I was hoping for something more understated and dignified but I wonder what New Yorkers think. The thing that has rarely been discussed through entire aftermath of this disaster is how patently absurd the WTC buildings were. All these large structures are disasters waiting to happen. They serve no beneficial purpose, other than to pump up somebody's ego. They are completely impractical, dehumanizing monuments to the stupidest elements of capitalist society. And they are completely at cross-purposes with the way business works in the information age. In a memorial, I would have hoped for something that would be a monument to the lost humanity rather than a monument to the buildings. I don't give a damn about the buildings - That was no loss at all. The loss was the people, the pain of the lost and the living, and the horror and despair of the human potential that was snuffed out that day. Something like the Vietnam memorial or the Arizona memorial would have been the right way to go. IMHO. Memorials to two worthless, ugly buildings are an insult. :m: Peace.
A memorial would be included, but think about how much land would be needed to produce the office space if you limited yourself to ten or less stories. Plus there's the spirit in which they were built, and whether the new building(s) will be targeted again.
Those buildings served a function. If you've ever been in NYC then you know about the total lack of space. Those two buildings held more offices then I can count. Can't we all just agree that we need some futuristic looking buildings? I mean come on, were in the year 2000, we need something cool and futuristic looking.
Plans are looking even more ghastly than the Twin Boxes. I can't see why more people will be eager to crowd and be stacked in NYC anymore. Gotham's day has come and gone. Architecturally, IMHO the masterpiece was and ever will be the Chrysler. Futuristic isn't "The Jetsons" to me.
Huh? I have to disagree. The Trade Towers were very successful and profitable because they were functionally sound. With the limited office space in NY, they served a valuable service to the city's commerce industries. How can you say they served no beneficial purpose? They were the center of trade for NYC and centralized many companies in the downtown area.
Um, excuse me if I pose insult to the victims of Sept. 11, but isn't the way we stop planes from crashing into towers by beefing up security and airplane e-design? As opposed to halting growth of the skyline... The only other legitamite reason I could think of not building a big tower is out of respect for the victims. Even then, I still think the majority of them would say "Onward march! Don't let the dead stand in the way of growth and progress!". A small memorial is just as great as one 10x that size. With a memorial, it's really the thought that counts. And I don't mean to be disrespectful, but it seems a tad bit selfish to leave a big hole in the business capital of America because a minority of grievers can't let go of the suffering. I don't want anybody to forget, but I don't want NY to suffer from self-consuming pity. The dead will be remembered. So my point is, that we don't need a giant memorial!! If we kept on building memorials each time something died, the world would be nothing but memorials. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
this sky scraper frenzy has got to stop.. agreed that the twin towers served a good purpose considerin space issues in NYC, its still ridiculous to continue building em... just stick to decent sized bldgs... everyone wants to outdo each other... who cares how tall the damm bldg is... its tall enufff... constructin a tall building in the memory of another building is just plain stupid... u dont build memorials for objects, u do it for ppl...
I don't think it's really a testament to the WTC. The land and office space was extremely valuable and still is. The most prudent thing to do would be to reclaim the lost space. You really think they're going to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on a whim? These guys know what they're building.
The World Trade Center in many ways represented the very worst of our civilization. Huge, ugly, square buildings filled with wealth and power, people in posh luxurious offices towering over a city where thousands are homeless. I recognize this, but even so, for a great many people like myself, they were an integral part of our city, if just out of familiarity. They were the first thing you saw when returning to NYC. Something to watch for to let you know when you're almost home. It is strange seeing the skyline without them. Therefore I understand the motivation behind throwing up new huge ugly buildings in an attempt to replace whats missing. However, a far better memorial to the events of 9/11 in my opinion would be to create something in its place that represented the best of our society rather than the worst. A park, a museum, even low income housing would be far more appropriate than any of the plans that have been proposed.
There are an abundance of huge building in Hong Kong, and the only poor there are the handicapped. Even then, they're all fairly wealthy. Don't take what I'm saying the wrong way. I'm not in favour of huge buildings that have money and power over ME. But I'm not particularly thrilled in the way you blame poverty on the rich. The system is out of homeostasis, buildings are the warts and indigestion, not the cause. Want change? You can't have it, buddy. Not in today's world... Really, how can a marvel of architecture and science represent the worst in our society? Blame your government. Low income housing?? On some of the most valuable land in the world?? I couldn't think of a something better to represent the worst about our society - stupidity! I apologize, but I think you ought to be more realistic. The system is readjusting itself right now. Just as the wealth was grossly lopsided before the modern era, our money woes will be a thing of the past. Problem is, we have to get all nations to industrialize, and make sure that we either don't blow ourselves up, or suffer through climate change.
Only the handicapped are poor in hong kong? That seems unlikely. Even more unlikely is that they're both poor and fairly wealthy. Perhaps not in todays world, but things are always changing. Who knows what the future holds. The fact that things won't change over night doesn't mean we should just accept everything as it is. I don't blame the rich for poverty, I blame the system that allows there to be such a disparity between rich and poor and those who conciously work to increase that disparity. The WTC consisted of two huge ugly square buildings. The only marvel was the fact that the designer had the forsight to design it so it didn't wipe out half the city when it came down. You see, this is what I was referring to when I spoke of the worst of our society. The mentality that prioritizes luxurious office space for wealthy businessmen over basic shelter for others. What better tribute to the victims of 9/11 then something that would actually help people? Why should I be more realistic?. I was stating what I thought should be built not what I thought would be built.
THINK, not Libeskind. I don't think they made the right choice. The THINK team's proposal was imho far superior. Libeskind only won because he is famous for building the holocaust survivors museum or something, not because his design was any better. Nearly everyone I've spoken to prefered the THINK design, did the Libeskind design even have more than minimal support? i'd be suprised. On the issue of building a large structure their at all or not, many feel that not rebuilding would be admitting defeat to the terrorists(not to mention the financial interests of the port authority). I however feel that we have already lost to the terrorists in our immense loss of freedoms in the past 2 years, and continuing thoughout the remains of bush's reign most likely.
Luxurious office space? Yeah, see were going to make all these shelters for the poor, and not get anything in return except a warm fuzzy feeling... Please. Look, that luxurious office space is going to employee a lot of people. People who need to feed there kids, there families. A tribute to help people!? WTF! Look above, jobs man, money! Actually I think the best idea is to put a giant flaming statue right on the sight, that way, we never forget! NEVER FORGET! How is the site going to help people? You wanna put low income housing right there? Sure. Go ahead, of course it is NYC, so low income means that they only make $50,000 a year instead of the normal $100,000
i see a few examples of people bashing the twin towers for looking ghastly, square, and boring... i suppose, taken individually, they were. but what could be worse than a boring-looking building? a boring-looking skyline! since someone flew a couple planes into buildings, should we limit new ones to 30, 40, 50 storeys? if we do, then we'll need more buildings for the same amount of officespace (the demand for which will not waver), and we'll end up with a huge expanse of xx-storey [yes i spelled that right] buildings. NY's version of sprawl. a miserable idea. i wish they would rebuild the exact same buildings, but in different footprints; that way, the originals' footprints could be moving memorials, and we could most efficiently flip the bird to those who would kill us. since when do we let others' hatred dictate what we build or where we build it?
The best way to heal the psychic damage suffered by New Yorkers (the rest of the planet was shocked and saddened, but New Yorkers were obviously the most mentally harmed by the attack) would be to rebuild the WTC as a duplicate of the original. It would be the best way to avoid disagreement about design and would serve as a Bronx Cheer to Al-Qaeda. It's also likely that a better job could be done in making the buildings stronger - I'd consider attaching the towers with three bridges and hardening the building cores / staircases. Bridges could help with ordinary movement within the towers and evacuation just in case. I do have to wonder whether anyone will want to work in any building on the site. I'd like to see a memorial consisting of two raised reflecting pools on the original tower footprints. Engrave the names of the dead on stone surronding the pools, like the Vietnam memorial, and leave it at that.
50,000 a year isn't low income.. There are a lot of rich people in nyc, but there are also a lot of people who are dirt poor. jobs? a homeless shelter/low income housing project/park/museum of that size woudl create a lot of jobs too. The people who would be getting the luxurious office space in the new WTC are not exactly in danger of not being able to feed their families
