Zirve Eki - ISTANBUL REstate

50 GYODER
Gayrimenkul Zirvesi 10
up the globe. All types of possibilities now exist. Firm like
ours is able to work simultaneously in China, India, Europe,
Africa simply by the Internet. People every day from all over
the world are e-mailing us to work in our office, to suggest
projects, to have interest. And it is only because of this wide,
expansive Internet. And I believe in the future the Internet
will have a much much a greater importance on sustainability
in an environmental point of view.
We are able to have a small firm, relatively small compared
to George's 500 or 1000, and right now we have over a
billion dollars of work on the boards or in construction. Again
I would say, because it is enabling of the global outreach. In
New York, it is better to work at home, to get started at
home. So we worked on many planning projects that have
really pushed our limits in terms of working. I would say,
particularly, with government and working on very very
important issues of density related to sustainability. Our city,
in America, at one time was the most dangerous, and now
New York City the densest city in America, is now the safest
city in the country. So, density to us is a good thing. This is
a project that actually I first met Prof. Strickland at, which
was what everybody's dream is particularly developers' to
add 40 city blocks along the western edge of Manhattan and
it involved new parklands and it was the beginning, I would
say, of the environmental movement that used environment
as a wedge against development. So, here, this project which
we are involved in for five years actually stopped because of
the sex life of striped bass. It was the misuse of environmental
issues to stop development. Another important aspect that
sustainability would be transportation. Here, we have recently
completed a new Staten Island ferry terminal at the tip of
Manhattan and the largest ferry terminal in our country. And
the importance of it is that it combines subways, buses, taxies
and ferries, all at one point. And so it becomes one of the
most sustainable points in our city in terms of basically moving
people away with no cars. So that is the importance, I would
say, in sustainable design of having intermodal facilities.
Don't have ferries without buses, don't have buses without
15 Haziran 2010
subways. If you cannot link all of the aspects of transportation
you are still going to affect the environment.
The other interesting thing about the ferry terminal is that it
involved city state and federal agencies. Obama says, "yes we
can" and we say, "yes we did". So, in this case, we had to get
the approval of city state and federal governments all at odds
with each other to make this project go forth. Now, bureaucracy
and leadership, I would rather have one great mayor than 50
agencies. This project is now in its 18th year because of
bureaucracy, disagreement with each other. The same
department of transportation in the state will be at diametric
odds to the Federal Highway Administration in the city DOT.
So it is getting people together to speak to each other. The
whole idea planning and architecture and the safety of our
cities particularly in America changed by 9/11. It was a beautiful
day and then the plane literally flew over our heads, I see this
from my front door. Not many people have seen this
photograph but it could be like your earthquake, a complete
catastrophe. And it enabled us to really focus on the need of
making our cities safer and making our cities more sustainable.
Now the reason I am so passionate about this is that this is
the view from my office. This is where I sit and this is what I
look at now. So, every day I am confronted with what I can
do to help the city. I watched my friend lose her husband, her
three little boys with no father. So this view empowers us to
work harder; the first sketches of trying to re-heal the city.
And I want to say that an important part of the architects and
planners to development is vision. And this drawing of regrowing
Manhattan, the rebirth of Manhattan came right
after 9/11. And it involved some unilateral ideas that I have
on myself of new zoning opportunities, of bearing highways
to create more land along the western edge of again
Manhattan. For this, our powerful paper supported my ideas.
You always need the press when you are doing controversial
projects and thinking. And we came up with a plan for 10
million square feet and the first new vision of what now you
see all over the world; the twisted Twin Towers. We formed
a team, an international team called Think that then recreated