The new WTC plan absolutely sucks! (NYT)

[ovidsen]

Okay, that's not the REAL headline. But it might as well be. Architecture critic Nikolai Ouroussoff says the latest design for the building to replace the Twin Towers is SO ugly, words almost fail him.

I agree. Not only would this fit in with the rest of lower Manhattan like a turd in a punchbowl, it also boasts the cheerful ambience of a maximum security prison.

Please. Back to the drawing board. And for GOD'S sake DROP the "Freedom Tower" name.

An Appraisal
A Tower of Impregnability, the Sort Politicians Love


By NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF
Published: June 30, 2005

The darkness at ground zero just got a little darker. If there are people still clinging to the expectation that the Freedom Tower will become a monument to the highest American ideals, the current design should finally shake them out of that delusion. Somber, oppressive and clumsily conceived, the project suggests a monument to a society that has turned its back on any notion of cultural openness. It is exactly the kind of nightmare that government officials repeatedly asserted would never happen here: an impregnable tower braced against the outside world.

(/snip)

Absurdly, if the Freedom Tower were reduced by a dozen or so stories and renamed, it would probably no longer be considered such a prime target (for terrorists). Fortifying it, in a sense, is an act of deflection. It announces to terrorists: Don't attack here - we're ready for you. Go next door.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/30/arts/30appraisal.html?hp&ex=1120104000&en=43740707da618966&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[meti57b]

1. it does look sort of like a giant hypodermic needle.

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. The whole article is pretty absurd, when you think about it.

It's going to be an OFFICE BUILDING. Now, I might be way off base here, but I thought the "highest American ideals" were freedom, justice, and equality; if this is supposed to be a "monument", apparently they've been replaced by money, corporate power, and paranoia. (Which isn't inappropriate, entirely, in the context of these times...)

[ovidsen]

3. Which is more absurd? The article or the plan?

Me, I think the plan. But I'm open to debate.:popcorn:

[Spider Jerusalem]

4. They're both absurd...

and as to the plan, well...the best use of the former WTC space would be for some sort of mixed-use development that incorporates office, commercial, and cultural space along with an appropriate memorial park; something open to America and the world, that honours the past and embraces the future. Not a monolithic high-security monstrosity that looks like a futuristic prison out of one of Philip K. Dick's nightmares.

[FreedomAngel82]

7. Yes

I saw the bit on dembloggers of Reagan's show with the girl and they were talking about this. The girl suggested they should rebuild the towers the orginial way and if the people want to have a memorial have it off site since the place is sacred to a lot of people. The "freedom tower" nonsense sounds like crap. More Bush propoganda for fear.

[JohnnyRingo]

5. I've seen 9/11 widows on TV complaining about a lack of 9/11 material

at the "Freedom Museum".

My guess is that when they figure out the rent at $$$ per sq ft, freedom and capitalism will collide and the museum/memorial will be relegated to a broom closet or a plaque in the parking garage.

The WTC towers weren't targeted because they represented our "freedom".

[FreedomAngel82]

8. Exactly

If people think that they don't know the history of the WTC and why it was brought down whether really by BinLaden or by those who shall not be named.

[thinkingwoman]

6. I hate to agree with Trump, but...

rebuild the twin towers. Will they be a target? Of course, and also a giant F*ck You to the ones who brought them down.

[FreedomAngel82]

9. Exactly

[TahitiNut]

10. It's a street-level monstrosity... an anti-pedestrian fortress for capital

Twenty stories (200') of virtually windowless concrete It ignores the primary strength that is New York City: it's people on foot. It's people that keep a city alive. This monstrosity is nothing but a mausoleum: a tribute to death.

[gauguin57]

11. They should call it the Foreign Policy Tower.

Cuz it ain't our FREEEEEDOM "they" really hate us for!

I'll have an order of Foreign Policy Fries, please.

[antigone382]

12. geez, it's hideous! I liked it much better the original way.

I realize that car and truck bombs are a risk, but they're going extremely overboard with this. What are they going to do next, construct twenty story concrete walls around the bottom of every building in New York?