The newest design for New York's World Trade Center replacement was released one month ago today and still no one has done anything about it, so I figured the time was ripe for ranting.
The redesigned tower is, in short, terrible. For those of you unfamiliar with the design, the brilliant David M. Childs has taken a forgettable and uninspiring glass box and shoved it incongruously onto a 200-foot, windowless, bombproof concrete pedestal. It's hard to imagine a worse Freedom Tower.
The nondescript glass tower by itself is bad enough, since all David M. Childs has done is liberate elements from other New York landmarks like the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center, and the Statue of Liberty, and reassemble them in a way that has none of the visual power of the originals. The symbolic height of 1776 feet is a particularly tacky touch. But stealing from other buildings and erecting bland skyscrapers is nothing new. The real crime is the base.
According to the Lower Manhattan Development Corp, the Freedom Tower’s concrete base "will be clad in luminous materials— probably a combination of stainless steel and titanium— that will be shimmering and light-reflective as well as blast-resistant." Yeah right. Since when is a concrete fortress covered with sheet metal "luminous" and "shimmering?" "Grim" and "oppressive" are the words I would use. The bombproof base turns what's supposed to be the Freedom Tower into a potent symbol of fear.
Terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center because they wanted us to live in fear- that's what terrorism means. The whole point of the Freedom Tower is supposed to be standing up to the terrorists, showing them we're not afraid. But this design sends exactly the opposite message. If we build this tower, the terrorists will have accomplished their goal, and none of the thousands of people who will see it every day will be allowed to forget it. It will be the Fear Tower.
So congratulations, David M. Childs. You should be proud.
# posted by Ben @ 6:42 PM
: 8:17 PM 