Architizer is excited to announce a new member of the jury panel for the 4th annual A+Awards, the world’s largest awards program for architecture and products! Larry Silverstein, a world-renowned businessman who appreciates the power of great design, will join a host of experts from the realms of architecture, technology, and commerce to pick out the very best buildings submitted for this year’s awards.
Silverstein understands the challenge of delivering great architecture in the most difficult of circumstances. He took ownership of Minoru Yamasaki’s World Trade Center just six weeks before 9/11, and, in the intervening 14 years, he has played a key role in the reconstruction of this globally significant site. In celebration of him joining the A+Awards jury, here is a rundown of only five of Silverstein’s New York projects — each illustrating how great design can help elevate commercial architecture to new heights:
After many years of economic turbulence and complex negotiations, a new design for 2 World Trade Center was finally revealed: Bjarke Ingels Group has conceived a “vertical village” for the employees of News Corp. incorporating a mixed-use program that combines working and living spaces all the way up the tower. It constitutes one of Silverstein’s most challenging projects to date, but he will be hopeful of enjoying a celebratory glass on one of the buildings sky-high roof terraces upon its completion in 2020.
For the third-tallest skyscraper on the World Trade Center site, Silverstein identified Rogers Stirk Harbor + Partners as an ideal firm to resolve the varied requirements of his development aims and those of the Port Authority as well as complement the adjacent pools and park of the 9/11 Memorial site. Rogers’ design expresses its structure in a manner reminiscent of some of the firm’s classic works such as the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong. Upon its completion, the building will be occupied by GroupM, the world’s leading media investment management group.
Maki and Associates’ “minimalist” skyscraper in 2013: its mirrored exterior reflects the surrounding buildings and seamlessly blends with the burgeoning skyline of Downtown Manhattan. According to the Architects of Record — Adamson Associates Architects — the building “embraces an abstract quality, light, [is] cool in color, and [is] ephemeral.” The building’s trapezoidal volume addresses the southern tip of Manhattan Island and is triangulated to face One World Trade Center.
David Childs of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill worked with glass artist James Carpenter to create the ultra-clear façades of 7 World Trade Center, one of the first buildings to be completed following 9/11. According to Silverstein Properties, the building constitutes the safest skyscraper in the United States by incorporating “a host of life-safety enhancements that will become the prototype for new high-rise construction.” Silverstein’s wife Klara Silverstein collaborated with artist Jenny Holzer to create a large light installation in the main lobby that includes a continuous stream of poetry and prose by many famous authors.
While Silverstein is best known for his World Trade Center developments, he has worked with many renowned architects to bring projects to fruition across New York City. One such project is Robert A. M. Stern Architects’ 30 Park Place, a luxury hotel and apartment building currently under construction with a completion date of 2016. At 937 feet high, the skyscraper will be the tallest residential tower in Downtown Manhattan and offer panoramic views of both the Midtown skyline and New York Harbor.
