love for the John Hancock Center which is a building I'd desperately want in NYC.

I just hope this building will have the ROOF height of 1200', and not a 600 footer with a 600' tootpick spire (cough cough Conde Nast) A 1200' top office floor height would seriously deserve me putting some kind of a "drooling" emoticon here.

Here's a nice diagram of how John Hancock Center "works" with its neighbors...

I don't really know about Foster, I have faith in him to design a good building yet at the same time I kind of find him scary. Nearly all of his projects have some kind of a bubbly, odd shape. The Swiss Re building while very original and interesting looks like something an alien mothership dropped on Earth...

The only project of his that I really liked is the Commerzbank Tower...

Hard to believe the same guy designed the above and the building below...

So please Mr. Foster, give us a building that is uniquely NY but still is NY. Mothership buildings are NOT welcome here.

**GVNY** · January 9th, 2006, 07:22 PM

As previous articles have stated, the United States is relatively new territory for Mr. Foster, so we can assume he has something to prove with his designs. If he produces a building right out of 'Metropolis', you can be sure he'd be laughed out of New York City. You have to master your craft before you can experiment.

**lofter1** · January 10th, 2006, 12:08 AM

Pray hard that we don't get anything as deadly dull and brutal as Hancock or Sears ...

**pianoman11686** · January 10th, 2006, 02:57 AM

I honestly don't know what to expect given the above images. Swiss Re looks like a piece of flashy jewelry, while Commerzbank looks like a brutalist fortress. I still think Hearst is the best building he's done so far.

By the way - the more I look at the Sears Tower, the more I hate it. I'm glad it's not in Manhattan.

**NYguy** · January 10th, 2006, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by Stern

Thanks NYGUY I was wondering why I haven't heard anything about the hotel. Since the hotel was originally proposed for the Tower 2 site there is a unique opportunity to place 30 or so hotel storeys above the 65 storeys of office space and recreate the twin towers....

I guess it makes better sense to get more office space open before they get hotel space. But once Foster's tower is designed, then that corner is gone. Where would they place the hotel next? If there weren't height limits (the whole spiral thing) they could put that space on top of one of the towers. I originally thought they could do that with Foster's tower, but they chose not to move on it at this time.

From page 6 of the general project plan:
http://renewnyc.com/content/pdfs/WTC...n_05-19-05.pdf

Hotel and Conference Center

The Marriott Hotel at the WTC Site was a 22-story hotel with 820 rooms, with meeting and support space. Most of its customers were business travelers. Lower Manhattan needs to replace this hotel space to serve existing and expected new businesses and residents, as well as
the visitors to new cultural and Memorial uses.

Downtown lacks a large venue for conferences. Conference facilities and hotel are desirable on the Site because of its central location and excellent access to the regional transportation network. The Redevelopment Program could include a hotel with up to 800 rooms and up to 150,000 square feet of conference space. The location and conceptual design of any hotel is still being studied and will be determined by LMDC, the City, the Port Authority, and the Port Authority’s net lessees at a later date.

**NYguy** · January 10th, 2006, 09:35 AM

Originally Posted by Jake

I have to say I really like the idea of putting dual spires or antennas on top of a flat roof building. This comes from my love for the John Hancock Center which is a building I'd desperately want in NYC. I just hope this building will have the ROOF height of 1200'...

So please Mr. Foster, give us a building that is uniquely NY but still is NY. Mothership buildings are NOT welcome here.

I won't be greedy. A top roof height of 1,150 ft would be the most I could hope for at this point. They don't want to get too close to the Freedom Tower in that height (could we imagine 2 towers equal to the Twins in height, but with different designs?) Anything less than 1,000 would be disappointing for me. But as far as the design goes, I've been hoping we got Foster on Tower 2, and that half of the dream has come true. It's the second tallest of the WTC towers, and maybe one of the big 3 in NY. This will be Foster's "New York" tower, maybe more so than the Hearst.

**ZippyTheChimp** · January 10th, 2006, 10:17 AM

If tower 2 does not include a hotel, they should put the hotel east of the FT, the site of the performing arts center, which in turn, can be moved to the Deutsche Bank site.

**JMGarcia** · January 10th, 2006, 11:34 AM

I wouldn't count out a hotel going in Tower 2. I imagine negotiations are ongoing.

That being said, Towers 3 and 4 are probably the more likely spots. Especially with the push for those to be mixed-use.

**antinimby** · January 10th, 2006, 11:52 AM

Yeah, a 4 or 5 star hotel would be nice. No Marriotts though.

**Scruffy88** · February 19th, 2006, 10:50 PM

Does anyone know of he has any guidelines he has to follow for his design? Im assuming he would in order to make the 5 towers somewhat mesh together. Otherwise I dont know how good it would look. And how good can it be expected if hes under constraints

**BrooklynRider** · February 19th, 2006, 11:06 PM

Behind the scenes I'm sure he's being told to make it as stunning or even better than Hearst Tower. I doubt Silverstein give's a rat's ass about Liebskind's plan or any kind of "consistency."

**ablarc** · February 19th, 2006, 11:14 PM

^ Probably not a bad thing.

**MidtownGuy** · February 19th, 2006, 11:18 PM

Mothership buildings are NOT welcome here.

Perhaps not by people who worship at the altar of contextualism, but I wouldn't mind a few bubbly, bad-ass, landed from space, NIMBY-infuriating, envelope-pushing, jaw dropping, alien-mothership looking buildings here and there.

Some of us think it is just what this city needs. I'm absolutely against any pre-conceived ideas of what constitutes a NY building. How very dull.