Libeskind has signed on to do a project in Israel. The article notes that the BBC has dubbed Libeskind the most visionary architect in the US, but I find that quite dubious considering that most who have followed Libeskind and his work at Ground Zero have found his design seriously lacking. His master plan has been so thoroughly altered that it bears little resemblance to his design. He's not even designing any of the skyscrapers that will grace the site. That work fell to David Childs for the Freedom Tower and Foster, Rogers, and Maki. The transit hub is being designed by Calatrava.
With all the construction that is currently underway and will begin in earnest in the next year, those office workers around Ground Zero will be 'treated' to a work zone that spans far beyond the 16 acres.
The construction, involving a peak labor force of 7,100, will disrupt the lives of more than 438,000 daily mass-transit commuters for the next five years, according to New York-based LiRo Group, a construction management company working with the city command center.
Merrill Lynch & Co., the world's biggest brokerage firm, whose headquarters overlook Ground Zero, already lists neighborhood road closures and demolition projects in its monthly employee newsletter, said Senior Vice President Mike Cowan.
``We get our employees and clients in and out,'' he said. ``And our employees are a pretty rugged bunch.''
Merrill Lynch is holding talks to move its headquarters to a new building on the former World Trade Center site, two people with knowledge of the discussions said earlier this month. Merrill spokeswoman Selena Morris said the company, whose current lease expires in 2013, is ``evaluating our options.'' She declined to comment further. Merrill is a passive, minority investor in Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News.
Goldman Sachs plans to begin moving into its new $2 billion, 43-story headquarters a few blocks away by 2009.
In December, trucks will begin delivering 3,000 tons of steel beams for the base of Freedom Tower. The beams, each up to 40 feet long and weighing as much as 35 tons, were made in Luxembourg by Arcelor, a steel company based there. Arcelor has one of only three or four foundries in the world equipped to handle steel beams this size, according to the company's communications manager, Jean Lasar.
The beams were then sent to Lynchburg, Virginia, where they were trimmed and welded by another company, Banker Steel LLC, which customized the steel for the original twin towers.
Technorati: World Trade Center, WTC, Pataki, LMDC, urban policy, Freedom Tower, IFC, International Freedom Center, spitzer, silverstein, mount sinai, respiratory ailment, wtc cough, bloomberg.
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