Why Gehry and Snohetta
Landed WTC Projects

On the surface, the architects selected last week to design the World Trade Center's two cultural buildings could not have more different profiles.

Frank Gehry, who will craft a dance and theater venue, is famous and prolific, his buildings iconic and instantly recognizable. In some ways, he is a safe choice. Snohetta, an Oslo collective assigned to the museum building, is obscure and emerging, known for projects that blend into the landscape. The firm has no U.S. projects under its belt.

It's often difficult to know from the outside how or why an architect is selected for a big project. But in this instance, perhaps because it's such a public site, the final decision makers -- the four cultural institutions that will live in the two structures -- were eager to talk about how they settled on such divergent design voices.

The process to find designers for the projects began August 2 with an architectural cattle call. There were essentially two competitions: one to design the museum building, which will hold the International Freedom Center and the Drawing Center. The other is to design the performing-arts center, which will hold the Joyce International Dance Center and the Signature Theatre Company. (The four groups were chosen for the site in an earlier competition, announced in June.)

Almost 70 design teams put their names in the hat. By Sept. 17, two panels made up of staff from the four cultural institutions, state and city arts groups, and the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the state agency guiding rebuilding, narrowed the list to 10 architects for the theater and six for the museum.

Then for three exhausting, exciting weeks, the reins were handed over to the two pairs of groups that will share the buildings. The leaders of the four cultural organizations traveled across the globe to visit with the architects and see their built work. They also spent hours conferring with their partner organizations, describing the forced collaborations with phrases like "extremely different sensibilities," "intense," and "a lot of discussion."

Nonvoting outside experts were involved, but the final votes were cast by the cultural institutions' staff and board members. The LMDC, according to participants, stayed out of the way. "It was amazing how there was not pressure on the institution during the selection," says Catherine de Zegher, director of the Drawing Center, which along with the larger International Freedom Center, picked Snohetta for the museum building.

To James Houghton, founding artistic director of the Signature Theatre, which will share the multi performance-space building with the Joyce Center, picking the celebrated Mr. Gehry was not as obvious as he fears some might think. "People don't understand how thorough the process was. They make the assumption that picking Gehry was a slam-dunk," he says. "This was an incredibly difficult process because we had such wonderful architects, any of whom would have done a wonderful job."

The two groups narrowed the list to five: Gehry Partners LLP, Moshe Safdie and Associates, Polshek Partnership Architects, Bing Thom Architects with Meyer/Gifford/Jones, and Viñoly Architects. Representatives trekked across the continent, traveling as far as Vancouver and Los Angeles to visit finished works by each. "You can't have absolute clarity until you experience buildings, walk through them," says Mr. Houghton.

The final list for the theater building didn't include one very prominent name from the 10 finalists: Daniel Libeskind, the World Trade Center master planner. "It was a very difficult decision in terms of moving on from Daniel," says Mr. Houghton. Not winning the commission likely means that none of the buildings on the site will bear Mr. Libeskind's name.

Linda Shelton, executive director of the Joyce Theater Foundation, says Mr. Libeskind's role as master planner was "something I considered as part of the mix." But in the end, it was touring Mr. Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall and "trying to imagine what that could be for dance," that cinched it for her. "His buildings feel like they have movement to them, which for dance is a very nice added attraction."

Mr. Houghton also found inspiration in Mr. Gehry's West Coast masterpiece. "Disney Hall is a great example of architecture being born of program. The program being born there is music and it reverberates through the architecture," he says.

Any worry that the Santa Monica, Calif.-based Mr. Gehry, who has dozens of projects, three others in New York City alone, will not have adequate time to devote to this commission? "He made it clear that this is a big priority," says Ms. Shelton. "If he didn't want to do it, he wouldn't have responded."

Will his iconic style mesh with the solemnity of the site and the neighboring buildings, including Santiago Calatrava's bird-like transit station across Greenwich Street? "He is very sensitive to the site" says Ms. Shelton. "I got the sense that it was a big challenge for him to come up with a theater for dance. He spoke about that quite eloquently, and I also learned a lot about his process, that we would be involved in a collaborative way."

Mr. Houghton agrees. "It's so abundantly clear that the public perception, swooping titanium buildings, is only a small portion of what Frank does."

The two organizations that picked Snohetta for the museum building talk about the Norwegian firm's low-key style, both in its architecture and the way it practices.

"We don't want a statement there," says Tom A. Bernstein, chairman of the International Freedom Center, a museum that will be devoted to "humankind's enduring quest for freedom." The building will be wedged into the memorial site, between the footprints of the Twin Towers. The building is a "gateway to the site. Snohetta seems to intuitively understand that. Their architecture is soothing and flowing and elegant," he says.

In selecting an architect for the museum, the groups created a short list from the six finalists: Snohetta, Shigeru Ban and Pei Cobb Fried.

In picking Snohetta, George Negroponte, president of the Drawing Center, says his group was guided by the recent renovation of New York's Museum of Modern Art, which from the outside has a modest look. Agnus Gund, president emerita of MOMA, was a nonvoting adviser to the Drawing Center team. "Architecture should be a reflection of what happens on the interior," says Mr. Negroponte. A case where that didn't happen? "Frank Gehry's design for Bilbao is an excellent example of a huge expressionistic statement that might overwhelm the meaning of what happens inside," he says. (Mr. Negroponte is excited about Mr. Gehry's selection for the theater building. "It's a terrific choice," he says.)

Though Snohetta is not well-known in the U.S., it does have experience with complex projects. The firm is best known for the Alexandria Library in Egypt, a 10-year endeavor, completed in 2002, that has received world-wide acclaim. Other projects include an opera house in Oslo, a museum in England, and the Norwegian Embassy in Berlin. The firm is named for a peak in central Norway that means "snowcap," and according to Norse legend, is the site of Valhalla, the resting place of dead heroes.

The museum groups have no reservations about picking an up-and-coming firm—or one from abroad. "When you go out of the country it adds a measure of risk, which makes it all the more remarkable that we felt Snohetta could do this," says Mr. Bernstein. One of his nonvoting advisers was Dan Tishman, president of Tishman Realty Construction, builder of the Freedom Tower. "Having Dan Tishman at your side makes you very practical," says Mr. Bernstein.

Snohetta won't be going it alone, according to co-founder Craig Dykers. Adamson Associates, a Toronto-based firm with a New York presence, will serve as associate architects to the project.

There was also a personal chemistry and attraction to Snohetta's collective, egalitarian structure. "We need an egoless situation," says Ms. de Zegher. "Snohetta works in a team, which is important because we are already teaming up with the Freedom Center."

What Mr. Gehry and Snohetta produce, of course, is a matter of speculation. Design concepts won't be produced until early 2005. The LMDC allocated $4.6 million to each firm for its design services. Funding for the actual construction hasn't been secured. Those involved expect the cash to come through a combination of LMDC money and fundraising by the groups. Each venue is estimated to cost between $250 million to $300 million.

-- Mr. Frangos is a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal. His "Design + Build" column will appear monthly on RealEstateJournal.com.

Email your comments to rjeditor@dowjones.com.