Muschamp's review of the Think Group's entry:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/28/arts/design/28DESI.html?pagewanted=1

For me the spire, or whatever the call the "thing" in the Liebskind entry, is such a monstrosity as to eliminate it from consideration.

[ 06 February 2003: Message edited by: josh ]

The Grope's architecture critic wrote an interesting article last week about combining the two proposals. I forget now exactly how she did it, but it sounded good to me.

I do not mean to hijack this thread.

As to what belongs in the area left over from the World Trade Center Towers. A small memorial, perhaps a Chapel. A memorial similar to the Vietnam War memorial. Small, understated, powerful, moving. and behind the small memorial should rise an even greater memorial proving that the American spirit mgiht be scarred butit is not broken. We should raise our proverbial fists in defiance of those who would wish to do the american citizen harm. We cannot be cowed by radicals. We should carry on with what made this nation great; building everything bigger and better, relying upon the personal strength of our citizenry, and brandishingour way of life so they world may see us. So that other nations that might founder upon the shoals of liberty and freedom might look to us as a beacon and right themselves.

i know it might sound jingoistic and full of patriotic fervour, rhetoric, what have you, but we must not shrink inthe face of adversity. Humilty beyond our borders, pride within.
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[ 06 February 2003: Message edited by: Dave Boaz ]

In fact, I liked the joke proposal I saw on line that had five towers, with the central one being twice as tall as the others. It looked like the New York sky line was giving the world the finger.

Being Canadian though, I really don't have much of a view of it.

I'm more concerned about the idjit design for the new ROM that looks like a crystal jutting into the beautiful old building.

I looked at the other proposals, and as impossible as it sounds, they were WORSE.

I think architecture is neat, but I don't understand what would give anyone licence to take the design of an old building and bastardize it. Pure ego, I guess.

The crystal motife would be outstanding-- as a building to itself.

I see a lot of that, in small and big examples. There are old Vicotorian homes in London that are spectacular-- except someone added a big square enclosed porch on the upper story, and used vinyl siding.

Maybe this picture here.

The tower is sticking out of the middle of the red brick armoury.

[ 07 February 2003: Message edited by: JimmyBrogan ]

I think it's cool. I thought the underground subway thing was interesting, too. Apparently it would put it on the noteworthy undergrounds list, right up there with Montreal.

I don't view the new designs as bastardizing the surrounding architecture. Sure, it might look garish, out of place, but the whole point is renewal, reinvention, blah, blah, blah. I bet when the first bank towers were going up in TO that some thought the same thing. And while some of the towers don't warrant my attention, I'm particularly fond of the TD Towers.

But, you have to admit, how would a big modern building look if it was behind or beside the Armories? Not a whole lot different.

And, from street level, one would never know-- Except for that class awning thing jutting out.

I think we both hate it, just you REALLY hate it.

Then there's the new VIA station. It pleased everyone at first, as even the heap of rubble that was the old CN building looked better than the monstrosity it was when it stood, turning downtown London into a place where it was always a late monday afternoon in November.

But, you know the new station is turned the wrong way and traffic flow in and out was patterned after the pinched off urinary tract of a man with an enlarged postrate gland. And, from inside you can't even see the choo choo approach from the east. They have a salmon pink aspenite shed sticking out. Classy.

Whenever London announces a major building project, the meeting room is invaded thusly:

"Hi everybody!"

"Hi Architecht Nic!!"

[ 07 February 2003: Message edited by: TommyPaineatWork ]

quote:

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I'm particularly fond of the TD Towers.

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quote:

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Whenever London announces a major building project, the meeting room is invaded thusly:

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There are abominations of course. "White Oaks," along the 401 and Wellington road. "Missasagua without the soul" as I call it. And, perhaps not coincidentally, the landfill is just north of there.

Things started to go wrong in the late 60's and 70's and that had a lot to do not with London, just with architectural style and design philosophy. London, like other places, has started to recover. "One London Place" is not the tallest office tower here, but it dominates now just through it's stunning beauty and design. It's designed not to look and feel anti-people both in terms of sky line and on street level.

Call it "September 11 Memorial Park" or something. Besides, its not like NY needs more commercial floorspace or anything.

The new market works, as does the John. The John suffers a bit on the Talbot and Dundas side from the Bell building. The Bell building is fine above street level, but where it meets people with its unfinished concrete is awful, and it detracts from the faux Talbot street scape.

The Think proposal has a better grounding and you really get a sense of how the the elevated park which serves as the podium on which the towers stand will be a refuge from the bustle of the lower west side. I particularly like the way it juts out over the West Side Highway. As well, the unjumbled siting is much more appropriate for this site then the typically skewed Libeskind plan. It will, I think be better complex, not just a better set of drawings.

One comment I had about the whole process was, and I'm sure verbatim will agree, was its closed nature. This competition could have benefited from being an open call, and who knows what peice of magnificence would have been the result. Many express admiration for Maya Lin's Viet Nam memorial, which won an open competition when she was a student.

One last comment:

the village voice commented back in December that:

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Among the nine new designs broached for ground zero, Think's was the only one not focused on office space. This at a time when the city already has millions of square feet of unused office space, when a proposed World Trade Center has no potential tenant, and no one knows whether a single corporation will venture back to that site to move into a skyscraper.'

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