The two finalists have no occcupiable space anywhere near the top. While this makes sense at the present time, in a decade or two, I believe it will be seen as a mistake.
Instead of healing the skyline, the designs - especially the THINK plan - serve as a neverending reminder of what's not there. They seem to rub in the emptiness, the loss just by their very appearance. Hollow shells that guarantee that no one will ever have a chance to rise to the heights of the old buildings.
If these are built - years from now, our children, and our children's children will ask us what it was like to stand atop the old WTC, as they look up to places we will not allow ourselves to go again.
<strong>Instead of healing the skyline, the designs - especially the THINK plan - serve as a neverending reminder of what's not there. They seem to rub in the emptiness, the loss just by their very appearance. Hollow shells that guarantee that no one will ever have a chance to rise to the heights of the old buildings.
If these are built - years from now, our children, and our children's children will ask us what it was like to stand atop the old WTC, as they look up to places we will not allow ourselves to go again.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I think you're missing an important aspect of the schemes: the public spaces at the tops of the tall elements.
The THINK team's plan really is a one-liner, the ghost of the original towers though they aren't too literal about it. It's a very tentative rise out from the ashes. But visitors can travel up the towers to the vantage point of the original towers' observation decks. The intention is that this way everyone can have access to that, not just the office workers. Also, notice that the two tower frames with their public/cultural program are lined on three sides by tall office buildings, not as tall as the trade towers, but they do get up there.
Libeskind's scheme has two main ideas: the grave and the rebirth. On one hand, he carves away the city fabric to reveal a gaping hole in the city on 9/11 of every year. On the other hand, he builds the tower of hanging gardens (which is adjacent to and connects with mixed-use development) just to the North of the original site to symbolise this impulse to rise again, this time with new life. Again, the hanging gardens are accessible to everyone.
So while there isn't the incredibly tall office component (both schemes still have 50-70 story office buildings!), they do provide a means to have that view like the old trade towers.
The Think project is a little weird, when i see it, i think that i am going to call this project : the Ghost towers. A strange funerial monument (and a lot of extramoney spend in it at the contrary of the former twintowers, who have a much better quality prize ratio).
Comments
Instead of healing the skyline, the designs - especially the THINK plan - serve as a neverending reminder of what's not there. They seem to rub in the emptiness, the loss just by their very appearance. Hollow shells that guarantee that no one will ever have a chance to rise to the heights of the old buildings.
If these are built - years from now, our children, and our children's children will ask us what it was like to stand atop the old WTC, as they look up to places we will not allow ourselves to go again.
Some f*cking memorial.
<strong>Instead of healing the skyline, the designs - especially the THINK plan - serve as a neverending reminder of what's not there. They seem to rub in the emptiness, the loss just by their very appearance. Hollow shells that guarantee that no one will ever have a chance to rise to the heights of the old buildings.
If these are built - years from now, our children, and our children's children will ask us what it was like to stand atop the old WTC, as they look up to places we will not allow ourselves to go again.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I think you're missing an important aspect of the schemes: the public spaces at the tops of the tall elements.
The THINK team's plan really is a one-liner, the ghost of the original towers though they aren't too literal about it. It's a very tentative rise out from the ashes. But visitors can travel up the towers to the vantage point of the original towers' observation decks. The intention is that this way everyone can have access to that, not just the office workers. Also, notice that the two tower frames with their public/cultural program are lined on three sides by tall office buildings, not as tall as the trade towers, but they do get up there.
Libeskind's scheme has two main ideas: the grave and the rebirth. On one hand, he carves away the city fabric to reveal a gaping hole in the city on 9/11 of every year. On the other hand, he builds the tower of hanging gardens (which is adjacent to and connects with mixed-use development) just to the North of the original site to symbolise this impulse to rise again, this time with new life. Again, the hanging gardens are accessible to everyone.
So while there isn't the incredibly tall office component (both schemes still have 50-70 story office buildings!), they do provide a means to have that view like the old trade towers.