LMDC selects panel to oversee WTC memorial competition

Real Estate Weekly, April 16, 2003

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation announced the selection of a distinguished panel of jury members to evaluate and review entries in the international World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition. The jury will be comprised of 13 individuals representing various points of view--including world renowned artists and architects, a family member, a Lower Manhattan resident and business owner, representatives of the Governor and Mayor, and other prominent arts and cultural professionals.

In addition, David Rockefeller, prominent philanthropist; distinguished statesman, long-time leader in the downtown business community, and visionary behind the World Trade Center, will serve as an honorary member of the jury. During the first stage of the two-stage competition, members of the jury will review anonymous submissions and select finalists. During the second stage, the finalists will further develop their design proposals, which the LMDC will reveal to the public while the jury continues to deliberate. The jury select a winning design in fall 2003.

Registration for the competition will begin on April 28 with the release of the competition guidelines, at which time the LMDC will launch a new website and a global outreach campaign. The competition will be open to adults 18 years of age or older, without regard to nationality or professional accreditation. The LMDC will bear the costs of administering the competition, and competitors will be required to submit a registration fee of $25, which will be used toward the creation of the memorial. All competitors must register before the deadline of May 29.

LMDC chairman John C. Whitehead said, "These outstanding professionals from a broad range of backgrounds and diverse points of view are all deeply committed to the creation of a beautiful and fitting memorial. Their expertise and experience will prove invaluable in searching out the very best ideas and designs which we expect to receive from around the world."

LMDC interim president Kevin M. Rampe said, "This distinguished jury has been entrusted with selecting a design for the World Trade Center site that appropriately expresses the principles outlined in the competition guidelines. Their decision will be informed by public opinion as well as the extensive work already carried out by our Families Advisory Council. I thank them for offering their experience and talent to our process and am confident that they will successfully accomplish this difficult and sensitive task."

Jurors will be instructed to evaluate the designs based on how they express the mission statement and program, as set forth in the competition guidelines. The mission statement describes the purpose of the memorial, while the program describes the principles that the memorial must embody and the elements it must feature to be considered in the competition.

The mission statement and program were released for public comment from Jan. 8 through Feb. 2, and revised based on more than 2,000 comments received during that period. The drafts were developed by two separate committees, convened by the LMDC and comprised of family members, residents, survivors, first responders, arts and architecture professionals and community leaders. The committees premised their work on an initial memorial mission statement and program developed by the LMDC Families Advisory Council last spring.

The jury will take part in a series of forums in which the public can express opinions on how elements in the mission and program should be incorporated into the winning design. The forums, to be held this summer, will ensure that the jury is informed of the public's aspirations with regard to the memorial, while entrusting jury members with the ultimate responsibility of selecting a final design.

The following 13 individuals were selected to sit on the jury for the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition:

Paula Grant Berry, who serves on the LMDC Families Advisory Council; Susan Freedman, president of the Public Art Fund; Vartan Gregorian, Ph.D., president of the Camegie Corporation of New York; Patricia Harris, Deputy Mayor for Administration for the City of New York; Maya Li, who is known for her site specific art and architectural projects; Michael McKeon, managing director of Mercury Public Affairs; Julie Menin, president and founder of Wall Street Rising Enrique Norten, who founded Taller de Enrique Norten Arquictectos S.C. (TEN Arquitectos) in 1985 with partner Bemardo Gomez-Pimienta; Martin Puryear, a world renowned artist who studied painting at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.; Nancy Rosen, advisor and panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts, the City of New York; Lowery Stokes Sims, Ph.D., executive director of the Studio Museum in Harlem; Michael Van Valkenburgh, founder and principal of Michael Van Valkenburgh Architects in Manhattan and Cambridge; James Young, Ph.D., professor & chair of the Department of Judaic & Near Eastern Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; and David Rockefeller a distinguished philanthropist, business leader and patron of the arts.