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The previous design for a new World Trade Center is an abomination, as I’ve noted before. Take a look at it:
Can you believe that? The proposed new buildings appear to lean, as if they are about to fall over. They’re a reiteration of the threat of the terrorists to the people of the city: they say, "Look out, these buildings are about to fall on you." And they say it for as long as those buildings remain standing. The people of New York would pay to have them torn down. The new design is a nightmare. It should never be perpetrated on that great city. It should never be built.
Trump wants to see the Towers rebuilt in a fashion similar to what they were, but stronger than ever:
May 17, 2005-ALBANY – Donald Trump, escalating his war against the "empty skeleton" Freedom Tower, will offer his own design for a rebuilt 111-story "World Trade Center" at Ground Zero at a press conference tomorrow.
"We have a beautiful model that has been built, a very big model," Trump told The Post yesterday.
"We took the original World Trade Center design, brought it into the modern age, made it more beautiful than ever before, made it one story taller, made it higher lined, and took out the architectural weaknesses that were there.
"We also strengthened the building internally so that what happened on 9/11 could never happen again," Trump added.
..."The design for the Freedom Tower is an egghead design, designed by an egghead, which has no practical application and which, frankly, didn’t look very good.
"I’ve gotten great reviews on my buildings. I’m somebody who believes strongly in great architecture and this [the Freedom Tower] was a design that is just not a good design," Trump added.
...Trump said he had a "huge" reaction to his initial proposal to dump the Freedom Tower, receiving over 1,000 letters in support of rebuilding the WTC.
Update 6-30-05: The new design for the Freedom Tower is more acceptable.
Update 9-13-06: More on the new design: Four new towers instead of two!
#2Freedom Tower are nasty. Freedom Tower are not belong
to rebuild to ground zero. No new design of four instead two.
Why just rebuild new twin tower instead because it represent
the world peace and tall tower? 120 stories on each both
towers. I want twin towers of wtc to be rebuilt? Please
rebuild new twin towers by 120 stories instead and forget
rebuild freedom tower plus four new design towers?
#3As a native New Yorker and one who lost many friends and business associates on September 11th, I don't understand why we need to build gigantic towers at all! It's simply a matter of hubris and bravado.
Who will rent/fill them? There was enough problem trying to fill the office space in the original Twin Towers!
It seems illogical to build towers where escape is difficult, even from an electrical fire or a black out situation.
Additionally, the current design is frightful and looks like a broken bottle tops. By the time it is completed, that style of architecture will be passe and indulgent. The sentimentality attached to the Freedom Tower is too maudlin.
Let's face it, the original Twin Towers, although iconic, were quite ugly, so I wouldn't recommend rebuilding them.
Why not plan something splendid and architecturally eternal on the scale of the original plan of Rockefeller Center?
As a point of interest, most of the best, brightest, and innovative architects did not bother to enter the competition for a myriad of reasons; dealing with too many well-meaning amateurs and the paltry prize money that would not have covered the planning costs were two of them.
It is altogether outrageous that there is so much haggling about the buildings as well as the memorial itself. (St. Paul's Chapel has the best memorial imaginable and nowhere near the nearly 1 billion pricetag.)
Ther's simply too many people involved!
I've been following the so-called progress of Freedom Tower and the memorial and have seen very little intelligence or dignity attached to the projects, just knee-jerk reactions.
New York, New Yorkers, the victims and their families deserve better than that.
#4Rebuilding the Twin Towers restore what was taken from America. Building anything else says to the world, “We are afraid.”
#5Robert,
That's the sort of in-your-face, knee-jerk reacton that I find offensive.
I don't care what the world thinks or doesn't think! That's their problem. We shouldn't stoop to a 'dare' or be slave to world opinion.
We have to do what is right for New Yorkers.
Let's be sensible and build something safer, on a much more human scale, which is responsive to the future tenants. The building should be as beautiful as many of the outstanding neighbors erected during the first half of the 20th century.
The Twin Towers were a brutal intrusion into an architectually vibrant area. There was nothing splendid or gracious about it. Thankfully,Cesar Pelli actually framed the buildings with his World Financial Center which added to the essentially baseless towers - at least for those viewing the buildings from the New Jersey side.
It's not the size that counts, it's the civic pride of place and remembrance which should transend all other considerations; and that is something that can never be taken away!
#6The latest design for the towers is a substantial improvement over the one shown here.
#7Great Britain shouts!!!
Are you stupid? no no, we mean are you so irresponsable and ill mannered to rebuild a threat to society where already thousands lost there live's.
If America is anything like GB it will build the Trade Centre else where and build a memorial where the towers once stood.
In GB you will find memorials and great statues where people died.
Its not about showing the world you are not scared, its about showing American's (your people) you care and are as hurt as they are. Do you honestly think people will want to work in such a high risk area. Terisoum will never end no matter how much you kid yourselves.
From my heart to all American's I truly hope you do not have to learn this the hard way, can you not see that the 9/11 attacks were hard enough.
Its not about getting your design picked so it becomes famous. It is a resting ground, HAVE SOME BLOODY RESPECT!!!!
#8This native New Yorker agrees. I think thought, there should be some buildings around on a smaller scale to revitalize the area, but these two gigantic monstrosities are not the way to go.
The wrangling and price of the memorial is objectionable.
The exhibit at St. Paul's Chaple is so much more eloquent than the architect's self-serving vision.
#9Rebuild The Twin towers but stronger then ever , I think we should learn from our mistakes and fix it not build a different building that alot of people dont like and in honor of people that died on 9/11 we should rebuild the towers exacly how they were.
#10The families of those who were lost will not allow any building where the two towers once stood ('footprints').
Most people I've spoken with don't want to see a carbon copy of the towers for a variety of reasons.
The land is too valuable not to build anything.
The area does need some economic revitalization.
The landlord, real estate developers, city planners, architects, inspectors, environmentalists, politicians, families of those lost, and the general public are all fighting amongst themselves and making demands.
Enough!
It's offensive that the memory of those who perished have been eclipsed by all this wrangling.
The current design to me is ugly, granted, but let's just get it built ASAP and get on with our lives.
#11Minoru Yamasaki must be in disgust. More and more I'm seeing crapy architects ruin a city skyline. I bet the structural engineers hate the architect for this building. I say bring the twins back and 20 stories higher! To hell with this tooth pick building!
#1220 stories higher are you mad?
This now is a resting ground for those who lost there lives, There bodies and there souls are in the soil. Let them rest.
Great Britain would never do something like this, a classic example to get through to those who dont understand is: If someone close to you dies they cannot be replaced. Just like the WTC in cannot be replaced. I cant stress enough how the british public are so dissapointed that the american goverment is allowing the rebuild of the buildings well to a similar spec anyway.
i think people are missing the key point people are dead and all the goverment want to do is rebuild the landmark. The new building will not bring fame, glamour and most certainly will not be a land mark I would want to visit. It will be a building of fear and remembrance of 9/11. I like to think in this world America and England are the same, we both have the same morals and respect so I am appoligising if this note is threatining to your beliefs.
#13Hubris rather than consideration is the driving force behind these monstrosities.
#14I dont mean to sound judgemental but what do you lot think will happen in 10, 20 or x amount of years down the line.
Perhaps a copy cat attacker will destroy NYC yet again. The land has a bad reputation now that will never be lost. Stop playing god and wake the #### up!!!
Last Comment from this part of the globe as quite frankly I'm disguisted at those poor peoples resting ground is going to be trampled all over. Its like building on a grave yard. SICK!!!!
#15as a new york person and losing a relative in the trade center you have my full support on rebuilding the twin towers, it makes the city shine, the freedom tower design looks nasty and out of place and shouldnt belong in NYC.
#16
He must bloody barney about rebuilding the two towers again...in the same spot
and already a wonderful memorial is building there. Why does he rebuild them
somewhere else.
#17The twin towers should be rebuilt. I am a NewYorker and I agree with the towers being rebuilt.
#18Hmm the new Freedom tower looks good in design but not the other 2 smaller scyscrapers that have that strange cut at their tops. This "top cut" does not fit with thei neighbour buildings according to my opinion. There are so many building designs why did they choose that one? Maybe the designer had a stronger "tooth and nail"?
I prefer many scyscrapers of other american cities, maybe the one in Las Vegas (which has an orange to golden color and I think it is a very expensive hotel). But I speak of the building appearence and beauty. Maybe if the safety purposes are of much consider then...maybe the new complex would be better or ideal.
I feel very sorry for the twin towers because they were nice and good looking, they were really very nice buildings which I would visit for sure if I was a tourist!
Harry,
Athens
Greece.
#19Thanks for your thoughts, Harry.
The city that I prefer for modern architecture is Seattle, Washington State.
I think the new towers are awful and will be difficult to fill with tenants.
Of course nothingt will ever surpass the art deco buildings downtown (Like the Irving Trust building at Wall and Broaqdway.) or the Chrysler Building and Empire State Building in midtown.
AM
#20What do you think of these more recent designs? They look better to me.
#21While it is an improvement, I think they're still too tall and too boxy. I wish they all had more interesting tops/roofs tapered off with elegant spires and beacons as opposed to the jutting needle of 1776. (The Chrysler Building, Con Ed, Irving Trust, General Electric (not the GE/old RCA at Rockefeller Center), Woolworth Building, Barclay-Vesey, American Standard, and Empire State are some that immediately come to mind.)
I guess I prefer then classic art deco structures. Whatever happened to stone and sculpture? To fanciful masonry? Mosaics? These are friendlier to the eye.
The park/memorial seems too sleek and sterile; the tall, several storied, 'wall' of the 1776 tower is intimidating and uninteresting. People looking at these renderings don't understand the actual scale; it's an inhuman one. It's will be an unfriendly environment which is reminiscent of the WTC 'landscaping'. (The WTC courtyard was a bleak windswept area; the sculpture in the center "The Sphere" by Fritz Koenig was perfunctory, that piece of sculpture is better-situated in Battery Park, and more widely viewed, where it currently serves as a temporary memorial .)
Additionally, the tower with the 'diamonds' looks like a 'cut-off' building which personally bothers me as it is a reminder of the way the WTC was initially cut.
Since the 'diamonds' are facing south, will there be solar panels on them?
Many new skyscrapers in New York are going 'green' - unfortunately some look like the ghastly Hearst Building on West 57th Street.
Also, all that glass will impact the environment, as glass brings more heat and glare in the surrounding area.
#22Good points, especially about the glass. You'd think after all these years they could at least find a great design and get started.
#23To not build the towers the same is saying as Americans we are still afraid. I think the people who past away would be proud that they were rebuilt in the same place as before in honor of them, and their souls are not there only their bodies.
#24Hardly anyone from New York wants to see the Twin Towers as they were for two simple reasons: 1. They were too sterile and intrusive 2. They are a reminder to those who lost loved ones.
I don't have a problem with new buildings going up - that's the tradition of New York City - we're always replacing and building higher.
I don't really care what the world thinks; we're not afraid. We're not afraid to rebuild, build better, or build higher. I just think that we ought to be more practical and prudent in considering the tenants, environment, and function of the buildings. Higher is not better. Jamming more skyscrapers into a small area is not better. Spending billions on an oversized memorial is not better. (Although the good news is that the memorial will allow more space downtown and more access to the sky for pedestrians (but will it contribute to a wind tunnel effect?).
I'd rather see the money spent redeveloping areas of Brooklyn, Queens, and South Bronx with businesses and affordable housing. (Do you know how hard it is for the middle class to live in New York City?!!!)
Let's not get carried away. September 11th was horrific and tragic, but we have to move on. It's been nearly ten years and will be about 11-15 years since September 11th when those new buildings at WTC are totally completed. I live three miles from the Pentagon where they rebuilt the damaged buildings within a year; one can hardly tell where the plane crashed. There is now a memorial on the grounds. (don't get me started on THAT!) Life goes on.
Rebuild the Twin Towers