Carla Bonacci

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Lower Manhattan and the World Trade Center Campus, New York, NY

CARLA BONACCI, FAIA, PP (B.Sci. ‘81, B.Arch. ‘82)

I have spent (or I should say, invested) most of my professional career (more than 33 years) in planning, designing, constructing and regulating projects at The World Trade Center, spanning both preand post-9/11. My singular career passion and focus has nevertheless engaged me with guiding and influencing development of all building typologies, including office towers, a major transit hub and retail mall, a church and a performing arts center; as well as its supporting infrastructure of central plants, streetscape, along with operations and vehicle servicing facilities.

The WTC still represents a “city within a city” — with its mixed uses and developed gross square feet rivaling the central business districts of many mid-size U.S. cities. My great satisfaction through all of the intensive interactions with real estate developers, public officials, major tenants, contractors and “starchitects” involved at the center of decision-making for this iconic development, is the seamless integration of the World Trade Center as part of the fabric of Lower Manhattan.

The architectural identity of the rebuilt World Trade Center Campus has been defined by its Master Plan and its associated Design Guidelines that establish the common framework, objectives and design vocabulary for the development of individual buildings and supporting infrastructure. I have managed the coordination and implementation of the WTC Master Plan from inception through its current iteration. I focused on the WTC Streetscape design to establish the campus environment, serving as both a platform and backdrop, grouping the individual buildings around the Memorial. An ensemble that allows expression of distinct architecture.

Architects are trained to design holistic buildings that meet client needs, taking into account both the project’s external context and its internal functions. There are added responsibilities and opportunities when the client also includes the general public with diverse needs and expectations. It’s never a bad thing to prioritize open public space. I also take satisfaction in maintaining architectural design quality while ascribing to design objectives that include “form follows finance” and “invisible infrastructure.” 2 20222022

The WTC Campus has been a tremendous undertaking involving the collective efforts of thousands involved in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction (AEC) field. Since the WTC property is owned by the Port Authority of NY & NJ as a distinct municipal entity, we also have governmental and regulatory responsibility and authority. We innovated out of necessity and aspiration to address challenges of security and sustainable development, including techniques and solutions that are now common industry practice.

My narrative is intertwined with the history of the World Trade Center — so the 1993 terrorist bombing and the 9/11 attacks evoked both personal and professional responses to achieve resiliency as well as remembrance. Whenever I am invited to speak on the history or progress of the World Trade Center, I make sure to say that I believe that my colleagues who were lost in the line of duty, would be proud of what has been accomplished.

The creation of the World Trade Center Campus required sustained efforts to overcome obstacles, achieve balance, and maintain the overall Master Plan vision for the successful rebuilding of this civic place of historic significance.

Rendering of the WTC Campus looking southeast, including future Tower 5 at right. Carla Bonacci

A s s i s t a n t D i r e c t o r , W T C I n f r a s t r u c t u r e & P r o j e c t D e v e l o p m e n t The Port Authority of NY & NJ I joined the Port Authority as an Architectural Trainee 39 years ago and designed buildings i n c l ud i ng a to l l pl az a, maintenance facilities, and industrial parks. This led to my interest to become responsible for all aspects of project delivery— leading and directing entire teams of professional staff and contractors as a project executive, public owner and client.

I carry with me Lou Inserra’s love of architectural history and the importance of looking for precedent. We learned to study and analyze works of architecture until our own concepts crystallized. He taught me to think through how spaces and form can influence human movement, attitudes, and quality of life. Lou frequently shared with me the works of Sir Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll d u r i n g o u r l i b r a r y explorations. Their ability to j uxtapose b ui ld i ng s and landscape into a holistic environment has become an important part of how I approach the work that I do and the design philosophy with which I approach design and development decisions.

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Northgate Station, Seattle, WA

MARK G. CAHILL, AIA (Penn State B.Sci. ‘81, Univ. of Pennsylvania M.Arch. ‘82)

While in high school, I enrolled in an immersive six-week summer program at Carnegie Mellon which provided a strong introduction to architecture and enabled me to compete in a studio class for an open spot in Penn State’s architecture program. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree and, inspired by many professors who had gone to Penn, enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania where I won the Schenk-Woodman design competition and received a Master of Architecture.

After graduation I remained in Philadelphia and interned for three years at Ewing Cole and Cope Linder while simultaneously teaching architectural construction classes at the University of the Arts and Temple University. I then joined SPG3 Architects and began working on commercial retail projects including King of Prussia Mall, Deptford Mall and Colonie Center in Albany. Retail design intrigued me because it encompasses extensive master planning, building design, significant interior design and branding that culminates in the creation of impactful public places. After a dozen years with SPG3, I was promoted to Principal and continued to work with the company for over twenty years. As successful as the firm was, it was unable to sustain itself during the 2008 recession. After a year I joined Bergmann Associates, a regional Engineering/Architecture firm, working on retail bank prototype design and inline branch roll-outs in cities including NY, DC and Miami.

Developing this retail market sector experience enabled me to transition to a leadership position with Simon Property Group, an Indianapolis based developer with a national portfolio of 200 retail centers. As Vice President of Design, I now work with some of the best design firms in the country including Gensler, Rockwell and HKS and drive design to a higher level than I was able to achieve working in private practice. Having spent the majority of my career renovating and expanding shopping centers I now find myself in a position of transforming these car-centric, retail only centers into mixed-use destinations. My career advice to students today is to find a market sector that you are passionate about and develop an in-depth expertise in that field which can be leveraged over time into a long and rewarding career . . .

An example is Northgate Station in Seattle, where Simon is de-malling the retail center and replacing it with a transit oriented, pedestrian friendly urban village comprising 14 new buildings including offices, hotels, multifamily apartments and recreational facilities totaling 3 million square feet of space and representing $1.4 billion dollars of development. Mark G. Cahill

Vice President of Design Simon Property Group

While I was not fortunate enough to have had Lou Inserra for studio, I fondly r e me m b e r h i m w a l k i n g students to the architecture library to reference projects. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of the library monographs, both historic and contemporary, and used these as examples to help students solve a design problem on which they were w or ki ng . I t w a s L ou’ s dedication to his students and t e a c h i ng m e th od s t h a t inspired me to teach after graduating.

My career advice to students today is to find a market sector that you are passionate about and develop an indepth expertise in that field which can be leveraged over time into a l ong and rewarding career, resilient to both economic cycles and the c o nt i nui t y of a n y on e individual company.