New York is like a work of art that can never be finished, only improved upon.
The new glass pavilion entryway to the World Financial Center is going to be the anchor to the underground connection between the World Trade Center and the Fulton Street Transit Hub.
As Brookfield Office Properties broke ground on the site Monday, Rafael Pelli, a partner of Pelli Clarke Pelli - the designers - told The Broadsheet Daily, "The new entry pavilion has been a very special design commission, both because it creates a new front door for this urban complex to the City and because it repairs and reconnects to the city to one of my father's most important projects."
The intent of the redesign is to open Battery Park City and the WFC complex to Lower Manhattan, aiming to integrate the office complexes with the residential areas at large, thereby ingratiating the city to this upcoming mecca.
New York has and will forever be a melting pop of visitors; a fact which designers have painstakingly worked to accommodate, often to no avail. Pelli Clarke Pelli envision additional retail opportunities along West Street, replacing walls with windows along the Esplanade.
Destruction of the iconic Winter Garden staircase is an unfortunate casualty of the redesign in the eyes of the community. Per the new designs Mr. Pelli says that the staircase will remain completely intact.
Complete redesign is expected for the summer of 2013, while the next phase in redevelopment is set for later this year and will draw in local and international retailers.
For more information check out The Broadsheet Daily
World Financial Center: 220 Vesey St., bet. West St. & North End Ave.
