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• Warning to New Yorkers
• Neither the arguments nor the architectural
  project developed henceforth should be allowed to
  be side-tracked by dishonest criticisms. The
  purpose of the team is not to lecture anyone or
  to try to convert anyone.
• No one in the team intends to lecture anyone
  about anything.
• This project is influenced by the European
  Christian culture of its members and more
  particularly of its author. His cultural
  references are the values imbuing the society in
  which he lives. As a Frenchman he is interested
  in architecture and sculpture and is familiar
  with churches and cathedrals, the work of Rodin
  and Brancusi (and even that of Bartholdi ). This
  project is not about setting one principle
  against another, one philosophy against another
  and even less one religion against one another.
  It is only about putting forward one
  architectural project that could enhance the
  lives of New Yorkers.

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Project philosophy The architecture of the
grandest cathedral or the humblest church or
chapel bespeaks a wish to raise oneself towards
God, a desire to rise above the human condition,
to forget ones selfish actions. The building of
skyscrapers follows this aspiration to rise
higher, to the highest point possible. It is a
pagan version which is closer to the tower of
Babel, that attempt at vying with God which was
ultimately punished for its arrogance. Let us
try to find a more noble meaning again, to return
to the spirit of the cathedrals builders by
building a modern cathedral, although pagan as it
is not dedicated to God. A cathedral that
nevertheless gives a meaning to these previous
buildings and particularly to the following one.
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Architectural inscription
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• Spiritual et Solemn
• A spiritual dimension and its solemn character,
  it is a reference to cathedrals. Although it
  looks like a humble church from the outside, it
  is akin to a cathedral because of its dimensions
  and its meaning.

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It echoes the cathedrals of Old Europe such as
Notre Dame in Paris or the Cathedral of Amiens or
Laon, the cathedrals of the New World such as the
Golden Gate Bridge, the Arch in Saint-Louis or
the Twin Towers. It looks like La Cathédrale by
Rodin holding LOiseau dans lAir by Brancusi.
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Under the transept crossing, in its centre, under
the vault, in the most sacred place, where in
consecrated places lies the altar and under which
often lies a crypt, there will be shaft of glass
surrounded by a theatre, thus combining the idea
of altar and crypt. The shaft will plunge deep
into the ground as if to remind men that they are
between two states, between two worlds. The
building will combine the height of the transept
symbolising the canopy of the sky, the stars and
the mind with the bottom of the shaft, the abyss,
action, two opposites echoing the human condition.
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• Symbolic
• The project symbolises the shadow of Bartholdis
  torch over Manhattan.
• The Avenue of Liberty represents the pole of the
  torch and the arm carrying it.
• The two buildings flanking the esplanade
  represent the hand around the torch.
• The  cathedral  represents the hilt of the
  torch.
• The shaft and the theatre of memory represent
  the incandescent point of light.
• The four small prism-shaped buildings represent
  the flames of the torch.

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• Dynamic
• From a dynamics perspective space is divided in
  three parts which all have a clearly separate
  function.
• From the edge of the ocean where the Statue of
  Liberty is visible to the cathedral, the space is
  dedicated to life. The Avenue of Liberty will be
  developed on the same pattern as the Champs
  Elysées in Paris with shops, festive places for
  daytime or night time. It will be the place where
  New Yorkers will spontaneously gather to
  celebrate major events. The Avenue of Liberty
  opens onto the Esplanade flanked and closed by
  two buildings whose slanted walls will form
  gigantic tiers . Each level will have shops,
  restaurants, a vast promenade like the Planches
  in Deauville with railings from where strollers
  can watch other people standing on the Esplanade

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• The cathedral made up of three buildings will
  constitute an area specifically for offices
  or/and dwellings.

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• The third part, from the shaft to the four
  prismatic buildings (the pyramids) will be a
  space dedicated to memory and contemplation.
• The foundation of the central building of the
  cathedral will be designed like the fault of
  the transept crossing in a religious cathedral
  and will fulfil the same function, namely to
  invite to modesty, introspection, to a
  preliminary step towards contemplation.
• The shaft of glass, a shaft of light for
  underground floors will open onto a vast theatre
  whose lateral two walls will be inscribed with
  the names of the victims of September 11. This
  theatre will be a natural location for patriotic
  ceremonies or ceremonies of remembrance.

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The four small prismatic buildings closing the
space of memory will stand in a tree-filled area
of transition between the theatre and the city.
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New-York City
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• Project team
• Pascal Alberti Project manager
• Dania Sfarghiu Graphic design
• Pierre Dragon Architectural conception
• David Fee Translator
• Address e-mail pascal.alberti_at_utc.fr