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Sunday, September 08, 2002

By Patricia Lowry, Post-Gazette architecture critic

John Cunzolo was on vacation in Boca Raton, Fla., last winter when "someone said something that triggered a thought, and then I started doodling."

	This conceptual drawing for the World Trade Center site by the Pittsburgh architectural firm of N. John Cunzolo Associates Inc. has not yet been submitted to the committee that will decide the best way to rebuild atop Ground Zero. (Courtesy of N. John Cunzolo Associates Inc.)

On a small drawing pad, the Pittsburgh architect drew a thumbnail sketch of two giant mausoleums on the footprints of the Twin Towers, burial mounds inspired by the stepped pyramids he visited in Egypt and the Mayan temples he saw in Mexico.

The stepped terraces of Cunzolo's ziggurats are cascading fountains that flow into reflecting pools at their bases. Like the pyramidal mounds of the Mayans and Mesopotamians, each would have a monumental staircase leading to its summit. Cunzolo's would terminate in a tall flagpole and American flag.

The mounds "would be like caps over the site," sealing -- at least symbolically -- the remains of victims.

Between the ziggurats, Cunzolo envisions the world's tallest tower, slender and soaring, with an obelisk-like form inspired by the Washington Monument. It would house government agencies displaced from the World Trade Center and, at its peak, a public observation area and military defense unit capable of changing the course of planes that refuse to identify themselves, which pilots have assured him is technologically feasible.

Five smaller towers would be grouped in a boomerang shape around the memorial plaza, which Cunzolo thinks should be owned and operated by the National Park Service. A design competition would flesh out the details of the towers and plaza.

"I'm not so naive to think I can pull this off. I can think big, but to execute is not for me," said Cunzolo, who emigrated with his family from Calabria, Italy, in 1933. The Korean War vet leads a 22-member firm based in Bellevue; most of his clients are school districts and colleges.

Cunzolo isn't sure how he'll bring his proposal to the attention of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which is overseeing redevelopment. But if he does, he won't be alone.

In a spontaneous outpouring of public grief and sentiment, more than 2,000 Americans -- artists, architects and ordinary folk -- have sent unsolicited ideas to the LMDC for the World Trade Center site and memorial.

Some, no doubt, were inspired by the initiative of Manhattan gallery owner Max Protetch, who invited 58 leading architects to envision redevelopment plans. Unrestricted by budgets and programs, the architects let their imaginations soar, with upside-down towers, ribbon-like towers, and rebuilt twin towers with high-tech skins that explore the possibilities of integrating glass and electronic media. The results are gathered in the just-released "A New World Trade Center" (ReganBooks, $29.95).

With the six official design proposals rejected, the LMDC has assembled a coalition of 21 architects and planners from around the world to advise it on the selection of up to five teams to prepare additional concept plans.

As for the memorial, an international competition will be launched next year, with results expected by September 2003.

Reach Patricia Lowry at plowry@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1590.