Manhattan Rare Book Company

FIRST AND ONLY EDITION of an important record of New York architecture and the history of the World Trade Center Site. Beautifully printed in full color with numerous fold-outs.

Self published in 2002 by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Plans in Progress: Innovative Designs for the World Trade Center Site presents the top seven submissions of the international contest it held to rebuild the World Trade Center and revitalize Lower Manhattan. The document employs aspirational language such as “a bright future would eclipse even our darkest hours” that communicates a desire to present New York City (and America) as a phoenix rising from the ashes. As it ascends the phoenix will reassert itself as an international leader of culture, business, and finance. Plans in Progress, luxuriously printed in color with fold outs and vellum overlays, represents a moment of unity and optimism. The moment was fleeting, as the redevelopment of the WTC, mired in controversy and lawsuits, dragged on for years.

Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind’s proposed Master Plan is among the top seven finalists found in Plans in Progress. His deeply personal submission includes reflections on his own origin story, “I arrived by ship to New York as a teenager, an immigrant, like millions of others before me, my first sight was the Statue of Liberty and the amazing skyline of Manhattan.” Libeskind went on to position his Master Plan as a new landmark on par and literally in line with the Statue of Liberty. His design culminated in a Freedom Tower that soared to the symbolic height of 1,776 feet with an asymmetrical shape to simulate the torch bearing arm of the Statue of Liberty.

In February 2003, Daniel Libeskind was named the winning designer of the international contest, but the moment of unity had passed. Months later, amid feuding and squabbling, the project was handed over to American architect David Childs, who became architect of record for the new World Trade Center. By 2005 clean-up workers began reporting health problems stemming from the toxic dust; families of WTC victims objected to the plan; and people worried that the heights of the new WTC would make it vulnerable to another attack. In the end Childs made significant changes to Libeskind’s plan and only one remnant of the original design - the building’s height of 1,776 feet - remains.

Plans in Progress stands as a particular moment in time when people across the globe banded together and looked towards the future.

New York: LMDC [Lower Manhattan Development Corporation]; 2002. Quarto, spiral-bound. Printed on multicolored paper with fold-outs and overlays, illustrated throughout. Fine condition in a custom box. RARE.

Price: $2,900 .