Frank Gehry to design performing arts center at Ground Zero

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2004

NEW YORK (AFP) — Acclaimed US architect Frank Gehry, renowned for his curved steel exteriors, has been chosen to design a performing arts center at the Ground Zero site in New York City.

The center is one of the landmark cultural structures envisaged in the master plan to redevelop the site where the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

The Lower Manhattan Development Corp, which is overseeing the reconstruction project, said Wednesday that Gehry would design the performance space earmarked for residential theater and dance groups.

In a statement, Gehry recalled how tears had come to his eyes when, during an interview for the project, he had been taken to a window to look over Ground Zero.

"There's...