Lots of talk on MetaFilter (now that it seems to be reachable again) about this incredibly ugly proposed design for a replacement for the World Trade Center towers. In the months since they were destroyed, I’ve gone back and forth about what I personally feel should go in the space. I guess I have problems with both extremes – a flat park seems too much like giving in, and renouncing the basic American idea of getting on with our lives. But building something even more grand and tall, as some have suggested, doesn’t seem right either. To me, that would be sort of the architectural equivalent of a Toby Keith song, if you get my drift.
Whatever goes there, I hope it’s beautiful. That four-sticks-of-dynamite-with-a-pyramid-on-top monstrosity linked above would not serve anyone’s purpose – I know that much.
This is one of the many times that I wish my father was around, since he was an architect with a keen sense of society and culture. I know he would have some interesting thoughts on the subject.
What do you think should be done with the WTC site?
I have trouble with the idea of having fewer than 110 stories or two buildings, so that structure appeals to me simply by not giving in. And the idea of linking the buildings makes me more comfortable about the possibility of future attacks.
Still, it ain’t pretty. I’m more intrigued by the idea of having a 110-story tower with 40 stories of empty air.
So now it just looks like one easy target instead of multiple easy targets
…….looking at the site made me cry……. I can’t say its any more ugly than the original WTC; just ugly in a different way….
Right on! Let’s commemorate the loss of commercial space with more commercial space! How better to celebrate the people who lost their lives and gave of themselves than with … office space.
That design is awful, but I’m all for the idea of a structure the same size or larger. Call me a toby kieth-ish redneck if you want, but anything less than rebuilding is letting bin laden have his way. I don’t want him and his kind to see that they were able to break us. Change us, hurt us, sure, but not break our will.
From HFS Day onward I’ve been a “build it again” sort of guy. It’s certainly … an unusual design, but no ugler than the old towers. I would have more concerns about its commercial viability than its aesthetics.